Why is it that our previous works are never good enough…
Last weekend my wife and I had dinner over at my friend Manny’s. We decided to watch a short film he and I had collaborated on called “Cash on Delivery”, moreso since my wife hadn’t seen it. It was screened just 2 days before our wedding…just over a year ago, I hadn’t seen it since.
It was a buddy comedy about how these two guys accidently mail an full of cash – $6000 belonging to the father of one of the boys. If they didn’t get it back the kid was gonna get his ass kicked. You know, a real down to earth, silly film which wasn’t meant to be taken too seriously.
Manny had a different concept in mind which we couldnt quite put together in time for his alloted shooting dates (it was his final year student film). So we ended up writing this film in just 6 days, including redrafts.
I remember when I first saw the finished product, I loved it. The audience at the screening laughed at all the right spots… you could hear whispers of people trying to guess what was going to happen next… they were all so into it, more so than most of the other shorts that night. I was so damn proud!
Watching it a year later we still liked the film, still proud of it, but so many things about it we’d change. Our detachment allowed us to be objective, our attachment led us to be critical.
As a writer I found dialogues which were too over the top. There was a few instances that I even cringed… did I really write THAT? Who SAYS that? One of the characters was over-written… He was meant to be cynical, sarcastic but not all that smart… ok, but why was he so mean to his best friend again? Still happy with it overall, but given the chance I’d have written it much differently. Is that a paradox?
As the director Manny pointed out where he thought he could’ve done much better. “That montage was too jumpy… could u tell what was happening?” “I should’ve got the actor to tone down the performance there… would’ve been better if he was more sublte” and “parts of it were dragging, should’ve paced it better”.
I think we all do it. Sure we’re proud of our own works, but over time we learn, we grow, we mature. So when we look back, the reactions always going to be the same “It was good, but it could’ve been much better”.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
@ Tony Bhai…can you upload the Video here?
I’d love to… but its still in consideration for a bunch of festivals, so we can’t put it on the net until we hear back from them, or in best case scenario until after they’ve all screened the film :d/
Its a universal thing Tony.
Happens to all of us.
Keep making more stuff.
Its better to get the bad stuff out of our way before we get into the bigger stage.
Moore seems to thinks so too. Here goes letter from Cannes
A Letter from Michael Moore: ‘Sicko’ is Socko in Cannes!
May 23rd, 2007
Friends,
Well, as you may have read by now, our premiere of “Sicko” at the Cannes Film Festival has been an overwhelming success. The 2,000 people inside the Lumiere Theater were alternately in tears and laughing during the two-hour film — and when it was over, they gave it a standing ovation that seemed to go on for nearly 15 minutes! Many came up to me and said (and critics seem to agree) that this is my best film yet. I don’t know about that, and it seems weird to compare any of these movies in the first place. But I do feel safe in saying that I am very, very happy with this film and I can’t wait to show it to you when it opens on June 29th.
Cannes is a crazy place. There are film lovers here from nearly every country in the world. And then there are the people in “show business.” These dark forces have virtually ruined this art form (invented by the French and nurtured to brilliance by the country I call home). There are so many bad, awful films now and less and less people are going to the movies. Many who run Hollywood believe that the American people are too stupid to enjoy a film that respects their intelligence.
At the press screening for “Sicko,” the Wall Street Journal reported that hardened reporters and critics wept. Even those who have been harsh to me in the past, or who have not agreed with my politics, were moved. Aside from my stated desire that “Sicko” ignite a fire for free, universal health care (and a larger wish that we, as Americans, do a better job of treating each other with a true sense of solidarity and respect), I continue to hope that I can make a contribution to the art of cinema and give people a good reason to get out of the house for a few hours.
At my festival press conference, the only negative word came from the Canadians. Two critics didn’t like all the nice things I said about their health care system. Yes, Canadian health care has its flaws, but when I asked the two critics if they would exchange their health care cards for mine, they said “No!” Of course they wouldn’t. Canadians live longer than we do and their infant mortality is not as high as ours. Their system is underfunded because their leaders have been trying to push for more American-style health care.
The rest of the week has been good and I am now on my way back to the U.S. The New York Post reported Sunday that the Bush administration, in addition to going after me for filming scenes in or near Cuba, may now go after the 9/11 rescue workers I took with me to get the medical care they were denied by our own government. I couldn’t make up irony like this if I wanted to, and I will do whatever is necessary to defend the human right of these true American heroes to receive the medical attention they deserve.
We’ve also received word that the HMO and pharmaceutical industries are gearing up to fight “Sicko.” We received so many great whistleblower letters while we were making the movie from employees of these companies. We’d like to hear from you again! Send us the internal memos and any other plans you run across at the company copying machine or internet server. It will help to stay ahead of whatever they are up to, and it will also give us a chance for a bit of fun at the industry’s expense.
I will soon have a special section of my website devoted to “Sicko.” Until then, we’ll move forward toward our June 29th release date. Hope to see you all there that weekend!
Yours,
Michael Moore
michael@michaelmoore.com
Yeah Mainak bhai thats true. Sometimes I read scripts that I had written in 6-7 years back, and I realize how much I’ve learned and evolved as a writer. And then you realize a certain concept or story would have definately worked at that time, but today its either outdated or not feasible, or at best it would need to be rewritten to make it better, to ensure its at par with the quality of what defines good cinema today.
Thats the whole beauty of the creative process. There’s an evolution, a progression. Over time you push yourself to be more creative with the stories and the storytelling, to write better characters, to better scenarios and create better films.
I’m sure when Anurag Kashyap looks back at Last Train To Mahakali, he must think “we thought that was so good back then, but today I know I can do so much better”.
I’m sure when Striker looks at one of his performances from some time ago he thinks to himself “I could have done this or should have tried that”. That’s how he knows he getting better and better at his trade.
We’re all our own biggest critics, and should never really be fully satisfied creatively. The day we are is the day we stop progressing.
I think people who can cricticise their previous work are the ones who have been evolving and nurturing their talent and abilities.So they can pick out the flaws.
The day we become fully satisfied, our life is gonna stagnate.
Incomplete satisfaction and hunger for more is wat keeps us going in this Beautiful Journey of Life…
Looking forward to see ur film one day on net or prolly we might have some Multiplex theatre having their own festivals for Cine-lovers and your film cld be a part of it…
Keep Rrocking
Thanks for the kind words of encouragement Teena!
“Incomplete satisfaction and hunger for more is wat keeps us going in this Beautiful Journey of Life”
So true!