Kicking the Protagonist When He’s Down – Lessons from The Road and Slumdog Millionaire

I watched two movies this past week – one that I had been anticipating for months, The Road – and another that I felt I was obligated to get around to watching because of all the attention it received when it was released, Slumdog Millionaire.

I was introduced to the work of Cormack McCarthy via the last film adaptation of one of his novels, No Country for Old Men. I haven’t read that book – but I did read The Road and loved it. It’s not at all a conventional story – it is literature in the deepest sense. There’s very little to the plot, and the point is not so much to entertain as it is to drive home a message about the human spirit. That fact is much better appreciated in the story’s written form than in its film adaptation, unfortunately.

I was expecting a great film, and I got a mediocre one instead. The acting was fine, the cinematography was good – but the story just didn’t translate well to film. It’s simply too gritty and real. Too many bad things happen to the protagonists – and it becomes more a study in paranoia than one in hope, as the book is.

I’m all for using the tried and tested writing technique of making your protagonist slog through a veritable storm of horrid events. It works – but it only works if there are some victories along the way. The Road’s characters had all but forgotten how to be happy, so when something good happens to them, they can barely celebrate, besides which – what they are working for is something more or less unknown, so even they can’t identify with their goal, which makes it difficult for the audience to do so.

Slumdog Millionaire presents the same technique: Jamal, the protagonist, is presented with one of the worst lives I could imagine. We get to witness that life, and it is truly horrible. But because of the way the story jumps around in time, we see the reason for his suffering – and we celebrate his victories with him along the way.

The Road, at least in its film version, does not supply the audience with enough catharsis. Slumdog Millionaire does. And that’s why Slumdog Millionaire generated so much buzz, while The Road is doing poorly and is under limited release.

Something to remember the next time you want to drag your characters through the mud – they need to come out clean once in a while.

The Stars, Like Dust – Review

The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Perhaps I’m tiring of Asimov’s style or format, or perhaps it’s because I barely considered this story science fiction compared to the Asimov I’m used to reading.

It was a good adventure story, full of intrigue and plot twists – but I could have done a series of global search and replace operations in MS Word and made it historical fiction set in some ancient Earth empire.

Furthermore, the ending was a little neat and tidy for my taste. More so than is typical of the author.

Also, I just get uncomfortable when Asimov writes romantic sub-plots. I think it’s the mutton-chops.

View all my reviews >>

The Twilight Saga: New Moon – Review

This weekend I took my wife to see a werewolf’s muscles … I mean … New Moon. I watched the first Twilight movie several months ago, and didn’t hate it. I wouldn’t watch it again, for the same reason I stopped watching Smallville – just too much teen angst mixed into the supernatural stew. I can only put up with so much without getting a distinctly bored taste in my mouth.

But for the woman I love, I can tolerate 2 hours of century-old vampires whose biggest worries in life are the safety and well-being of a puny human (seemingly because she is moderately attractive and has apparently just overcome a stutter – why else would she look like she’s concentrating so hard on every line she delivers?).

All in all, New Moon wasn’t horrible. I guess I’d give it 2 stars out of 5. There were a few good things about the movie – some of the camera work was quite good. But there were enough bad things going on that the overall effect was a little like watching a small town talent show. Some real talent adjacent to a lot of almost talent. And that goes across the board. I refuse to believe budget was a factor in the lousy wolf animation – it seems more like they just didn’t care enough.

I want to comment on the acting here. I don’t think Kristen Stewart is a good actress. I think they made a mistake when they cast her, and now they’re stuck. In fact, it seems like all the real talent in these movies is ending up in the sidelines, the minor parts. That being said, I think the whole story is unfair to its actors. The Harry Potter franchise is running into this same problem. You can’t place a 16-ton dramatic plot on the shoulders of unseasoned, young actors. I mean, if every person in the movie was a Dakota Fanning, we’d be just fine, but she’s one in a hundred million, so you end up with an unconvincing dramatic plot.

You could say that I’m being unfair – that the Twilight Saga is for teens, and teens don’t have as sophisticated a palette for drama. I think that’s selling teens a little short – but more than that, I feel I can judge a movie based on its actual audience, not only its intended audience. Twilight has a large adult following, so it should be an adult caliber franchise. I mean, even the teeny-boppers in the audience were busting a gut when they should have been weeping at one of Edward’s lines. It was a cheesy movie, not a dramatic one.

Also – and I know I’m drawing a line here – vampires don’t sparkle.

A Large, Black Hiccup … Among Other Things

I just wanted to explain the lack of content being posted here in the last couple of weeks.

My personal life has become somewhat busy. In addition to helping a friend of mine solidify some particulars about a fantasy world he has been building for about 5 years, I’ve started my own writing project – which I hope I will be able to discuss a little more here later on.

The biggest reason I’m not here is the unexpected house guest mentioned cryptically in the title of this post. Last Saturday my wife and I found out we were going to be bequeathed wit h Eddie, an enormous black lab. We already have two cats, and we live in a smallish 1-bedroom apartment. Our life is not currently designed to accommodate a large dog.

I’ll try to fire off a proper post later on today. I saw New Moon on the weekend, and I’m bursting with things to say about it.

