Saturday, January 14, 2006
A History of Violence
I saw A History of Violence, and of-course I liked that too. A few thoughts (these include spoilers so don't read if you have not seen it)
Viggo Morteson is great. When he turns from Tom to Joey, you can actually see the in his face contort into the different character. This is making me actually consider seeing these Lord of the Rings movies everyone keeps talking about.
Of-course the last scene drove me crazy. Tom/Joey comes back from Philly and enters his kitchen at dinner time. No words are exchanged. But his wife looks at him meaningfully and then the movie ends. I hate ambiguity. I wanted to know what happens next. Does she really forgive him? How in the world do they go back to the way things were before? Does his son become more violent because he now feels betrayed by his mobster father? The same thing happens at the end of Sideways. Paul Giamatti's character goes to knock at the woman's door and that is all we see. This is why I prefer television. You can't simply end on a note like that in television. If the show is popular, the writers always have to answer the question, what happens next? Get two beloved characters together, then the writers have to answer, do they really get along? Movies can brush all that stuff aside by simply ending the story. Sure, we watchers of movies can guess for ourselves what happens next. But we can do the same thing with television, but we also get to see the writers' opinion.
Cynthia pointed out to me that Tom says to his wife early in the movie that he knew the moment she was in love with him, by the look in her eyes. In the last scene, she is looking at him the same way, and that is how we know things go back to normal. This actually sounds totally right. However, you know what the situation would make? A perfect tv show. Maybe on HBO on something. The story of a woman who loves her husband and wants to keep her family together, but at the same time, has to deal with the fact that she knows that her husband has a violent past. I think the next few months of the Stahls would make a very compelling television show.
Viggo Morteson is great. When he turns from Tom to Joey, you can actually see the in his face contort into the different character. This is making me actually consider seeing these Lord of the Rings movies everyone keeps talking about.
Of-course the last scene drove me crazy. Tom/Joey comes back from Philly and enters his kitchen at dinner time. No words are exchanged. But his wife looks at him meaningfully and then the movie ends. I hate ambiguity. I wanted to know what happens next. Does she really forgive him? How in the world do they go back to the way things were before? Does his son become more violent because he now feels betrayed by his mobster father? The same thing happens at the end of Sideways. Paul Giamatti's character goes to knock at the woman's door and that is all we see. This is why I prefer television. You can't simply end on a note like that in television. If the show is popular, the writers always have to answer the question, what happens next? Get two beloved characters together, then the writers have to answer, do they really get along? Movies can brush all that stuff aside by simply ending the story. Sure, we watchers of movies can guess for ourselves what happens next. But we can do the same thing with television, but we also get to see the writers' opinion.
Cynthia pointed out to me that Tom says to his wife early in the movie that he knew the moment she was in love with him, by the look in her eyes. In the last scene, she is looking at him the same way, and that is how we know things go back to normal. This actually sounds totally right. However, you know what the situation would make? A perfect tv show. Maybe on HBO on something. The story of a woman who loves her husband and wants to keep her family together, but at the same time, has to deal with the fact that she knows that her husband has a violent past. I think the next few months of the Stahls would make a very compelling television show.
# posted by Julia @ 4:40 PM 
