Sunday, April 8, 2012

Drive and Storytelling

Storytelling is challenging. How much information is enough? Do you want to spend time on exposition or should you just let the audience figure it out on their own? How deep do you need to go when you create and portray the characters?

Drive is a beautiful movie. Yes, I'm late to the party. No, I don't mind. Yes, I waited long enough for the hype to die down, which also means my own expectations for the film went down, and it's always a good thing to experience art with as little expectational baggage as possible. No, I didn't wait long enough on purpose; I just never got my hands on the movie until tonight...

There are so many lessons to be learned by examining the storytelling of Drive. You can tell a story with very little dialogue. The mood of your story is paramount as is the ability to disrupt the mood. Specifics are important but being vague and allowing the audience to fill in the specifics can be even more important. If the execution is spot on, holes (or cheap convenient tie ins) in the plot can be forgiven. It also helps to have two really attractive people as main characters...

The movie was really effing good. Reminded me of Scarface, especially the brutally violent scenes and the use of slow motion and music to enhance the mood. I kinda wanna watch it again just to point out all the beautiful moments in it. Great ensemble acting, too. Just... really, really, really good.

No comments:

Post a Comment