Sunday, August 15, 2010
So here I am...
But I might be away for a while. Why? Because I have a few things to do which might not give me time to blog as frequently as I would like to (and as my dear says, "Why do you announce, E? You will change your mind anyway?"). Firstly, I would like to return to the world of technical reading and hacking around (which I haven't done since 2005). Secondly, I am ... well, doing things. Thirdly, I want to work on something which I just thought about (and hence, the post). I would like to peek into the reader's ample resources (I restrict my curiosity to the contents of your mind) in helping me with this. I plan on writing a script (and there she goes again, "Why, E? Why?") which will, like a beautiful re-done Gaussian algorithm, wave in and out of the protagonist's life culminating in the rather decisive mid-life where he (or maybe she) did something which is, well, interesting. This script will question the commonly held assumption that if you know the beginning and the end then you will most likely know what happened in between. Have you ever seen a movie directed like that? A movie which alternated between a man's beginning and end and closing with what he did in between which makes the end possible given the beginning but still something which the viewer never imagined? Please let me know of any such movie that you might recall as I would like to study it.
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Pulp fiction springs to mind immediately, although it is not one man's life. Memento is one that might fit your requirement perfectly.
ReplyDeleteIn my list too is 'Memento' along with 'Fight Club' (Ed Norton etc), the classic ever-praised 'Citizen Kane' may be included in this list too because of the sequence factor methinks; you ought to explore Orson Welles's 'The Third Man', albeit only starring him.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am going beyond the brief here, but I think 'Vantage Point' had a peculiar and most complex thread of unraveling - do take a look.
Since Agni mentions Pulp Fiction, how can we forget Kill Bill 1, or Reservoir Dogs?
Many more films may come to mind by and by; I will update this post's comments if and when they do.
Dear A & P,
ReplyDeletePulp Fiction is more of parallel lives culminating in something. Like Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smokin Barrels were. Kill Bill was more of flashback interlaced with the present. That is not what I am referring to. My thought is clearly alternating slices of remote past and distant future which leaves the audience wondering what on earth happened in between that such a past brought the protagonist to such a remote future. E.g. I show a segment of the man's life in his 30s and then another in his 60s and then when he was around 35 and then when he was around 55 and then when he was 40 and then when he was 50 ending the movie in the eventful 45 which ties his past well with this future (the present being him at the age 45) but still leaves the viewer wondering how did these things happen. You get me know. Parvati-ji, I will check out the remaining films. Thank you.
Your specific requirement is highly narrowing in scope. Mel Gibson's Forever Young may be just what the doctor ordered for your need here.
ReplyDeleteKill Bill one, made us wonder even until the end of Kill Bill 2, when the latter finally clearly explained it all for us, the beginning even, definitely the middle of the whole tale, all of which led unto the massacre in the church wedding rehearsal. I think it fits your requirements even if it resorts to multiple flashbacks.
Anyway...let's see...
"Rashomon" is one in which the mystery plot goes back and forth to unravel the truth through the eyes of four witnesses...accepting the truthful version, is left to the audience.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it does not tally with the kind of plot you have in mind, the treatment of the director to show a story both in present and as flashback is worth watching..
Dear P,
ReplyDeleteWill check it out.
Dear P,
Quite surprising. Believe it or not, but just a couple of days before your comment came in, I had "procured" Rashomon!! I am delightfully surprised and impressed. Not often do I hear people refer to movies of that sorts.
Oh that is one real pleasant surprise! :-) hope you have enjoyed this Kurosawa creation... for me, it often takes more than one watch to understand the symbolic cinematography.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your research and the upcoming script!