Speed Racer Revisted

Well I went to Speed Racer again. This time with my parents, and this time to the Imax version.

As this movie has spectacular visuals it was a treat to see it in Imax quality.

I was surprised how well the movie held up even for the second viewing. Though it was held up most highly since I realized why it was so great the first time through.

This movie has a fantastic climax. A climax in a film is when there is the final most definitive and important shift in the value of the story. It will end up always being the revelatory moment. In watching Speed Racer the second time through I realized one of the biggest difficulties and mistakes film makers are faced with. I suspect that most film makers view films as a time line of the story they are trying to tell.

Stories are taught to us to be formed in time lines. I think generally when making films, we try to a make a film simply by knowing the entire time line of the events being presented, and then editing it down to about two hours. This means the story will be told sequentially and pretty much as expect. Some film makers try to get around this with flash backs and flash forwards, but I don't think they really try to break from this mold very much.

What I realized in speed racer was that the climax in this film was not created simply because it was on the time line of the story, it was the focal point. And instead of being presented as another scene from the film, it was the integral part of the film. Everything in the movie was designed to help in strengthening the climax. I saw the climax of this film as more of a collage then a regular film. It was hundreds of things coming together all at once that suddenly made the whole things work. The reason the rest of the film was neccesary was that the climax can't exist without the rest of the film.

I have doubts that I have explained my ideas well enough. Maybe I'll be able to explain it better later.

Kkyler