Speculating “The Dark Knight Rises”

“Everything that has a beginning has an end.”

It is a cardinal law of trilogies that every part must represent a single act in the three act structure of the whole. When it comes to film, a director can take it in two different directions – make it a series of unrelated films or end it when it is suppose to be. If you make it a series then the creative juice in the story dries very quickly and the whole story loses the very vital emotional drive. This ultimately leads to a painful death of the franchise and then there is only one way out – reboot it in 3D!

After two travesties by Joel Schumaker namely Batman Forever, and Batman and Robin, execs at Warner made a wise choice by taking it to Nolan. He amped up the series and gave it a place it always deserved.

Time and again I always displayed my distaste for comic book movies. Batman is a different beast though. Tim Burton brought to life one of the most difficult character in the comic book series. His two movies set the ground for one of the darkest comic book hero in the history of cinema. Christopher Nolan went to the roots and based on his fascination for film noir created a movie which was anything but a comic book film. And suddenly Batman was no longer a kiddies film.

We all know what he did with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. However what we don’t know is what’ll happen in the The Dark Knight Rises. Let’s explore the possibilities by using some logical deductions.

Dark Knight ended on the edge of a cliff and if first film is considered as Dark Knight Begins then second can also be called The Fall of Dark Knight or simply put – end of act 2 in Nolan’s Batman universe. So Dark Knight Rises may not be a flashy title but it is a logical title as it’ll bring an end to the series. Off course money grubbing bastards can always find one trick ponies to resuscitate the franchise. As long as it is able to walk, let’s fuck it!

What about the villains?

In an interview with LA Times Hero Complex, Nolan confirmed that Riddler (or Edward Nigma) will not make an appearance. I think it makes a logical sense. Riddler as a Batman villain is very similar in characteristics to Joker. He is egomaniac like Joker with no motive for creating terror. He is ostentatious, sociopath and wears almost similar mask like Joker. In terms of casting it was earlier rumored that Robbin Williams, Johnny Depp and lot of other actors have shown their keenness. But it’s no longer relevant. Off course it is also confirmed that Joker will not make any presence. I think it’ll take a decade to bring Joker back to life as Heath Ledger’s performance will be hard to top.

Another villain which is recently in rumors is Dr. Hugo Strange. As per IMDB Tom Hardy (from Inception) is purportedly playing this role. As per wikipedia, Hugo Strange is a Professor of Psychology with genius level IQ and perfected in the art of hand to hand combat. Off course he is no Joker but he might serve as a good entry in Nolan’s grand finale.

It was also reported on some websites that Wally Pfister and Nolan is planning to shoot part of the film in Louisiana which brings an interesting perspective to the story. There is a hint off course which is Bayou and that means crocodiles and a hint towards another villain – Killer Croc. Killer Croc has a reptilian appearance which is result of a genetic mutation.

As a general rule in screenwriting you always create a rectangle in storytelling where each corner represents one of the major character from the story. In typical story it means – a hero (Batman), a mentor (Alfred), and two villains. However in case of comic book film two villains are not enough as you always need something going on so a screenwriter creates a pentagon with an additional villain. This third villain is usually not the major one but it does represents a force. In case of previous two films it was the mob and it is quiet possible that it might be mob again in the third film.

So there you have it my analysis of the third film two years before it’ll come to theater. Off course none of this has any possibility as it is all based on information collected from different sources. But nevertheless guessing unpredictable is an interesting game. That’s how all the analyst are keeping their jobs about making all the baseless predictions about what Apple Inc. will announce next month.

There is still one and a half year before film hits theater. In the meantime here are some fan made cover for the film.

 

Inception – A modern masterpiece

[SPOILER WARNING]

I got a chance to see Inception in IMAX on saturday. It was superbly crafted, highly intelligent and in true sense a modern masterpiece. As per me it comes in the same ranks of Blade Runner and Matrix as a science fiction film.

Broadly there are two kinds of film audience:

1. One who watches films

2. Others who understand films (typically critics or anybody remotely interested in the specifics of cinema)

Thankfully the movie will appeal to everyone. There is more than enough food for thought for everyone.

This is Christopher Nolan’s first original story after Following. Christopher Nolan has proven time and again how deft he is in handling complex characters and plot-lines.

On the surface Inception is an action packed science fiction film but where it separates from the pack is it’s multi-layered narrative. Christopher Nolan experimented with multiple genres in this film — it is a heist film in a science fiction type setting but under the hood is really a love story. This is Christopher Nolan’s third stab at experimenting with the perception of reality. I was listening to his interview with Elvis Mitchell on KCRW before the release of Inception and he mentioned his inspiration goes all the way back to Akira Kurosawa. 

