Kathy Evans (kgordon@somtel.com)
Tue, 28 Dec 1999 17:11:19 -0500
Perhaps a sub-category to Martha's "necessary to the movie"
voiceovers are the highly subjectivized and fallible
narrations like Sissy Spacek's in BADLANDS, Nicholas Cage's
in RAISING ARIZONA, or Roseanne Arquettes's in TRUE
ROMANCE.
Jeff
Martha Pennigar wrote:
>
> In my viewing experience, voice-overs in films fall
into 2 categories:
> either they're succinct and dimensional footnotes
that explain or
> illuminate an important part of the story, or
they're necessary because
> the movie would be unintelligible without them.
Blade Runner, for me,
> falls into this latter category. Sunset Boulevard is
a perfect example
> of the former, as is Double Indemnity. A few years
ago, following this
> same discussion, some friends and I watched Sunset B
with the sound
> turned off. Try it sometime. It's all still there,
the story, the
> nuances and motivations and feelings, clear as
glass. We wound up amazed
> that it played like a silent movie and we didn't
even need the dialogue.
> Swanson was, of course, perfectly readable, as was
Von Stroheim, but the
> real surprise was Holden, who gives a great
performance through his
> facial expressions and body language. Nancy Olson is
great, too, and
> their scenes together are real acting lessons. We
were also struck by
> how Wilder tells the story through other elements,
particularly light
> and shadow, and how the daylight scenes give way to
a permanent night as
> the tone of the story darkens. The scene of Holden
being fished out in
> the early dawn was so visually shocking, as was the
sequence when Norma
> goes to the studio and the sunlight breaks through
the murky daydream
> quality of her life. Perhaps Norma Desmond was
right--they had faces
> then and didn't need words. And, also, directors
like Wilder, who were
> in full command of all the elements of
story-telling.
>
> Neil, I second the emotion on Don Winslow. Great
writer, and his Neal
> Carey mysteries are wonderful, too.
>
> Happy holidays, everyone!
>
> Martha
>
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