The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
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Re: The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
#2Was it really that baffling? As a genre, film noir tends to have a twisting storyline and this was a particularly good one. But compared to, say, a Christopher Nolan or Charlie Kaufman film, this was a walk in the park.
Re: The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
#3arguing that we should embrace ambiguity.
This is probably my most despised media trend of the 21st century, and that's saying something.
"You decide how it ended"
"You decide if she lived or died"
"Their motivations for doing that are up to you"
"It means whatever you want it to mean"
It's an excuse for lazy writing and for being too cowardly to make decisions.
Re: The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
#4arguing that we should embrace ambiguity. This is probably my most despised media trend of the 21st century, and that's saying something. "You decide how it ended" "You decide if she lived or died" "Their motivations for doing that are up to you" "It means whatever you want it to mean" It's an excuse for lazy writing and for being too cowardly to make decisions.
I feel similarly about the "twist" that "it was just a dream!" or something similar. It's already fiction. It's already made up. If I wanted to be stuck with just the stories & endings and such I could make up, I wouldn't be coming to you for a story. Not that there isn't room for ambiguity or complexity or anything, but, I already know what I think. I'm here precisely to find out what someone else thinks, and "well, what do you think?" is not very helpful.
Re: The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
#5Was it really that baffling? As a genre, film noir tends to have a twisting storyline and this was a particularly good one. But compared to, say, a Christopher Nolan or Charlie Kaufman film, this was a walk in the park.
I love it and have seen it several times, but I still don’t know what’s going on. I believe you, though, because my girlfriend in college tried to explain it to a friend and me after we had all watched it. She had been able to follow it, but we were lost.
Re: The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
#6arguing that we should embrace ambiguity. This is probably my most despised media trend of the 21st century, and that's saying something. "You decide how it ended" "You decide if she lived or died" "Their motivations for doing that are up to you" "It means whatever you want it to mean" It's an excuse for lazy writing and for being too cowardly to make decisions.
Well it might be at times.
But there are movies/stories where it adds a whole different layer upon leaving that decision to the viewer.
For me the final scene in Inception is a really good example of using the above said ambiguity.
Re: The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
#7arguing that we should embrace ambiguity. This is probably my most despised media trend of the 21st century, and that's saying something. "You decide how it ended" "You decide if she lived or died" "Their motivations for doing that are up to you" "It means whatever you want it to mean" It's an excuse for lazy writing and for being too cowardly to make decisions.
Ambiguity, the planting of multiple possible interpretations, has been a part of art forever. All art: literature, painting, etc. I would even say it’s an integral part of the best art.
Re: The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
#8arguing that we should embrace ambiguity. This is probably my most despised media trend of the 21st century, and that's saying something. "You decide how it ended" "You decide if she lived or died" "Their motivations for doing that are up to you" "It means whatever you want it to mean" It's an excuse for lazy writing and for being too cowardly to make decisions.
The art understander has logged on.
Re: The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
#9I was amazed and astonished when I first saw 'The Big Sleep', early in my college career. I'd never seen a movie I had a hard time following before, and I was captivated.
There's an old Steve Yegge post where he described presenting for Jeff Bezos. I'm paraphrasing, but Yegge said something like after writing the presentation (no slides), delete every fifth paragraph to keep Bezos intrigued enough to pay attention. I feel like that's what happened to either the script or the filming of 'The Big Sleep.'
EDIT: Every third paragraph, link to Yegge post: https://gist.github.com/kislayverma/6681d4cce736cd7041e6c821...
Re: The Big Sleep: The most baffling film ever made?
#10arguing that we should embrace ambiguity. This is probably my most despised media trend of the 21st century, and that's saying something. "You decide how it ended" "You decide if she lived or died" "Their motivations for doing that are up to you" "It means whatever you want it to mean" It's an excuse for lazy writing and for being too cowardly to make decisions.
Ah yes, the famously lazy and cowardly filmmakers Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch.