Jul/092
Moon & Solaris
MOON and SOLARIS have the same premise – strange goings on at an isolated space station. The main characters Sam (Sam Rockwell) in MOON and Chris (George Clooney) in SOLARIS are trying to figure out what is happening to them. Yet MOON works and SOLARIS doesn’t. Why? The short answer is the emotional journey of the characters. Sam’s is compelling and Chris’ isn’t. Sam’s one lifeline is getting back to see his wife and baby daughter after his three year tour on the moon with only a robot for company. As he slowly falls apart, he discovers the truth of his situation. He is a clone with a three year life span. The bottom of the space station is full of drawers of other Sams waiting to be activated and take over running the mining operation. There is no going home. He is perpetually enslaved. We are rooting for him to escape. For him to return home that is only a memory, to his wife and baby daughter, who aren’t waiting for him anymore. This dilemma is incredibly compelling with complex thematic questions about what it means to be human. These Sams aren’t the “real” Sam, but their emotions and feelings are just as human and just as real. Don’t they deserve a chance too?
SOLARIS wants to examine these same kinds of themes, but falls short. Chris is dealing with the death of his wife. We learn about their tempestuous relationship in flashback, including that she committed suicide. This should be an emotional set up. But we never hook into Chris’ grief because he is so disconnected. It is clear that he loved his wife, but it is also clear that they were not good for each other. He is ambivalent about losing her because she was so difficult. This ambivalence makes him hard to root for. He seems cold instead of damaged. Even when his dead wife miraculously shows up on the space station, his reaction is muted. This is not a heart-felt reunion. Instead he is cautious, sure that she will be just as troubled as before. If Chris had welcomed this second chance with his wife, the movie would have been riveting. It would have been a tragic love story and a story of wish fulfillment. Instead, we just don’t care about them. Furthering this feeling of disconnectedness, the explanation for the strange events is philosophical rather than being grounded in any sort of reality. The characters posit that the planet they are orbiting is connected to God or is God. This idea is cerebral rather than emotional so that the movie feels like a philosophical exercise instead of an entertaining story. Even in science fiction movies with big themes, the story must be rooted in compelling, relatable emotion.
Jul/090
The Hurt Locker, Episodic Storytelling and Character
THE HURT LOCKER is an unusual war movie. Instead of watching a group of characters in battle or on an assignment, we’re following three soldiers in a bomb disposal unit in 2004 Iraq. Will James (Jeremy Renner) disables the bombs as the other two Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) and Sandborn (Anthony Mackie) protect him from sniper fire. While their missions are harrowing, the danger of a set up like this is that the movie can feel episodic and lack focus as our guys go from bomb to bomb. Each adventure is edge of your seat and feels like a mini-movie. But the story lacks direction because there is no overall driving force other than survival. In this instance, the aimless nature of our guys’ experience works because it underscores the random nature of war. Rather than a plot driven movie, THE HURT LOCKER is a character driven movie. First and foremost we want our three guys to get home safely. They are counting down the days until their tour ends. Eldridge doesn’t think he is going to make it. He’s obsessed with dying in the desert. Sandborn just wants to do the job.
But the center of the film is Will James, the bomb whiz. In a way THE HURT LOCKER is a mystery. We spend the whole film trying to figure out who Will is and what he is doing. He is a bundle of contradictions. He is a genius at deciphering bombs. He’s reckless and fearless. At first he seems like a terrible leader, ignoring the advice of his men. But later when they come under sniper fire, he takes charge. He flips again when he orders his men to search a dark neighborhood for a bombing suspect without backup. He is ambivalent about his wife and baby son he left behind, but plays soccer with a boy who sells DVDs on the base. He is affected deeply when things go wrong in the field, but is unable to connect to anyone, not his men or his girl back home. He is only at peace when he is working on a bomb. These contradictions make him a fascinating character. We keep watching in an attempt to understand him. Ultimately the movie never answers the question of who Will is. It is left to the audience to decide what they think of him and the choices he makes. The lesson to take from THE HURT LOCKER is that if your story is episodic, your main character better be incredibly compelling.