A Word or Two on Endings
April 6th 2008 02:47
a) Has anyone seen Michael Clayton? At the end, Michael comes out of a building and climbs into a cab, telling the driver to 'just drive'... he has just emerged from an intense dramatic showdown which required him to assume a different mentality to his own for a while. His triumph is bittersweet, and from the moment he gets into the car we focus on his face in one long, un-cut reaction shot, while the credits start to stream up the page. I found that this technique was very effective, as the credits provide the average viewer an excuse to turn off. Depending on the time you need to process Michael's complex reaction, you can either stay until the image goes black, or leave/switch off before that. Every second you stay watching his face adds more to the movie, another phase of his reaction. How long can it continue? How long should it continue? It's all up the viewer, and what could be seen as a premature roll of credits grants him or her the freedom to disengage whenever feels right for them.
b) I'm still thinking about Eastern Promises... as interesting as the character studies in the film are, I wasn't satisfied with the ending. It felt too abrupt, like some vital elements of the plot were being denied to me. This isn't usually the case in my cinematic escapades - usually the characters sit with me for too long, and I get tired of them, but here things were becoming increasingly complex and layered. I love open-ended texts. Arguably every text is open-ended, whether it's deliberately drawing on this mode of enquiry or not. But here the open-endedness crept in too soon. I would have liked to see Semyon arrested, and the interaction between him and his son explored. Kirill has a strong dependency on his dad, and is very volatile, so how will he cope as the leader of the London branch? How much power will he transfer to Nikolai initially, and how much power will Nikolai gradually assume? Does Nikolai have any sort of affection towards Kirill, or is it all part of his game? And will Nikolai look up Anna again when his stint is over?
c) I don't deal with endings much in my writing... I'm always in the process of beginning something new, and so I rarely get to think about the problems endings pose in my own work, which is interesting in itself. It is possible, however to perceive every sentence as an ending... not to be confused with a sense of finality. But even as I try to creep closer to a subject, I am terminating potential topics in the making in order to focus on the things you are. There are some topics I will never address again - merely touching upon them or glossing through them is satisfactory. Is each beginning also an ending?
b) I'm still thinking about Eastern Promises... as interesting as the character studies in the film are, I wasn't satisfied with the ending. It felt too abrupt, like some vital elements of the plot were being denied to me. This isn't usually the case in my cinematic escapades - usually the characters sit with me for too long, and I get tired of them, but here things were becoming increasingly complex and layered. I love open-ended texts. Arguably every text is open-ended, whether it's deliberately drawing on this mode of enquiry or not. But here the open-endedness crept in too soon. I would have liked to see Semyon arrested, and the interaction between him and his son explored. Kirill has a strong dependency on his dad, and is very volatile, so how will he cope as the leader of the London branch? How much power will he transfer to Nikolai initially, and how much power will Nikolai gradually assume? Does Nikolai have any sort of affection towards Kirill, or is it all part of his game? And will Nikolai look up Anna again when his stint is over?
c) I don't deal with endings much in my writing... I'm always in the process of beginning something new, and so I rarely get to think about the problems endings pose in my own work, which is interesting in itself. It is possible, however to perceive every sentence as an ending... not to be confused with a sense of finality. But even as I try to creep closer to a subject, I am terminating potential topics in the making in order to focus on the things you are. There are some topics I will never address again - merely touching upon them or glossing through them is satisfactory. Is each beginning also an ending?
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