Time shifters--Moviemakers and their disordered narratives

David Denby, the New Yorker’s astute film critic, focuses his attention on movies that play with time and their audiences in an article of interest to storytellers, regardless of medium.

The entire piece is thought-provoking, but one passage in particular jumped out at me; it’s an homage to narrative that is under assault in movie theaters around the world.

"Storytellers, relying on sequence and causality, make sense out of nonsense; they impose order, economy, and moral consequence on the helter-skelter wash of experience. The notion that one event causes another, and that the entire chain is a unified whole, with a complex, may be ambivalent, but, in any case, coherent meaning, not only brings us to a point of resolution; it allows us to navigate through our lives."

But Denby’s focus, propelled by this year’s Academy Award nominated “Babel,” is about movie storytellers with a different impact, leaving “the viewer experiencing reactions before actions, dénouements before climaxes, disillusion before ecstasy, and many other upsetting reversals and discombobulations.”

Just as audiences became accustomed to non-Hollywood endings that refused to give us what we wanted (enemies falling in love, sympathetic characters who were not snatched from the jaws of death), Denby says we’re getting used to structures that bend time.

“All these movies draw on a sophistication about cinema that is now almost universal. We know that a film is not a piece of life; we know that it is something made. And we’re used to being shoved around in time—we may even be doing some of the shoving ourselves.”

Technology makes “new non-narrative movies” possible, for established filmmakers as well as anyone with access to ripping software who wants to create their own structure.

“Twenty-five years ago, the videotape transfer of a film sustained the notion of a movie as a continuous track: you could run it forward or backward, but the film was “printed” on magnetic tape, and you remained on the track. Digital information, on the other hand, can be infinitely manipulated; you can jump from one place to another or cut the movie into pieces. At home, kids create “mashups”—chopping sections out of a feature film, mixing the excerpts with their own material, and posting the result on the Web as a madcap original creation. “

But all that digital time-shifting, may come with a hefty price.

“The danger of instant editing, of course, is not just disordered time sequences but glibness. Some of the big Hollywood action films move so quickly that they eliminate the most rudimentary emotional attachment to the material. It would be terrible if computer editing wiped out the proper emotional resistance to making a cut—the lingering grave affection for a face, a landscape, an interior, even the resonance of an empty space.“

Here’s a filmography of the ”topsy-turvey narratives’ Denby discusses in the piece. You can learn more about them from the Internet Movie Database at imdb.com

Babel
Amores Perros
21 Grams
Adaptation
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Traffic
Syriana
Miami Vice
Betrayal
Pulp Fiction
The Good Shepherd
Un Chien Andalou
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Hiroshima, Mon Amour
Muriel
L’Avventura
Memento
The Lives of Others

Comments

[Nicholas]

He talked about Momento, and I think that this was one of the few exceptions to his argument. Momento jumped around because the character, and the character's short term memory loss, required it. The sequence of events furthered the plot, making the viewer feel like he or she was actually suffering from the same condition of the main character. This was brilliant.
I agreed with Denby's general argument, which as I understood is that filmakers often play around with plots not because it's required or because it adds depth to the characters, intensifies the themes or adds elements of confusion in confusing situations, but because it's different. As he stated, and I'm summarizing here, the new style usually fails because few filmmakers employ these new capabilities, twists and turns in plot and sequence, in a manner that actually contributes to the viewing experience. You can't have a crappy plot made brilliant by simply employing this new trend and disorganizing the events.

[smjzq doai]

femhdyjwo nyordkmh inepathw xikohc zvtf vlxgyz bdmqrol

[new balance]

For the pursuit of light and heat, people would rather give up his life. Life is sweet. But the cold and lonely, but not the astounding.Do you think so?

[Asics shoes]

Happiness is a thankful heart, a healthy body, the work of a heart, a love your lover, a trusted friend to help, I wish you all! Through the long time, count fragrant memories, please remember me, like I always think of you.

[Air Jordans]

You blog is so lovely that speak the words right out my month. . I bookmarkt you so that we can talk about it in details, I really can't help myself but have to leave a comment,you are so good.

[new jordans]

The blog article very surprised to me! Your writing is good. In this I learned a lot! Thank you!

[air jordan 2]

Great post!!!It has some interesting things that are almost as interesting as this blog's stuff! I think you'd like it.Thanks for the good post!

[supra shoes]

Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass.The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want, and if they cannot find them, make them.so Pursue your object, be it what it will, steadily and indefatigably.

[Shox NZ,]

After a certain point, she became impassive, detached utterly from him

[Shox NZ]

After a certain point, she became impassive, detached utterly from him

[Air Yeezy]

Such a good writing, or by I saw for the first time. I'm quite happy, you are a good writer

[Nike Heels]

Thank you for the article, I saw after the enlightened, my idea like you, just not good at expression

[Air Max 24 7]

You can share some of your article, I'm like you write something, really very good! I will continue to focus on

[Jeans Outlet]

Never done in the article comments, this is my first network comments, appreciate you sharing. Very good article

[MBT Shoes]

I find this very useful, and have some ideas as to how it could be better communicated. because i join new software company just so i have less knowledge about this so how i implement this on it, Please contact me if you areinterested.

[baby products]

Thank you for sharing. Very happy to see your article, I very much to like and agree with your point of view. Have a good time.

[Griffeys Shoes]

Great article. Some stuff on here i never even knew about.

[Interior Accessories]

Thank you for sharing. Very happy to see your article, I very much to like and agree with your point of view. Have a good time.

[Jordan Heels]

Wonderful, it is so nice for me to stand at such a great blog of my life, i am really glad to leave my comment here in very decent topic, thank you!

[Designer Swimwear]

I like your article very much, support you.

[Designer Swimwear]

I like your article very much, support you.

[Jeremy Scott Shoes]

Happiness is a thankful heart, a healthy body, the work of a heart, a love your lover, a trusted friend to help, I wish you all! Through the long time, count fragrant memories, please remember me, like I always think of you.

[Christian Louboutin Outlet]

Sorry,i don't know how to receive my response, why?

http://www.christianlouboutindiscounts.com/

[designer bags]

It offers many new arrivals with big dicount, don't miss them.

[Ken Griffey Shoes]

Your article makes me stay in high spirits all the day!