16 Feb Central Park Joker (2011)

The Slipperiness of Beginnings

I‘m pretty steeped in long form, why it works and how to increase effect. There is the assumption in long form, that you can contain some structure that by itself matters, and in doing so fits into the larger narratives that surround it and engulf the viewer.

So I generally stay away from short form pieces. Generally, they are restful affirmations that do nothing, challenge nothing and thereby affirm. That sort of ‘entertainment‘ has value in not disrupting any story. They can be excellently crafted, but not qualify as that small song called art. Should someone really try to do something in short form, I will be curious.

So here is an interesting short. The cinema is essentially nonexistent, there only to allow the actors to project as real and convey nuance. It is a simple dialog, no more than three minutes.

What it does in those three minutes is evoke and entangle narratives that exist in us, and effectively create a satisfying long form. The story is about love of course, and that suspended moment before entry.

But the writer/director here has also evoked the story about stories. You can watch this on- line, so I need not describe it in detail.

We live in stories. We live for stories, and a large part of that is the story we hold in our dreams about selves in the world, a story we strive for. That desire for the story commingles with the story of desire we call love. We use our partners — usually unfairly and with damage — to seek an entry into ‘the end of the story.‘ So in the best relationships, the beginning is always suspended, always in that unresolved moment before falling in and letting the story take over.

So even if this is only three minutes, it catalyzes and carries an entire film that ends — probably sadly, with avoidance.

Posted in 2011

Ted’s Evaluation — 3 of 3: Worth watching.

IMDB