Without talking too much about the setting I want to delve deeper in the web of narrative style.

Story De-construction

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb who is a masterful thief of human consciousness. How they do it is not really the crux of the film. On the surface it seems an ensemble cast with excellent performance from every actor. However what drives the story forward is really the need of Dom Cobb (DiCaprio). One theme which on an on resonates in the story is “to go home”. This strong desire to go home is what drives him to plan the big heist. The film had lot of international settings and clearly reflects Nolan’s fascination for the magnanimity of Bond films.

Usually in the heist films all the characters seem very similar as style takes over the substance. As Nolan puts it “heist films are typically emotionless”.

The film questions the very basic fabric of reality – what’s real and what’s not? It is not surprising that the inspiration also comes from the films from the late 1990s namely Dark City and The Matrix and to an extent Memento.

Without giving away too much I want to say that the film is way different then anything you might have seen before. It is deep in terms of emotionality and narrative structure. I am sure film students in future will have hard time deciphering the meaning conveyed in the story.

Editing Style

Nolan is a big fan of Nicholas Roeg (director of Don’t Look Now, Walkabout and many more). His editing style is apparent here and the third act itself is best example of cross-cutting ever practiced in cinema. This whole sequence is the highest point of film and perfected with cross cutting. The tension never dips and keeps on mounting until the final catharsis.

Cinematography

The film deals with subconsciousness and vastness of mind and Wally Pfister’s cinematography effectively captures the limitlessness of the world without calling attention to itself. The film wasn’t shot on the IMAX cameras so even if you don’t watch it there you are not going to miss anything. It is still equally great in terms of storytelling.

Sigmund Freud said, “Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.” In Inception every world is governed by its own laws of Physics. What is impossible here is a reality in other. The only thing that limits the laws of the world is our ability to imagine.

The film is intelligent, smart and for most part something very original. I am sure that film theorist will deconstruct the story in the years to come. It’s a film which you watch for the first time for fun and subsequent times to understand. I cannot wait to watch this film again sometime next week once the fever settles down.

Unity of Opposites and the art of perfect Villain

I was watching the 16th episode of Lost Season 6 and it was amazing. This episode served as a back story of Jacob v/s The Black Smoke. As most of the people who follows Lost probably knows that the countdown to the ending has begun. I couldn’t help noticing the prominence of Unity of Opposites in the finale.

The most popular definition of Unity of Opposites is equality of Light and Dark. In the image shown in the right it shows how light and dark balances out each other.

The concept of Unity of Opposites is present in practically every religion known to man. Michael v/s Lucifer, David v/s Goliath, Lord Rama v/s Ravana, Ying v/s Yang even Harry Potter

v/s Voldemort or Batman v/s Joker.

It does not necessarily means good v/s evil. Hell it’s not even right v/s wrong. In it’s most fundamental form it is a contrast of nature. It means two concepts or forces at the opposing end of spectrum.

Hollywood tries to portray a clear distinction of good v/s evil when it’s nothing more than a point of view.

When you catch a movie next time or read a book do yourself a favor and do it from the point of view of the antagonist. In storytelling your protagonist and antagonist almost always follows the same goal with opposing means.

Mahabharatha although is considered a battle between Kauravas and Pandavas but in essence it is a battle between two people following different idealogies – Lord Krishna and Bhishma.

All most all religious text around the world is based on one simple notion – Unity of Opposites. Like a seasoned writer the storytellers understood that good story can only happen if there is any contrast.

In the end whichever way you understand duality but one thing to understand is that it is the contrast in the nature which makes every experience worthwhile.

Punch-Drunk Love

Last night I happen to catch one of the gems of P. T. Anderson called Punch-Drunk Love. Those who have not heard about this film here is a brief synopsis.  Punch-Drunk Love is a 2002 romantic comedy film about a Sherman Oaks based business man who is lonely, mentally repressed and happens to meet a girl and falls for her.

If you are interested here is the link for the screenplay:

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Punch-Drunk_Love.html

People who know me would have asked — Whoa! What’s with this romantic shit?

If you are like me then there are a couple of things which makes this film different and worth your while:

1. The most important thing is it is a P.T. Anderson film.

2. The best film of Adam Sandler’s career. Period.

Adam Sandler is known for his zany comedies. Almost all his films seems similar, with same actors, similar situations and worse same performance from him.

Punch-Drunk Love is way different than any of his films. It really outshines him as an actor capable of handling a challenging role.

On the surface the film seems simple love story but being a P.T. Anderson film it is way deeper than that. Most important of all it is a psychological case study of how a repressed person behaves.

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is a gateway disease for all bigger psychological problems. Our protagonist Barry has an amusing OCD of buying puddings so that he can collect a million airlines mile.

