After talking about two films yesterday, I thought I’d continue the theme by talking about another film.
But not just any film. The other night I went with friends to see “The King’s Speech”. This is the small independent flick that is about to roll over and crush the big budget opposition at the Academy Awards like they are so many purple M&Ms in the path of an oncoming Sherman tank.
How can a little independent movie do such a thing? By not playing fair, of course. You see, most respectable Hollywood movies (eg: “The Social Network”) work by pandering to an audience through paper-thin fast talking characters that are little more than cartoons, placed in situations that merely caricature the human condition.
But “The King’s Speech” doesn’t play by those rules. Instead, it takes the extremely radical and unorthodox approach of (gasp!) respecting its audience’s intelligence. Characters are neither good nor evil, but rather complex, layered, conflicted. The acting, writing and directing don’t tell us what to think, but instead force us to think for ourselves about people and relationships that defy easy characterization.
We actually recognize ourselves in the people we see on-screen. We experience their pain and joy as though it is our own. We forget we are watching a movie.
Not bad for an evening’s entertainment.