Well, dear readers, what becomes a thriller most? Given the number of absolutely inept thrillers, especially in the last thirty years, apparently very few know. So, let me start with the obvious: STRUCTURE. Getting from A to B to C right to the end – cleanly, no cheating, if there are to be “twists” earn them, don’t just throw one in and hope it will surprise people so much that they won’t notice how completely stupid it is. Compelling characters, a dose or two of humor, a director who understands pace and the mechanics of a thriller, villains who aren’t merely psychopaths of the one-note variety, and on and on. Let me give you a quick example of a earned twist – well, you all know The Sixth Sense – even though it didn’t fool me, it definitely fooled 99% of the audience and if you watch the film a second time it plays fair almost all the time. But the example I’m going to cite, is from The Silence of the Lambs. If you’ve never seen it, this is your SPOILER ALERT so just skip to the next paragraph. More to the point – why HAVEN’T you seen it? Anyway, Clarice has discovered the address of a former client of a young woman tailor who worked with the villain of the film and was his first victim, and she’s heading to that woman’s house. Before she gets there, she gets a call from her boss at the FBI saying they’ve found the villain and are on their way to storm his residence and hopefully rescue the hostage he has there. All of this is perfectly set up. Her boss tells Clarice that the villain’s house is in Calumet City. Clarice says if she leaves now, she can get there in a few hours, but her boss tells her they’ll be there before that and to just follow up on her lead with the client. Then we see the house in Calumet City, identified on screen, and the FBI surrounding the house. Crosscut with that is Clarice going to the home of the woman client to follow up with her and get any information. The crosscutting continues as the FBI is in position and Clarice is walking up to the door of the client’s house. The FBI then rings the doorbell and we see the ringer in the villain’s house repeatedly ringing, as the villain knows he has to answer – the FBI storm the house, breaking down the front door – to find – no one there. Cut to Clarice at the client’s house, where she’s been ringing the doorbell. The door opens and there is the villain and then the film’s final twelve minutes play out. It’s one of the all-time great fakeouts in movie history – in fact, let’s just say it IS the greatest. When I saw the movie, the entire audience gasped loudly. A perfect thriller moment because while it IS a fakeout, it NEVER cheats. What one would call a WOW moment.
I mention this because last night I watched a so-called thriller so inept at every turn – writing-wise, directing-wise, and acting-wise – and you suffer through this thing and then we get a “twist” that is so preposterous on every level that all you can do is laugh at the sheer chutzpah of foisting it on the audience. The film received one horrible review after another, and the ending is mentioned in every one of them as being ludicrous. The film is entitled Perfect Stranger, it stars Halle Berry, Bruce Willis, Giovanni Ribisi, and others. I suppose I’m the only person on planet Earth who has never found Ms. Berry to be the beauty to end all beauties that everyone else thinks she is – it is literally mentioned in every terrible review the film got. I’ve never seen the movie for which she won her Oscar, but the ones I have seen don’t impress me at all, acting-wise. Mr. Willis literally smirks through the entire film – his smirk never changes – and Mr. Ribisi, whose career I fail to understand, is simply one of my least favorite actors currently working. Add to that that he’s a devout Scientologist and, well, I cannot stand him. I’ve never liked James Foley’s work as a director, and this film was no exception. You want to watch the perfect mechanics of a thriller, with great characters, a villain who’s urbane and witty, and great thriller set pieces, look no further than North by Northwest. Then watch Rear Window. Then watch Strangers on a Train. Of the more modern variety, there are a few I’ve enjoyed, but they really are few and far between.
I also watched a motion picture entitled Stay, a pretentious load of twaddle whose ending I figured out ten minutes into the picture. Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling, and Naomi Watts – good cast – you know when the press materials call it a “mind-bending thriller” you know what you’re in for. And yes, both movies were huge flops.
Well, that was a lot of words about thrillers that went on and on without that many thrills, frankly, although I did find it mind-bending. Otherwise, right now I’m listening to Howard Hanson’s first symphony in Mercury Living Presence stereo – a little dry sounding and his band isn’t world class by any means, but it’s great. Other than Hanson’s own traversal of his symphonies, the only other complete set was on Delos (and reissued by Naxos but with NO remastering and fixing of the Delos sound issues), conducted by Gerard Swarz. I’m not much of a fan of those, mostly due to very poor mastering and low volume. There ARE many recordings of the Hanson second and they’re all decent with a couple much more than decent. But every one of his symphonies should have more recordings – it’s really shameful. Prior to the first symphony, I listened to his marvelously marvelous piano concerto. If you don’t know this man’s music, hie thee to the Tube of You and learn.
Otherwise, yesterday was okay. I only slept around five hours, got up, chose a lot of songs for the holiday show (only three or four to go), so that was good, went to the mail place and picked up a small package, came home, had my favorite pasta with chicken from the Cheesecake Factory (excellent, but the lunch portion is really not very much food), sent off the second set of notes, watched the first movie, had some clam chowder and a slice of really good cherry pie, watched the second movie, and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, and I will have a total ME day from start to finish. I’ll basically just relax and watch stuff and eat.
This week is very busy, and then on Thursday I have my eye doctor visit first thing in the morning.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, have a ME day, eat something fun, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have expounded on what becomes a thriller most.