The best things happen when you least expect them. Yesterday evening, there was this special screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey at the movie theater very near my house. A local movie club was organizing it. I went there expecting just to see my most favorite film, and unarguably one of the greatest films ever made, one more time on the big screen. But not in my wildest dreams, I had imagined to see among the audience the famed Dr David Bowman of 2001, the Hollywood actor Keir Dullea himself! Mr Dullea was actually invited by the movie club to be a part of this screening.
Jim Jarmusch is one of those extremely few American filmmakers who have found success without any big studio backing. He has complete control over his films and Hollywood’s best actors want to work with him. I wrote an earlier post about him here.
What he says in one of those rules, regarding ‘originality’, is something which I never forget.
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”
I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean. – Socrates
Of late, I have been thinking a lot regarding how the story of any film begins in the mind of a writer/filmmaker. In various scriptwriting books, courses, workshops etc, we learn about various things related to any good story; the structure, various acts, conflict, interesting characters, beats, plot points, resolution and so on. The book, “Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting“ authored by the ultimate screenwriting guru, Robert McKee, is considered Bible in screenwriting. I cannot write enough that how much this voluminous 500 page book has taught me. Unlike most other books on screenwriting which focus more on the mechanical aspects of a story structure, Mckee’s Story turns inwards into human psychology to explain in minute detail how great dramas unfold on screen. He writes, “We need a rediscovery of the underlying tenets of our art, the guiding principles that liberate talent.” His book, Story, is a path to that rediscovery. In it, McKee offers so much sound advice, drawing from sources as wide ranging as Aristotle, Casablanca, Stanislavski and Chinatown, that it is impossible not to be influenced by this book when you start your journey into screenwriting.
Coen Brothers’ The Hudsucker Proxy teases you. The film teases because you cannot decide when Coens are serious and when they are spoofing. If you start taking the film or it’s characters seriously, you might realize that you, just like the main character Norville in the film, are being taken for a big ride by the Coens; and if you relax and treat it as a spoof, soon you start getting this uncomfortable feeling that you are missing many layers beneath the ‘dont take me seriously’ narrative. Actually, Coens, as is their wont, are doing both. It’s your prerogative what you prefer to see in the movie.
Jim Jarmusch is one of the most successfull independent filmmakers of Hollywood. Jarmusch’s first major film, Stranger Than Paradise, was released in 1984 to much critical acclaim. The film broke many conventions of traditional Hollywood movie-making, and is still considered a landmark work in modern independent film. Jim Jarmusch’s films, quite a few times, are compilation of different short films within a film; all stories binded by a common theme. Coffee and Cigarattes and Night on Earth fall under this category. I particularly liked ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’ for it’s multi-layered stories which, in a very strange funny way, tell us a lot about human nature. But, the humor here is not direct or instant laugh types…it stays with you for long. The common theme in these eleven different shorts/stories is different actors talking over coffee and cigarettes.
My favorite among the segments is Cousins, starring the actors Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan, both playing themselves in this short. Molina has asked for the meeting. Coogan is not sure why and grows more condescending as, the polite and perhaps less successful of the two, Molina explains the reason. Almost till the end, Molina is at the receiving end of Coogan’s snobbery, and then, the tables are turned around. Right from the start till the end, this short film is simply hilarious. The original length of this short is bit longer than the video below, so let me explain the story till the point where this video starts:
After my two failed attempts in the last three weeks to watch the Coen Brothers‘ latest offering, Burn After Reading, I finally watched the much awaited movie today. The movie is quite funny and very smart in it’s execution. In short, the movie makes fun of everybody (The CIA, the flirts, lonely men, lonely plus looks obsessed middle aged women, Russians and, in general, everybody) and still nobody will feel offended. George Clooney is funny and John Malkovich is super funny in the movie. Frances McDormand seemed to still carry the hangover of her character in, more than decade old, Fargo, but that act, funnily, works well in this movie too. Yes, this is not the best of Coen Brothers, but who cares? (Iam sure even Coen bros didnt care that much this time). I would say, go and watch it!
This post contains my notes from the book, “The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick” by Norman Kagan. Here, I have tried to sum up those important plus interesting ideas from the book which concern Kubrick’s overall approach to filmmaking. I will take further references from this book as and when I happen to talk about his individual movies. The bolded parts of this post contain words taken from the book. The non-bolded parts contain my take on ideas expressed in the book, mostly in context of my current knowledge of his films. This post may not seem to be of much value to those readers who havent watched his films yet, but I think it still could provide some introduction to his genius & also perhaps motivate some of you to see his work.
