Character ambivalence + conflict
May 15, 2018 1:41:57 GMT
jervistetch, spiderwort, and 3 more like this
Post by london777 on May 15, 2018 1:41:57 GMT
Great thread, spiderwort, and close to my heart. I posted in another thread that my favorite movies are those where the protagonist has to make a difficult moral choice, which is related to what you are writing about. I will probably need to come back to this thread (again and again).
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One of my favorite films of the new millennium is Margaret (2011 dir: Kenneth Lonergan). I do not know of any film that better illustrates the web we can weave, not by practicing to deceive (as the old saying has it) but by trying to do the right thing. It is kind of backwards to the examples already given. The protagonist is very clear what she wants at the start, to right a wrong. But by the end of the movie she is totally baffled as to which is the morally right course.
The same actress, Anna Paquin, plays a rather similar character in Spike Lee's 25th Hour (2002) but here she is just a supporting character and it is Edward Norton who has the moral dilemma to resolve. Should he report to the police and serve a long jail term or do a runner?
In Cambridge Spies (2003 UK TV mini-series) they all have to weigh their desire to fight fascism, against their family lives, their careers, and reputations. They all make the right choice, and to a greater or lesser extent sacrifice their lives, but the series also shows that their motivations were not solely noble. Snobbery, jealousy, bloody-mindedness, resentment at social censure because gay, etc, all played a part.
The real story is more surprising and complex than any film could be, but this is a good attempt despite the small TV budget which partly undermines things The Spanish episodes are embarrassingly poverty-stricken and it is a shame they were not written out. If you are American, interested in spy stories, and can play Region 2 DVDs, invest seven dollars in it.
Elmer Gantry (1960 dir: Richard Brooks) starts off by trying to rip off the travelling crusade of Sister Sharon Falconer. Then he falls in love with her (who wouldn't?) and does his level best to help her succeed. When things falls apart (literally) we hope that he is a sadder and more ethical man. Unsubtle Hollywood hokum, but one of my favorite movies.
In my all-time favorite movie in the universe, Wild Strawberries (1957) dir: Ingmar Bergman, Dr Isaak Borg (played by the great silent director Victor Sjöström) has shut out all warm feelings to concentrate on his medical career. At the end of his life, during a trip to receive a high academic honor, a succession of dreams and random meetings with strangers, make the old blockhead realize he has got the balance wrong, and he makes some clumsy attempts to start putting things right. In Casablanca I am only in tears when she sings La Marseillaise, but this one is apt to start me off at any point. The film shows why he became a loner (missing out on Bibi Andersson in her prime could do that to any male) but the garage stop (with Max von Sydow) suggests he maybe made the right life choice.
One of my favorite films of the new millennium is Margaret (2011 dir: Kenneth Lonergan). I do not know of any film that better illustrates the web we can weave, not by practicing to deceive (as the old saying has it) but by trying to do the right thing. It is kind of backwards to the examples already given. The protagonist is very clear what she wants at the start, to right a wrong. But by the end of the movie she is totally baffled as to which is the morally right course.
The same actress, Anna Paquin, plays a rather similar character in Spike Lee's 25th Hour (2002) but here she is just a supporting character and it is Edward Norton who has the moral dilemma to resolve. Should he report to the police and serve a long jail term or do a runner?
In Cambridge Spies (2003 UK TV mini-series) they all have to weigh their desire to fight fascism, against their family lives, their careers, and reputations. They all make the right choice, and to a greater or lesser extent sacrifice their lives, but the series also shows that their motivations were not solely noble. Snobbery, jealousy, bloody-mindedness, resentment at social censure because gay, etc, all played a part.
The real story is more surprising and complex than any film could be, but this is a good attempt despite the small TV budget which partly undermines things The Spanish episodes are embarrassingly poverty-stricken and it is a shame they were not written out. If you are American, interested in spy stories, and can play Region 2 DVDs, invest seven dollars in it.
Elmer Gantry (1960 dir: Richard Brooks) starts off by trying to rip off the travelling crusade of Sister Sharon Falconer. Then he falls in love with her (who wouldn't?) and does his level best to help her succeed. When things falls apart (literally) we hope that he is a sadder and more ethical man. Unsubtle Hollywood hokum, but one of my favorite movies.
In my all-time favorite movie in the universe, Wild Strawberries (1957) dir: Ingmar Bergman, Dr Isaak Borg (played by the great silent director Victor Sjöström) has shut out all warm feelings to concentrate on his medical career. At the end of his life, during a trip to receive a high academic honor, a succession of dreams and random meetings with strangers, make the old blockhead realize he has got the balance wrong, and he makes some clumsy attempts to start putting things right. In Casablanca I am only in tears when she sings La Marseillaise, but this one is apt to start me off at any point. The film shows why he became a loner (missing out on Bibi Andersson in her prime could do that to any male) but the garage stop (with Max von Sydow) suggests he maybe made the right life choice.