Comments on: I’m Gonna Tell You A Story http://freakytrigger.co.uk/see/2009/02/im-gonna-tell-you-a-story/ Lollards in the high church of low culture Tue, 29 May 2012 21:53:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Mark M http://freakytrigger.co.uk/see/2009/02/im-gonna-tell-you-a-story/#comment-595400 Mark M Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:15:29 +0000 http://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=13313#comment-595400 Have finally seen VCB and you're absolutely right about that dreadful song, and about the way that the narration has been written to be of no intrinsic interest in itself – it's purely functional, which seems an odd choice for Allen; I kept expecting jokes. As for the film as a whole I thought: on the one hand, it is more forgivable than the London films in that it is unashamedly a tourist-eyed film, an American fantasy about hot-blooded Latins. So, considering why they are in Barcelona, it is not unreasonable for the characters to, for instance, be constantly be popping to Parc Guell, which is not at all central and you wouldn't passing through casually. On the other, I thought in a way it had been thoroughly pre-empted by Whit Stillman's Barcelona, a movie I had a lot of problems with but which put Woody Allenesque Americans in Catalunya to much more interesting effect. Have finally seen VCB and you’re absolutely right about that dreadful song, and about the way that the narration has been written to be of no intrinsic interest in itself – it’s purely functional, which seems an odd choice for Allen; I kept expecting jokes. As for the film as a whole I thought: on the one hand, it is more forgivable than the London films in that it is unashamedly a tourist-eyed film, an American fantasy about hot-blooded Latins. So, considering why they are in Barcelona, it is not unreasonable for the characters to, for instance, be constantly be popping to Parc Guell, which is not at all central and you wouldn’t passing through casually. On the other, I thought in a way it had been thoroughly pre-empted by Whit Stillman’s Barcelona, a movie I had a lot of problems with but which put Woody Allenesque Americans in Catalunya to much more interesting effect.

]]> By: Mark M http://freakytrigger.co.uk/see/2009/02/im-gonna-tell-you-a-story/#comment-590205 Mark M Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:14:44 +0000 http://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=13313#comment-590205 The anti-narration line is the biggest load of crock – it's a bit of clever sounding theory that only holds up if you resolutely ignore the history of good filmmaking. Take your pick from (and this is completely off the top of my head) Kind Hearts And Coronets, The Magnificent Ambersons, GoodFellas, 2 ou 3 Choses Que Je Sais D'Elle, Apocalypse Now, Sunset Boulevard, and (as you say) Badlands. That is forgetting hundreds of great films. And of course, TV shows like Arrested Development or My Name Is Earl. It's a storytelling option that works well some times and not others: in the case of Malick it works brilliantly in Badlands and not at all (I would argue) in Days Of Heaven. Your narrator can be factual, unreliable, multiple, filling in the whole story, just there to give you a start... More importantly though, I absolutely love Sheen's hair in Badlands. The anti-narration line is the biggest load of crock – it’s a bit of clever sounding theory that only holds up if you resolutely ignore the history of good filmmaking. Take your pick from (and this is completely off the top of my head) Kind Hearts And Coronets, The Magnificent Ambersons, GoodFellas, 2 ou 3 Choses Que Je Sais D’Elle, Apocalypse Now, Sunset Boulevard, and (as you say) Badlands. That is forgetting hundreds of great films. And of course, TV shows like Arrested Development or My Name Is Earl. It’s a storytelling option that works well some times and not others: in the case of Malick it works brilliantly in Badlands and not at all (I would argue) in Days Of Heaven. Your narrator can be factual, unreliable, multiple, filling in the whole story, just there to give you a start…

More importantly though, I absolutely love Sheen’s hair in Badlands.

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