What Went Wrong With 2017's Weirdest Film?
If you are familiar with the works of Mr. Paolo Sorrentino or Hansal Mehta from East, you must have noticed the silence on screen that is audible in form of the visual elements. The mise en scene narrates the story without spoken words but only few reach the context. The new wave of indie filmmaking is heavily inspired by the themes that demand explanation but are often left incomplete by the directors and writers.
As an audience, if you are left with some confusions about the plot, for example a man who is forced to marry a girl but is shown helpless for no reason, you will definitely develop your opinion over his weakness. A protagonist must fight in order to survive, right?
Academy Award winner Iranian Filmmaker, Asghar Farhadi has developed a philosophy over his tenure in this industry. He believes that an actual film starts once the audience leave the cinema and start think about the film. According to Mr. Farhadi, if a film answers all your questions, you will stop thinking about it. For once I agree with his statement but is it okay to leave our audience with multiple questions all from different angles?
'The Killing Of A Sacred Deer', directed by a Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is a perfect example of scrambled eggs with no salt & pepper. The film is loosely based on Greek play Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides.
The story of a play revolves around a troop who is ready to attack Troy but since their Goddess is unhappy with the Captain of the Ship, he must sacrifice his daughter in order to sail through Greek.
Now this one liner may not be the perfect summary of the play but it is good enough to give you an idea what this film revolves around.
Protagonist played by Collin Farrel needs to save his family from the evil forces that have affected his children. It all happens because of our Antagonist who believes that his father was killed by this man and he must avenge the death. Collin Farrel is playing the role of a surgeon named Steven Murphy whereas Barry Keoghan is playing Martin, our villain of the story.
What questions arise throughout the narrative?
While watching this film, I encountered so many confusions that I had to pause in between just to think of the possibilities. For example, Martin is evil but he never practices black magic. His mother disappears from the film right after one scene and never comes back. Steven's children are paralysed on their deathbeds and his wife isn't aware of her own acts anymore. Steven abducts Martin but never kills him. Steven is asked to sacrifice one of his own family member and he does but where does the body go? What is he thinking all this time?
One more confusing thing about the film is the robotic behaviour of the main characters. Their dialogue delivery and body language is so well planned that it seems so fake. Though the performances never fail to amaze us, they still lack the touch of reality. I liked the fact that Lanthimos chose his own native land's story to make a film about but leaving so many confusions isn't a good idea.
The indie filmmaking is a great medium but every film must satisfy some of its audience. Dark isn't always great. Some light might do wonders.
If you haven't watched this film, please do and share your experience in comments below.
Btw, I loved the poster of this film.
As an audience, if you are left with some confusions about the plot, for example a man who is forced to marry a girl but is shown helpless for no reason, you will definitely develop your opinion over his weakness. A protagonist must fight in order to survive, right?
Academy Award winner Iranian Filmmaker, Asghar Farhadi has developed a philosophy over his tenure in this industry. He believes that an actual film starts once the audience leave the cinema and start think about the film. According to Mr. Farhadi, if a film answers all your questions, you will stop thinking about it. For once I agree with his statement but is it okay to leave our audience with multiple questions all from different angles?
'The Killing Of A Sacred Deer', directed by a Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is a perfect example of scrambled eggs with no salt & pepper. The film is loosely based on Greek play Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides.
The story of a play revolves around a troop who is ready to attack Troy but since their Goddess is unhappy with the Captain of the Ship, he must sacrifice his daughter in order to sail through Greek.
Now this one liner may not be the perfect summary of the play but it is good enough to give you an idea what this film revolves around.
Protagonist played by Collin Farrel needs to save his family from the evil forces that have affected his children. It all happens because of our Antagonist who believes that his father was killed by this man and he must avenge the death. Collin Farrel is playing the role of a surgeon named Steven Murphy whereas Barry Keoghan is playing Martin, our villain of the story.
What questions arise throughout the narrative?
While watching this film, I encountered so many confusions that I had to pause in between just to think of the possibilities. For example, Martin is evil but he never practices black magic. His mother disappears from the film right after one scene and never comes back. Steven's children are paralysed on their deathbeds and his wife isn't aware of her own acts anymore. Steven abducts Martin but never kills him. Steven is asked to sacrifice one of his own family member and he does but where does the body go? What is he thinking all this time?
One more confusing thing about the film is the robotic behaviour of the main characters. Their dialogue delivery and body language is so well planned that it seems so fake. Though the performances never fail to amaze us, they still lack the touch of reality. I liked the fact that Lanthimos chose his own native land's story to make a film about but leaving so many confusions isn't a good idea.
The indie filmmaking is a great medium but every film must satisfy some of its audience. Dark isn't always great. Some light might do wonders.
If you haven't watched this film, please do and share your experience in comments below.
Btw, I loved the poster of this film.
Comments
Post a Comment