I HAVE AN IDEA AND IT MIGHT SUCK. QED, POLL. (random)
Recently, because bitterlimetwist gets me to WATCH ALL THE THINGS, I watched Drive. In fact, I watched it twice. The first time around, I enjoyed it but remained on my aloof fandom fence. However, the skill with which it was crafted stuck with me enough that I soon revisited it, and that time around it completely blew me away. And confused me.
The filmic language the movie speaks seems to be this tweaked distillation of noir, western, crime, thriller, fairytale, knightly chivalry, superhero origin, monster movies, and seasoned with this John Hughes/Michael Mann 80s sensibility (and it is AWESOME). It's somehow taken the common threads in all of them and twisted it into something dreamy and brooding and brutal and off-kilter and really compelling. It explains itself so little that I feel like you could take nearly any one of those genre lenses to view it through, and it would stand.
So here's where I get lost.
Genres. I know, but stick with me.
I am rubbish at them. Ask me to give the salient points of any but the most basic story genre and I will give you a blank look while I internally panic. My entertainment-media-watching career is way too splotchy to have given me a feel for it, and I have discovered I just can't absorb patterns any other way; generalisations and guides and rules pour in one ear and straight out the other. I simply do not get them, and don't think that's not frustrating as hell. BUT, when someone else tells me their experience and feel for something, that sticks beautifully.
So when I listed the genres Drive incorporates, that was from reading press releases and interviews and the damn wikipedia entry. (On my own, the only one I worked out with any confidence was Western. And that was largely because of conversations with workerbee73 on the genre conventions, as pertaining to Clint Barton et al. And the Michael Mann stuff was obvious because I adore Heat and Collateral, and it's set in his beloved L.A.) This - research - is what I typically do when I realise I'm unable to interpret the language or culture being expressed on my screen, and it helped. In some ways.
In others, it made me starkly aware how due to glitches in my programming little I get how people connect to and process genre conventions, what they mean culturally and individually due to my cultural ignorance, and what I think of the movie due to ongoing lostness. I still haven't come to any conclusions. Except for how exquisitely the visual palate and symbolism were employed for exposition, rather than dialogue; as a visual artist, I am all over that part. And it is stunning.
Anyhow, this time was unusual in that, even before turning to the internet, my first instinct was to come here and bug all my flisties about it (and any lurker/passerby who is generous enough to lend me their input too). Whether you're an avid film geek or just love watching a good movie, I really want to hear what you have to say, whether it be about this movie specifically or what intrigues and resonates with you about various genres. I just don't know how to frame that conversation. Although being that Drive was what kicked off this cascade of thoughts, and how ambiguous it can be, I would love any kind of discussion of the movie itself. Because it fascinates me.
All of which makes me want to do some kind of Drive-based movie discussion post, but I have no idea if it's worthwhile. HENCE POLL.
Poll proposed: movie discussion post
So, yeah, that's ... that, I guess. Oh, and if it'll help give a better sense of the tone of the movie, here's the opening chase scene. The Fast and the Furious it is not.
The filmic language the movie speaks seems to be this tweaked distillation of noir, western, crime, thriller, fairytale, knightly chivalry, superhero origin, monster movies, and seasoned with this John Hughes/Michael Mann 80s sensibility (and it is AWESOME). It's somehow taken the common threads in all of them and twisted it into something dreamy and brooding and brutal and off-kilter and really compelling. It explains itself so little that I feel like you could take nearly any one of those genre lenses to view it through, and it would stand.
So here's where I get lost.
Genres. I know, but stick with me.
I am rubbish at them. Ask me to give the salient points of any but the most basic story genre and I will give you a blank look while I internally panic. My entertainment-media-watching career is way too splotchy to have given me a feel for it, and I have discovered I just can't absorb patterns any other way; generalisations and guides and rules pour in one ear and straight out the other. I simply do not get them, and don't think that's not frustrating as hell. BUT, when someone else tells me their experience and feel for something, that sticks beautifully.
So when I listed the genres Drive incorporates, that was from reading press releases and interviews and the damn wikipedia entry. (On my own, the only one I worked out with any confidence was Western. And that was largely because of conversations with workerbee73 on the genre conventions, as pertaining to Clint Barton et al. And the Michael Mann stuff was obvious because I adore Heat and Collateral, and it's set in his beloved L.A.) This - research - is what I typically do when I realise I'm unable to interpret the language or culture being expressed on my screen, and it helped. In some ways.
In others, it made me starkly aware how due to glitches in my programming little I get how people connect to and process genre conventions, what they mean culturally and individually due to my cultural ignorance, and what I think of the movie due to ongoing lostness. I still haven't come to any conclusions. Except for how exquisitely the visual palate and symbolism were employed for exposition, rather than dialogue; as a visual artist, I am all over that part. And it is stunning.
Anyhow, this time was unusual in that, even before turning to the internet, my first instinct was to come here and bug all my flisties about it (and any lurker/passerby who is generous enough to lend me their input too). Whether you're an avid film geek or just love watching a good movie, I really want to hear what you have to say, whether it be about this movie specifically or what intrigues and resonates with you about various genres. I just don't know how to frame that conversation. Although being that Drive was what kicked off this cascade of thoughts, and how ambiguous it can be, I would love any kind of discussion of the movie itself. Because it fascinates me.
All of which makes me want to do some kind of Drive-based movie discussion post, but I have no idea if it's worthwhile. HENCE POLL.
Poll proposed: movie discussion post
So, yeah, that's ... that, I guess. Oh, and if it'll help give a better sense of the tone of the movie, here's the opening chase scene. The Fast and the Furious it is not.