ABC’s V (Series Premiere) – Review

The network inbreeding has been particularly noticeable this season. I first noticed a number of bit roll Heroes vets have moved into leading positions in NBC’s new hit musical series (who’d'a thunk it?) Glee!. Then I saw Flash Forward, featuring an occasional Lostie as a supporting female, and, much to my great joy, Dominic Monaghan, the beloved Charlie Pace of Lost, as the show’s face of evil. Whether he will remain the face of evil is up for grabs. After all – Noah Bennett was the face of evil on Heroes, and now he’s a lead protagonist.

But all that brings me to my point – another Lostie (with that series wrapping up in Spring, 2010) has found a home as a lead in V, ABC’s new sci-fi remake. Elizabeth Mitchell portrays single mom and anti-terrorist FBI agent Erica Evans.

Now, I’m all for remakes of old sci-fi movies and TV series – after all, Battlestar Galactica was (for the most part) an incredible piece of work. But therein lies the problem. I’ve been completely spoiled, and other attempts have not measured up in the least. I had high hopes for V, which have been somewhat tempered after watching the premiere. It’s no BSG, but it’s better than The Bionic Woman, so there’s hope.

If you’ve never heard of the original V series, the story is about the arrival of an advanced alien race to Earth. They call themselves The Visitors, and they appear human in almost every way. They spend a lot of effort making nice, and convincing the whole world they’re friendly and peaceful. A small group of humans seem to think that’s a crock of crap, and build an underground resistance.

The new version of the series has some notable changes to bring it into modernity. Most obvious is making Erica Evans a single mom. With her son joining the “Visitor Youth”, and herself joining the resistance, it should make for some interesting interplay in an already tense mother-son relationship. They have also brought in the concept of terrorism to feature heavily. Since the resistance is, for all intents and purposes, a terrorist group, the socio-political potential for this post-9-11 series are enormous. I hope they don’t screw it up.

So far, I’m loving the effects – and the acting is pretty good. The writing isn’t bad, but I don’t expect gold from a pilot episode – a TV series takes a little time to really find itself, after all.

I’m definitely going to keep watching. For now.

November is NaNoWriMo!

It’s (inter)NationalNovelWritingMonth!

I have never succeeded in writing a novel, though I’ve attempted it dozens, if not scores of times. The closest I ever came to actually finishing a draft was several years ago during the 3-Day Novel Contest. I had a house to myself, plenty of easy to eat food and coffee, no distractions, and the dedication of a dog to his master. Unfortunately, over a third of the way in to the draft early Sunday morning, the file became corrupted, irretrievably. It was a devastating blow to my confidence. Not even when I put my entire life aside, could I complete a novel. Since then I’ve never really made a serious attempt, though I’ve never stricken the possibility from my mind. I have preferred to stick to short stories and screenplays. I may yet write a novel – but I have no current plans.

That means I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo. But I have deep respect for those of you who are. I’d love to hear some of your reports on the experiences you’re having while working on your 30-day opus. You can leave a post in the comments below, or e-mail your NaNoWriMo anecdotes to me.

At the end of the month, provided I get some response to this, I’ll post a round-up of my favorite NaNoWriMo stories.

Good luck to all of you writers this month! I hope you all win.

Post-Halloween Photo Stream

Entries for my Post-Halloween Photo Contest are here!

Voting will begin on December 1st!

Send entries here!

First entry from Jade Thomson of Toronto, Ontario:

Post-Halloween Costume Contest

It seems that a lot of people have found this site by searching for “halloween costume photos”, when in fact there are none, because I neglected to snap any on Saturday night.

To appease those masses who are clamoring for photos, I have decided to hold a contest. Best Halloween costume photo wins a copy of this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just submit your photo and your name before November 30th. Voting will take place during the month of December and the winner will be contacted in the new year.

Submit your photo!

Why Would Anyone Want to Be in the Movies?

I was lying in bed last night, thinking about Apple computers. Yes, it’s an obsession that borders on illness and I’m seeing a therapist about it.

I was imagining various possible production methods for getting that metallic sheen just right on MacBook Pros and iMacs. That got me wondering just how many Macs does Apple make every day? (About 22,000, judging by their sales figures). Then I started thinking about the fact that there are never enough of any new Mac product available to meet the demand at a launch, which suggests that Apple tends to play it safe, betting conservatively on the popularity of any new product. Wise move.

In the movie biz, betting conservatively isn’t an option (well, it is, but then you either end up with something of poor quality, or something so artsy that nobody understands it, or, if you’re extremely talented, something brilliant that will make you a fortune – which is almost never the case). This is an industry where all the money has to be spent upfront, and then made back in ticket sales, ad revenue, merchandising, DVD sales, etc.

Using Apple’s safe betting model, a production company would write, cast, shoot, cut, print and release the first act of a movie, then wait to see how many people went to see it. Based on those figures, they’d budget shooting the rest of the movie. (This is what happens, to some extent with television.) But, really, who is going to go to the cinema to see 20 minutes of movie? Not me, and probably not you.

Countless films are made every year and many of them don’t make back their production costs – if your name hasn’t appeared in a puff piece lately, there’s no such thing as a sure bet. So why does anyone do it? Lottery ticket sales suggest that people chase impossible odds depending on the size of the payout, and that may be true in some cases. But I don’t think that’s the case.

I think movie-makers do it because of something that happened when they were four or five years old. Their dads took them to see their first movie, and the overwhelming feeling of magic they experienced never went away.

At least, that’s why I chase those impossible odds. Damn making safe bets. Leave that to businesspeople. I’m an artist.

World Beard Championships

While using Stumbleupon to careen wildly through cyberspace, I found this website. It is awesome.