Over and over and over again
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:57 pm
No, I am not talking about discussions of HD formats!
I have recently seen a few non-commercial films in which part of the action is repeated with tiny differences. Though the commercial movie Groundhog Day made use of this notion, the best commercial example I know is Lola Runs. In that film the heroine has to get from her flat to a meeting point across the city in a very short time. The action is partly surreal to start with. Her leaving the flat, racing downstairs and out into the street is cartoonish in its speeded-up action. Thereafter it becomes a group of scenes showing her running through streets. The shots are very similar but with different incidents each time. Thankfully each repetition is shorter than the previous one which stops the effect becoming tedious. Some of the incidents are witty and funny in themselves.
The n-c examples I have seen do much the same - and do it very well.
I enjoy the fun, the sense of discovery and the reminder that nothing ever goes quite as planned. But it is a reminder that the audience is watching a film and not observing reality. It breaks the spell that is clumsily called "suspension of disbelief". It is a bit like having a character turn from the drama to camera and talking directly to the audience.
It is certainly not a device that could be used very often, but it does appeal to me.
Is this just another of my kinks? What do you think of such tricks?
Dave
I have recently seen a few non-commercial films in which part of the action is repeated with tiny differences. Though the commercial movie Groundhog Day made use of this notion, the best commercial example I know is Lola Runs. In that film the heroine has to get from her flat to a meeting point across the city in a very short time. The action is partly surreal to start with. Her leaving the flat, racing downstairs and out into the street is cartoonish in its speeded-up action. Thereafter it becomes a group of scenes showing her running through streets. The shots are very similar but with different incidents each time. Thankfully each repetition is shorter than the previous one which stops the effect becoming tedious. Some of the incidents are witty and funny in themselves.
The n-c examples I have seen do much the same - and do it very well.
I enjoy the fun, the sense of discovery and the reminder that nothing ever goes quite as planned. But it is a reminder that the audience is watching a film and not observing reality. It breaks the spell that is clumsily called "suspension of disbelief". It is a bit like having a character turn from the drama to camera and talking directly to the audience.
It is certainly not a device that could be used very often, but it does appeal to me.
Is this just another of my kinks? What do you think of such tricks?
Dave