Comments | victoly: Some thoughts on films

victoly

Some thoughts on films

Jan 24, 2009 02:06

I may have mentioned this before, but I think film has so much potential for engaging storytelling. Too many movies are written like books (likely since so many films are based on books). Movies should be written more like songs - swelling and moving up and down with time. I suppose that in general I simply think that people should explore the ( Read more... )

Comments 6

nanogibbon January 25 2009, 07:25:26 UTC

Nice. I'm looking forward to watching this again soon.

shoeless_wade January 27 2009, 16:14:04 UTC

I'm not sure if I agree with it being "complicated and unnecessary" to draw all three stories together because I saw them as drawn into the book. The book is what excuses all the jumping around between eras, and it makes sense to see it as the characters expressing their "emotional journeys". I assume "the book" and "the film" are kind the same, right?

Also, I'm not sure I agree that it's a love story, which I recognize is probably contentious. Love seems to take a backseat to obsession throughout. Love might be the inspiration for that obsession, but by the time the movie starts, aside from, like, 20 seconds of horsing around in the snow, love is pretty much already in the past tense. I think that's kinda what irked me about the movie- the fact that there wasn't much variety in the emotions it was expressing, if that makes sense. Kinda starts on a dirge and stays there.

victoly January 28 2009, 00:44:06 UTC

Not sure I entirely follow you regarding "the book." My main premise is that it's difficult to work in the Tom (astronaut) character into the book itself, and that it's a pretty heavy suspension of disbelief to interpret him as being the same person as present-day Tommy living 500 years into the future. I think that Tom makes sense mostly as a mental projection, as a complete metaphor for one's sense of memory and perspective.

To me, the ending of the film was completely about love. It may be about re-interpreting a love that he already has rather than finding a new one, but that (to me) doesn't make it less of a love story.

shoeless_wade January 28 2009, 03:03:34 UTC

Yeah, I don't think that Tom is the same guy as tommy literally, just that he's the guy who Tommy CHOSE to be his metaphorical self in his ending to the book, if you get me there. I assumed the tom story was something that Tommy wrote in Izzy's book.

Although, IN THEORY, he could be tom, since tom discovered the "real life" fountain of youth in the modern day plot- he just discovered it too late. I don't really think that part matters though.

And yeah, it was probably just me, but I kept getting this feeling that he was motivated by other factors than his love for izzy through most of the movie. Even with that though, yeah, his focus totally comes back to her at the end. The movie's ability to be interpreted differently is probably one of it's strong suits, I'd say, but that comes along with not holding the viewer's hand through a "plot".

victoly January 28 2009, 19:21:27 UTC

Yeah, I didn't think the Tom-astronaut story was part of the book - his memories of modern-day Izzi and the ring-tattoo connection to modern-day Tommy makes that unlikely from my perspective. Either way, my overall point was that - as you state - it doesn't really matter too much to one's overall understanding of the film ( ... )

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