Originally posted by punch e punch
Yeh, I laughed at the lecturer when I watched 'Adaptation'. But now that I've seen 'Lost In Translation', I think I see his point. :D
Do you really think some of the best films are about nothing? What's an example?
i've been procrastinating a little over this for the last couple of weeks. but luckily, i've got the easy way out, because part of my point has been illustrated by someone else (see below)
when i called
lit, i used the term loosely. i probably didn't expand enough, so i will now.
Originally posted by Benefit
What really made this film I felt was the writing. Do you have any idea how hard it is to write a story that is compelling and touching yet where virtually nothing happens plot-wise? The dialogue was top notch and the character interaction had an air of authenticity which is starkly absent in most movies these days.
this, as most (though not all) character studies are, is what a film about nothing is. i talk about it in that "nothing" (in the
big, dramatic, hollywood sense) happens. obviously the characters grow and progress - the entire point of the film - but there are no massive dramatic events to keep us interested, nor any particularly interesting conflicts; basically, nothing in the typical melodramatical sense of film occurs.
now...some of the best films which i think fall under this - those which immediately spring to mind are things like kurosawa's
yume, the recent
waking life and godard's
le mepris (though there is a death at the end, it is entirely devoid of any real dramatic affectation on the audience, especially in the way it is shot, or rather,
not shot

) - films in which ideas, emotions and people are explored, rather than
just the typical stories of conflict within a dramatic context.