A repressed mind is in constant motion and this is deftly shown in the film. There is such a huge sense of motion throughout the film which in a way represents the mindset of Barry. As Barry gets increasingly agitated the music as well as the cuts becomes faster.

Another important motif in the film is the color. Blue and red were important colors in the film. If you have watched closely even the titles had waves of blue and red. Throughout the film Barry wears a blue suit and Lena wears a red dress. This is a huge contrast because if you know a little bit about color theory you probably understands that blue is a color that represents serenity and red is a color of passion. However in the film both characters are opposite Barry is always agitated whereas Lena is always calm, serene.

Use of white light is another motif. Barry almost always enters his office from blinding white background. It almost feels like that white is a color that is bleak, almost punishing for Barry. His apartment is all white which is dull, lifeless.

If you are interested in understanding the mis-en-scene of the film then one viewing is way too less. This film is way too complex to comprehend in terms of spatial arrangements of elements.

However if you just wanted to enjoy the classic style of storytelling then look no further. This is without question storytelling at its best.

My fascination for the Mindf**ks

Mindfuck [mahynd fuhk]  IPA: /maɪnd fʌk/

–noun

1. A concept or argument which is fraught with contradictions, and is used as a control tool.

2. An idea or concept that shakes one’s previously held beliefs or assumptions about the nature of reality.

3. A cinematic technique that uses misdirection to lead to an ending that is at first glance completely unexpected or contradictory, but is coherent and reasonable given hindsight and careful observation of the clues presented.

In pop culture a Mindfuck is a film which often employs a plot device where the [perception of] reality is distorted to such an extent that sequences can only make sense if viewed in a larger context of the story [usually climactic moments]. (Phew!! I hate long definitions.)

From the beginning of the cinema countless filmmakers have experimented with the perception of reality. There are quite a few films that have been successful in the execution of this concept. Some of the notable films are:

• The Matrix
• Dark City
• Machinist
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Prestige
• Memento
• Inception (2010)
• Lost (TV Series)
• Carnival of Souls
• Twilight Zone (Original Series)
• Jacob’s Ladder
• Lost Highway
• An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
• … and many more



I remember watching Jacob’s Ladder years ago and when it finally finished I just thought — Whoa! What did I just see?

I think this kind of audience reaction in itself is a big motivation for a writer or filmmaker to create something as mind bending as Jacob’s Ladder.

Couple of years later I watched Carnival of Souls and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and both employed the same plot device. Rightfully Jacob’s Ladder borrowed the idea from these films and applied its own unique design principle.

So the big question is what is fascinating about the perception of reality that both audience and filmmakers are drawn towards it.

Good filmmakers will always push the boundary of the medium. Kubrick, Christopher Nolan, Kurosawa have effectively experimented with the idea of reality. Nolan used this technique in Memento and then again in The Prestige and now in his forthcoming film Inception. Kurosawa in a way gave birth to this technique. Kubrick tried to experiment this in The Shining and again in Eyes Wide Shut (not very effectively).

In psychology two types of perception exists

• Phenomenal (something quantifiable)
• Psychological


Point of View and Unreliable Narrator Device

Filmmakers works in the realm of psychological perception. Psychological perception leads to another important concept in films — point of view. Kurosawa used this technique in Rashomon. It became so popular that a name is given to this concept called Rashomon Effect which basically means subjectivity of perception.

Most of the film using this device often deals with various characters watching the same incident from different frames of reference. Writer often adds another layer of complexity by introducing one or more unreliable narrator. Some examples are: Courage under fire, Hero [2002], Surveillance, Vantage Point.

Famous poet John Godfrey Saxe in the poem The Blind Men and the Elephant says:

It was six men of Hindustan

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation

Might satisfy his mind.

Bertrand Russell says in The Analysis of Mind

When we perceive any object of a familiar kind, much of what appears subjectively to be immediately given is really derived from past experience.

This presents the very basic paradox of perception:

Your perception of reality will always be limited by openness of your senses.

Freedom of the Soul Motif

Jacob’s Ladder, Carnival of Souls, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Angel Heart employed  a similar motif – liberation of soul. In all these films the protagonist is stuck in a form of purgatory. The liberation of soul demands detachment from worldly connections, memories.

Most of the films mentioned above really stood out for me in terms of execution of the idea. I hope to revisit this concept some other time and probably do a more in-depth study.

As someone who is struggling with writing I can safely say screenwriting is difficult but what is more difficult is to find a hinge for your entire story. If you planning to write a “mindfuck” make sure the hook is fresh and enticing but not intimidating because last thing you want is a studio exec throwing your years of sweat and blood just because he thinks the idea is “too difficult to make sense”.