Once again I am returning to Speed Racer.
One complaint about the movie is that there are moments when the little brother and the monkey interrupt incredible key moments of the film. They weaken the emotions that are being built up by the more important scenes. At first I agree with those who critized this type interruption as being bad because it weaken the emotional strength of the scenes.
However, I now have a theory which I think explains why the monkey and brother are actually used in an important way to help the overall film.
My theory begins with basic movie form. Films should be designed in a crescendo form. They start weak and build strength as they approach the climax. The climax needs to be the moment of greatest emotional strengthen. Notice that I didn't just say of "great" emotional strength. I said "greatest". Therefore if there is a moment in the film before the climax which is stronger than the climax, there is a serious flaw in the film's form. The audience is expecting the climax to be the strongest scene, and if it isn't, they will be disappointed.
So to return to the example of Speed Racer. There is a scene about 1/3 of the way through the film in which Speed and Royalton are engaged in a heated debate. It is very intense. In comparison to the climax, I don't believe it has quite the strength, but it is fairly close. However, the filmmakers decided to intersperse this scene with cuts to the brother and monkey messing around. I thinking this was done to intentionally weaken the argument scene so that it more effectively rests within the greater context of the emotional rise of the film.
I think this is a very good example of how film needs to be seen as a whole as opposed to various parts attached together.
Kyler
2 comments:
No. It's not a crescendo all the way through. Right after that big scene in the middle is a down scene which is relatively slow and talky. But that's not a mis-step. See, the structure of the story, though extremely simple, is not quite as simple as you're painting it. That scene in the middle is the climax of the movie so far, where it looks like Speed Racer doesn't have any chance at all. It's a very negative moment. After that, there's supposed to be a sense of gloom and hopelessness, after which he builds up to the point where he achieves everything. Ideally, the negative climax should be only slightly less extreme than the negative climax, so that it's a big struggle in the bigger picture.
So yeah, I'm not convinced. It would have worked better without the sidekicks. This isn't a matter of narrative integrity, it's a matter of faithful adaptation.
"Ideally, the negative climax should be only slightly less extreme than the negative climax, so that it's a big struggle in the bigger picture."
Obviously, the second "negative" there was supposed to read "positive". Sorry.
Post a Comment