Post by Casablanca on Jul 28, 2009 15:16:19 GMT -5
Re-Possession (Martage)
Being a contest piece, I know that, in fact, the target is there. Martage has his gun, and raises it, aiming to fire. Why is it then that he only ends up shooting himself in the foot? It seems to strike me that whenever a contest indicates that they want a work to circle around a certain theme, the precise thing they are “not” looking for is a work that circles around a certain theme, but instead uses that theme in a unique, creative, and innovative way to make a serious topic both entertaining, and also thought provoking. Given the subject matter, I can guess that 9/10th of the films will be dramatic portrayals of a crumbling life, family involved. .5/10 will be comedies, .49/10 will be action films, and you always need the .01 who writes an incomprehensible mess, hoping to pass it off as an artistic messiah. This, sadly, falls into that “9”, of films who, though humor is added in spades, focuses far too much on the expected, cliché results. And in this, the move stands as not only a slight bore, but also a prime example of missed potential.
Unlike his previous film, this one not only has scathing humor in scarcity, it just doesn’t have it at all; instead trying its best to map out as much a story as can in the scant ten pages or so it is allowed. Here is their first flaw; we get too much crammed in too little. I would have liked to see the entire short centered around Dan, how his way of life has effected him, and note, I do not mean in a serious manner. There are plenty of curveballs this film could have used; one example I mentioned is having the Repo people be Nazi SS-look-alikes in a d too real dystopian world. It is this sort of creativity that is missing here, and we, instead, get nothing to deviate from boredom except for a tacky addition of his brother- a move which I didn’t particularly take fondness too, as it only sidestepped from the purpose of the themes and drained the script of any volatile humor that could have been put there, and note that “could have” is a term that will be used lots with this short, since everything this movie did could have been done more excitingly, I believe.
The dialogue, also, is, I hate to say, anywhere between mediocre and poor, depending on the line. Everything is too direct, telling you the story as you go through it, and not letting the reader assume it on their own terms, to point, even when the talk in not narration, it still feels it, and that really makes it a distant, cold piece. When you have a film about economic downfall, I thought the point was to make it feel like ii can hit home, not making us read through these characters with nothing but monotony spewing from their lips.
Technically, this ain’t no marvel to write home ’bout, anyways. When it isn’t borderline messy, it is relentlessly, embarrassingly pre-school, trying to fit so much in so little, when really, what you need is to just limit the load. Pick one thing to focus on, and not brothers, careers, and the millions of other things out there in the world.
Now, you all may seem to think that I am going above myself, especially taken into account the film had to be easy to shoot, if needed, but am I? All I am asking for is something refreshingly sizzling, not old beef. Even giving the film more of a personal, documentary-ish feel would suffice, following Dan around the typical day of a Repo man. Instead we get one fifth of a dramedy film that will never be finished.
Overall, there is not much I can say that I haven’t said already, since there isn’t anything here that hasn’t been done before. It’s a simple idea, simple story, with simple, one-note characters. Perhaps the notion was good, but ideas don’t win contests, scripts do. Talking with martage, it seems like he will give this script the works, fixing it up and making it better then it currently is. IF it is required isn’t my position to say, but I will say this, whatever the case may be, it sure would be nice to give this corpse a breath of fresh air to breathe with, because right now that’s all it is; dead.
) that won't be restricted to the guidelines of a contest.