Stanley Kubrick once said that writers or painters or filmmakers dont do what they do because they have something particular to say. Instead, they have something that they feel. And they like the art form; they like words, smell of paint, photographic images or just working with actors. “I dont think that any genuine artist has ever been oriented by some didactic point of view, even if he thought he was”, He said.
It was ‘No Country For Old Men‘ which stunned me into revering Coen Brothers. I watched the movie three months ago (after it was nominated for the Oscars) & was completely taken over by the movie for weeks after that, something which hasnt happened with me in the recent past; It was then that I promised myself to devour all the work of these magnificent Director duo. Before this, I had only watched ‘O Brother where art thou’ from this director duo.
Since the past few weeks, it’s been an amazing journey watching their cinema; It has given me an entirely new perspective on the art of filmmaking.
Little synopsis of Coen Brothers (common knowledge about them):
1. The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, although until recently Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing
2. Their Films (especially dark thrillers) often center around or include a botched crime.
3. Most of their movies are set during a specific time period in the past; Films often include characters or places with the stereotypes of the regions they take place in.
4. Men often explicitly suffer bizarre and bloody deaths or indignities in their films, but women are typically harmed off-screen
5. Owing a heavy debt to film noir and other film styles of the past, the Coen brothers’ films combine dry humor with sharp irony and shocking visuals.
6. Coen Brothers’ have won 4 Oscars & have been nominated eight times for achievements in Directing, Producing, Writing and Editing.
My personal take on their movies:
1. Some of their dark movies might seem very pessimistic and extremely violent to some, but, for me, that interpretation is very superficial. I dont think they make these movies to make us feel bad about life & to make us sympathize with their characters. They just make amazing movies and tell the stories in most profound & interesting manner possible. Yes, extremely bad things happen to some of their characters, but, interestingly, you dont get sentimental or feel crap. Such is Coen Brothers’ genius that they ensure very subtly that you never connect emotionally with these doomed characters. These characters, even though sometimes existing in the heart of the story, remain very peripheral on your emotional radar.
2. They take utmost pain in ensuring that the period in which their stories take place (most of their movies are set in early periods) is depicted as realistically as possible; The clothes, accents, slangs, cars, buildings, social & political mores and everything else is derived from that particular period. For instance, The Big Lebowski was made in 1998 and the story is set in 1990-91..not much of a period difference. Still, little/subtle differences in that period -vis a vis 1998- were shown and highlighted wherever necessary.
3. Coen Brothers’ cinema is a combination of excellent story telling, thrill, profoundity, first rate performances, dark humor, technical brilliance & lessons in history, culture and human nature.
Ok, I have liked all their movies (have seen 70% of them by now), but if I was forced to name my most favorite ones ..here are those: (I think anybody with even some interest in watching movies, should watch the ones below)
I was listening to a very old interview (1984) of Mr Woody Allen ( Part 1 & Part 2) ( He has given very few tv interviews in his career spanning almost five decades). He talked about how he creates his characters and various situations in his movies. This is something very important to me and I often wonder about it. I believe that characters and sub plots are fundamental to the whole process of telling a story through a movie, but ironically , very few filmmakers talk about it in their interviews.
Many people think that many situations shown in Allen’s movies are taken directly from his own personal life or from lives of people he know and that his main characters, especially whenever played by Allen himself, are nothing but extensions of his own alter-ego.
Woody refutes these myths. Though he agreed that many times he has taken inspiration from real life ( in terms of characters and situations) and some of the philosophical dialogues mouthed by his characters are indeed his own views on life and relationships, but still larger part, he maintains, is fiction which is not necessarily based on his close personal experiences or his absolute knowledge of things; It kept me thinking;
While trying to create my characters and situations, I want to do my best to rely on what I have seen , observed and experienced both within me and around myself. I dont think I would like to create characters just out of the blue, especially when they lead and define the conflict. Their prime motivations and atleast some knowledge of their past are the key factors to create both intellectual and emotional depth in my story. And, that’s going to happen only when I am absolute sure that my characters exist and when I know them atleast at some important level; Inspiration could come from a friend, acquaintance or even public figure..but it has to be real . Yes, situations could be imagined to a fair extent, as they are sometimes necessary to create conflict and drama and also to fill gaps in the narrative . But, even those few contrived situations should look absolutely believable and justify their presence in the narrative.
I have no doubt in my mind that truth is stranger than fiction and therefore want to rely only on former to create stories and characters which are as endearing and interesting as they could be.
