Film Meme Day 7

[redfiona99]

You all know how paranoid I am about spoilers so the whole thing is going under a spoiler cut.

The films that are going to be spoiled are:
The Usual Suspects
The Prestige
The Illusionist
The Escapist

Spoiler Space





For those still with me, my answer to this has to be the Usual Suspects. It's not just the twist, although that is amazing, it's the reveal that I love.

This clip misses out the start of Kujan's reaction, where he's sitting looking at the wall, having let Verbal go, as per their agreement. He goes over Verbal's statement and something catches his eye, and suddenly it all unravels.

And yes, this is why half my fics that mention random locations choose Skokie, Illinois.

The thing I like best about it is that it doesn't come out of nowhere, it's built up, the shadowy menace that's always there in the background, and yet, it tilts the rest of the film into a totally different direction. And it's not like they've stinted on characterisation of the people in the rest of the film, but we never know how much of what is true and it's just lovely.

And that's the thing, I think a film ought to work for its right to have a twist, you've got to sow the seeds, you can't just spring it on people. And it's got to be organic. About the only film I know that gets away with a non-organic twist is 'Dusk Till Dawn' which goes from being a thriller to being a vampire flick with a Salma Hayek dance. This may be why I think it gets away with it.

In many ways, I think that's why I like the Prestige, for all it's unscientific science mumbo-jumbo a lot more than I like the Illusionist. With the Prestige, about four seconds before the characters get it, you get it because you're given all the information you need to get it. With the Illusionist, you don't get that. Yes, you're told going in that Eisenheim is a master illusionist and you might be able to get bits of it but you're not given enough information to do it. One of my flist once described this as cheating, when talking about Agatha Christies and she wasn't wrong (btw, so excited about seeing the Suchet Murder on the Orient Express).

Sometimes, even if a film cheats it can get away with it. There was absolutely no setup for the twist in the Escapist, and I don't care. I hope the happy version of what he saw is what happened, and they made me feel enough about the characters that I wanted the twist, which will do.





Day 1 - Favourite Foreign Language Film
Day 2 - A film that is underrated
Day 3 - A Film That Brings Me Unadulterated Happiness
Day 4- A film cliché that you love
Day 5 - Favourite love story in a film
Day 6 - Day 6 - Favorite actor/actress

Day 08 - The best opening/closing credits
Day 09 - The best soundtrack/score to a film
Day 10 - Favorite classic film
Day 11 - Favorite black-and-white film
Day 12 - A film that permanently altered your point-of-view
Day 13 - A guilty pleasure...
Day 14 - A film that you used to love but now hate
Day 15 - Favorite film sequel
Day 16 - Favorite film character
Day 17 - Favorite film quote
Day 18 - The best overall cast in a film
Day 19 - The most hilarious film you've seen
Day 20 - A moving (emotional) scene
Day 21 - Favorite film from your favorite actor/actress
Day 22 - Favorite Academy Award acceptance speech
Day 23 - A character who you can relate to the most
Day 24 - The best page-to-screen film adaptation
Day 25 - Favorite film villain
Day 26 - Favorite film poster
Day 27 - A film that you wish you had seen in theaters
Day 28 - Favorite film from your favorite director
Day 29 - A piece of trivia from a favorite film
Day 30 - Your favorite film of all-time


Trust me, it was either me blathering about films or me ranting about my Mum, who is worrying about my viva, deciding the best way to ensure my success is to pester me every five minutes about pointless things like what colour blouse I'm going to wear for my viva. I am aware that micro-managing is her coping strategy, but it doesn't make it any less annoying.