No. It’s for me.
The denouement of a film is hands down the hardest thing to pull of well. How many times have we seen a great film which goes kaput at the culmination with either a forced application of the old Deus ex Machina or an abortive attempt to be profound / politically correct.
One of the most amazing denouements which I have ever seen comes from the Oscar winning German film “The Lives of Others”. It ends with a seemingly innocuous answer by the antagonist turned protagonist to a shop clerk. In response to a query asking whether he would like a book called “Sonata for a Good Man” gift wrapped, he simply replies “No. It’s for me”.
That’s it. It was jaws on the floor / balls in my mouth time for me. I used to live on 25th Street in Manhattan and saw the film on 13th Street. I was in such a daze after watching the film I forgot where I lived and walked all the way to Times Square on 42nd Street before I realized I had to go back. For those who have seen the film you will know what I mean and those who haven’t must see it asap. It’s like a textbook on scripting, plotting, characterization and atmosphere. I’m a huge huge fan of political thrillers and this films ranks right up there with “Z” and “The Battle of Algiers”.
A couple of years ago I had a very important epiphany. I realized that anyone who tried to second guess the audience’s tastes and tried to make a film or create any sort of art which was not based on their own convictions would be making the cinematic equivalent of a McDonalds burger. Yes it would sell in the millions and satisfy hunger pangs but it would also be digested and shat out within a 24 hour period.
Compare that to a meticulously prepared and highly personal take on cuisine and chances are you will remember it throughout your life. If i close my eyes I can still taste the lasagna I had in Rome when I was 5 years old or the Yakhni I once had at a Kashmiri wedding. Those experiences never truly leave you.
The most shitty films in my opinion are those in which the hypocrisy and artifice of the filmmaker is blatantly apparent. I see the most depraved individuals making films trumpeting conservative family values and champagne socialists lecturing on the evils of capitalism while not lifting a finger to actually help those in need.
But that’s still nothing to the legions of filmmakers / writers/ studio execs who worship at the altar of Syd Field and his ilk. I firmly believe that if cinema was ever to decline or die out, future historians would squarely lay the blame on the door of these cinematic junk food peddlers. The reason Hollywood has been declining rapidly is the widespread application of some truly pedantic script writing templates across the board.
William Goldman said “No one knows anything” and you will not find a bigger truism about making films. If anyone tells you that they have a foolproof method of making a blockbuster/ great film you might as well ask them to buy the winning lottery ticket for you.
So before the this article takes on the form of a rant let me come back to my original objective of writing this piece. I would like to share with you some of the projects I dearly wish to work on during the course of my career. In return I would be obliged if you would do the same. The reason I wish to do this is to find future collaborators who share common sensibilities.
These projects will probably never have a wide audience or maybe not even make back the cost of production. I don’t really give a fuck coz they will be self funded and made to soothe the raging beast inside which demands to be a pathfinder. I am gonna make enough money anyways doing commercials, music videos and more mainstream films to be able to make them without having them pinch me financially. All in due time of course.
So here is my list of the stuff I wanna do within the next two years.
1) Untitled Documentary on Haiti
Status – Been in the planning stages for a year now with one of my best friends in New York who’s Haitian. As soon as we cobble up enough money to buy a decent camera and pay for airfare we are gonna shoot. I love working the cameras for docus.
2) Adaptation of Frederico Garcia Lorca’s “Blood Wedding”
Status – I need to find someone to write and direct it. I just wanna shoot it. Won’t happen for a while.
3) A short film based on William Butler Yeats poem “The Stolen Child”
Status – As soon as I write the script and get the rights for the Loreena Mckennitt song based on it.
4) A mini musical short based on my favorite Eagles songs in which the dialogs the characters speak will be the actual lyrics. My homage to Julie Taymor.
Status – Writing this will be so much fun while shooting will be a breeze. Should happen next summer.
I think this should keep me pretty occupied in addition to classes, normal crewing and the life long pursuit of hedonism. :-)
“Come cheer up, my lads! ’tis to glory we steer,
To add something more to this wonderful year;
To honour we call you, not press you like slaves,
For who are so free as the sons of the waves?”
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Nice write up. I must say, you are more of a sophisticated writer. Im not a movie bug but leisurely getting addicted to articles like the above. Eagerly waiting for next.
Nice article. Always like to read your posts. Good to know about your furture projects. Good luck with them.
I am working on getting a historical fiction adapted to the ‘present’. I am working on the characters now. The ‘present’ would be a ‘lawless’ land with places ruled by ‘mob’ families… something like that. I shall start working on the sript soon (If I get time off my programming world!!!)
Cheers!
Right there with you…..been wanting to do so many things and write so much. Guess the place I live in sucks out your imagination. Love the Yeats idea and so will my English professor. We eneded up doing Yeats ‘The Death of Cuchulain’. It was bad but atleast we tried. I really want to do a fantasy at the backdrop of a violent timeframe ala pan’s labyrinth but not out and out that way. Have decided on the story. Need to sit and wirte things down.Another dream project would be a phiosophical journey of the history of mankind as told thru the eyes of an immortal. Nothing flashy or preachy. But purposefully ambiguous.
