Surprise! Surprise! Sur... oh, forget it.
Prepare yourself for blasphemy. Mike Nichols, you are a god among men, but Closer sucked.
It sucked because it (intentionally, apparently) didn't allow us to get close (ha ha) enough to the characters to actually invest in their stories. We don't get them-- they're too beautiful, they speak like their words were crafted for them, and they do things we don't understand for reasons we don't understand.
But the problem goes beyond not caring for the characters. The story of Closer plays out in numerous episodes over a long-ish period of time. When we move forward in time to a new episode, the dramatic tension always comes from finding out who's fucking who now. The first couple of times it happens, I'm interested. How will these relationships play out? Where will it end? Who will end up happy, who miserable? But this pattern goes on relentlessly. It's so boring. We don't get to see the decision-making process these characters go through when they decide to fuck someone other than their lover... that would have been cool. There would have been tension in that. Instead, we only see the results of having cheated. We only see the fights, the humiliations, the regrets. It's all payoff with no set-up. Fighting is empty conflict if I don't care who wins.
This film was like the sex-based version of Heist. Our understanding of who's doing what, and why, flip-flops so many times (now SHE's conning HIM!) that we stop caring.
A single reversal that reveals something about a character I'm invested in is worth so much more than ten little ones.
Prepare yourself for blasphemy. Mike Nichols, you are a god among men, but Closer sucked.
It sucked because it (intentionally, apparently) didn't allow us to get close (ha ha) enough to the characters to actually invest in their stories. We don't get them-- they're too beautiful, they speak like their words were crafted for them, and they do things we don't understand for reasons we don't understand.
But the problem goes beyond not caring for the characters. The story of Closer plays out in numerous episodes over a long-ish period of time. When we move forward in time to a new episode, the dramatic tension always comes from finding out who's fucking who now. The first couple of times it happens, I'm interested. How will these relationships play out? Where will it end? Who will end up happy, who miserable? But this pattern goes on relentlessly. It's so boring. We don't get to see the decision-making process these characters go through when they decide to fuck someone other than their lover... that would have been cool. There would have been tension in that. Instead, we only see the results of having cheated. We only see the fights, the humiliations, the regrets. It's all payoff with no set-up. Fighting is empty conflict if I don't care who wins.
This film was like the sex-based version of Heist. Our understanding of who's doing what, and why, flip-flops so many times (now SHE's conning HIM!) that we stop caring.
A single reversal that reveals something about a character I'm invested in is worth so much more than ten little ones.
posted by Jennica at 11:09 a.m.
3 Comments:
I hadn't really thought about B-celebrity reality TV like that... the "I've got a great story for you" people are winning? Interesting.
The one that's the strangest, to my mind, is the Gotti show. I mean... there's no one to like on that show, and it's kind of reprehensible on the face of it (mafia money paid for that gawdy --er, Gotti-- house). Yet it seems to be going strong. Is this a case of people enjoying the laughing-at-them factor? I think maybe...
Look, as long as William Hung doesn't have his own TV show, we're still doing okay.
this movie sucked ass.
didn't think the colourful dialogue was enjoyable either.
jude law was certainly nice to look at, even if he's a bed-hopper -- hey, i'd make a little room in mine for a night. maybe two.
Is it wrong to be a little excited about an anonymous posting?
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