As far as blockbusters go, I really really really really would love to have my take on the X-men. But seeing as I’m still stuck with literature for another year, I’ll keep on waiting and planning.
Presently working on my first short film in collaboration with a lot of people. It will be screened tomorrow hopefully if we finish editing it on time. Will put it up if PFC allows.
Cheers
@Zest
Thanks man.
@Sarang
Best of luck man. Sounds interesting.
@Saad
Very cool concept. U seen “The Man from Earth” yet? Kickass film with a similar premise.
watched the lives of others last year during the oscars. It is a great film, no doubt, but at that time I was furious over it because it won the oscar for best foreign language film instead of Pan’s Labyrinth which I thought was superior. But now I consider both of them as classics in two different genre.
1).I want to make a docudrama that dwell into the process of becoming a research scientist(PhD and beyond) . A more realistic and personal look at the development of scientific thinking and attitude without glorifying it.
Most of the stuff out there is sugar coated and glorified. My intention is to depict the struggle, self doubt, nervous breakdowns and other difficulties that a typical scientist goes through.
In spite of all these they persist, why?
It will have real scientists answering this question. I have first hand experience and very good resources for scientists in US but I also want to include scientists in India and thats where I am having difficulty gathering enough honest information.
It will take time but I will make it.
@ 6 vikrant –
Primer. Narrative.
@ mithun –
i think the ending of Lives missed the mark. should have been 9 minutes shorter. it will be analyzed in my post this weekend.
@Vikrant
Best of luck to you man. I would really like to see another “Ek Doctor ki Maut”.
@dabba
I could not understand what the fuck was happening in Primer. Must be coz I have no aptitude in science.
I can tell you right now that I’m gonna disagree with you on Lives.
Interesting wish list,Mithun!
Hope its not exhaustive.
Just for the next couple of years.
Vikrant
Totally relate to your project. I am on course to doing a PhD myself in the US. I so relate to your “sugar coated and glorified” stuff. I might just start off one myself with my camcorder, and I shall duly credit you for an inspiration. Seriously I have been wanting to do one for long whether written or on video about science, PhD, caste system in academics(”one subject being superior to another”, “one stream better than the other”)the attitudes, and the works.
I am not alone. I hope so
Mithun , interesting ..i lived on 72nd street and even i watched the film on 13th street ! guess that was only theatre in manhattan playing the film at that time .
@dabba(8)
Primer just a docudrama??
intersting list mithun and yes there is nothing like a good political thriller. i do have have one in my list…sanjoy’s assam…a book by his wife sumita ghose. sanjoy was a social activist who was abducted by ulfa and his body was never found. someday…hopefully!!
@Mithun
No dude…have heard alot of things about it from a friend of mine. This idea originated from a short film script I wrote and never got to make. I have to see The Man from Earth now. Just for the record, I didn’t borrow or steal. :d
Funny coincidence though. Similar thing happened to me when I though about an idea of how an American/British cow learns that cows are treated sacred in India. The ideas cheesy but played around with it alot. In the next 2 weeks I find out that Nickelodeon also had the same idea. I was damn pissed though. It’s been 2 years now and haven’t heard from that project since.
@Santosh
good luck. I am also doing my PhD. Abt one field better than other, you are not alone my friend. If you are planning a write up, we can share notes.
@Mithun
Sorry to disappoint you but it won’t be any thing close to “Ek doctor ki maut”. Yes, I partly agree with you on “Primer”. I had to watch it thrice.
@dabba
primer(sci-fi/thriller/drama) is totally different from what I want to make (a docudrama).
I just want to portray the facts so that someone who is planning PhD and career in research will have realistic idea about it. Something I wish I had when I started mine. All I had was romantic notions of research from reading abt work and life of Newton, Leibniz (heck I will kill for his kinda life), Young…in today’s ultra competitive environment joy of research is replaced by struggle for survival. Today, me and my community, we do research to survive, to ensure the funding and publish because we don’t want to perish (there are exceptions). I am not strong enough to be beyond all these and it hurts me from within. But there is still a lot of fun in real research that makes the ordeal worth it and thats why many researchers like me stick with it. Thats what I want to document. And I want to include interviews from currently working researchers in different fields.
Earlier, I wanted to write about my personal experiences but than I read English August…some part of it felt like I was peeping into my own personal moments (just like being John Malkovich).
@morph
I’m sure there were other places but I have a janam janmatar ka rishta with the East Village. :d
@phoenix
Eagerly awaiting to see it.
@Saad
Lol I didn’t say you did. It’s a pretty popular concept and been around in literature and folklore for a while. My first email id was methos5k which was in tribute to the 5 thousand year old immortal from the Highlander TV Show.
I dunno if you have seen “Valley of Flowers” which also had a mildly similar concept but in a much more compressed time frame. Tragically it wasn’t executed very well.
I too have an immortal story in me but mine was based on the Wandering Jew. It’s a fascinating premise.
@Vikrant
Interesting. I don’t think I have seen anything like what you describe. Should be fascinating.