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In the midst of the swinging sixties, a racist, yet charismatic con man inexplicably befriends a black jewel thief and decides to steal a four million dollar painting from a heavily guarded and elaborate art museum.
I agree with you, mikepedley85, that a con artist and a thief are only doing what comes naturally for them.? But their behavior is transgressive, it violates collective norms.? So why would a movie audience embracing (more or less) those norms want to root for them??? Even want to buy a movie ticketRead more
I agree with you, mikepedley85, that a con artist and a thief are only doing what comes naturally for them.? But their behavior is transgressive, it violates collective norms.? So why would a movie audience embracing (more or less) those norms want to root for them??? Even want to buy a movie ticket to watch them pull off the heist, get away with violating those collective norms?
One of the few heist movies I can think of one movie where the initial motivation to pull off a heist is pure, unadulterated greed is “Sexy Beast” (2000)? But in that one, the protagonist has retired; he doesn’t want to do another job.
However, a vicious, vile gangster (wonderfully played by Ben Kingsley) demands he come out of retirement and do another job — or else the gangster will kill him.? So he does the job? — but only after he kills the gangster. The way the plot is constructed, now he MUST do the job in order to cover up the killing, remove all suspicion as to why the gangster has mysteriously disappeared? otherwise another gangster will seek revenge.
Also, why THAT objective goal and why NOW?? Why of all the possible paintings he could steal does he want to steal that specific painting??? And why must he steal it now?
This is a movie where the protagonist enjoys the benefit of the 2nd criteria I mentioned: invidious comparison.? He’s a likeable bloke in contrast to the vicious, ruthless gangster.? And in contrast to another ruthless gangster he has to deal with while doing the job.? He’s a robber, but the least awful one compared to all the others.
See lessAfter a string of murders in rooms sinisterly decorated like scenes out of children?s books, a burned-out detective must connect the victims and follow the clues back into his own past to stop the killer
About a year ago I read "The Godfather Notebook", a collection of notes Francis Ford Coppola made while writing and directing "The Godfather".? His technique for condensing the sprawling book down to a shooting script was to come up with a one word description of the theme.?? After wrestling with thRead more
About a year ago I read “The Godfather Notebook”, a collection of notes Francis Ford Coppola made while writing and directing “The Godfather”.? His technique for condensing the sprawling book down to a shooting script was to come up with a one word description of the theme.?? After wrestling with the book for weeks, the one word description he came up with was:
“Succession”
The Godfather was a story of a struggle to determine who would succeed Don Vito Corleone.
He wrote the word on an index card and taped it by his typewriter.? That index card was his North Star for navigating through the book, writing the script.
It’s a technique I’ve tried to adopted for my own projects.? Operative word: tried.? I can’t say I can summarize all my current projects in just one word.? But at least I’ve been able to summarize the overarching theme in 2-3 words.
Now then.? What do you consider to be a one word summary of your operative theme?? Or two?? Or three?
After reading your summary, the word that first came to my mind was “revenge”.? He wants revenge against a system that let the deviant creep get away. And then it occurred to me that a more emotionally compelling theme might be “redemption”.?? Yes, the system was flawed, but he could have, should have pushed harder.? However, he was a rookie he couldn’t pull rank; and he didn’t want to damage his prospects for promotion so he acquiesced to his superiors.? And so…
Anyway, just spitballing and trying to get a better focus on the plot.? It’s your story, of course.? Best wishes.
fwiw
BTW: Have you viewed Episode 3 of Prime Suspect, starring Hellen Mirren?? It’s about the cover up of a pedophile ring.? Strongly recommend, imho, one of best episodes in the widely acclaimed series.
See lessA bereaved father and assassin descends into delirium as he murders a group of anonymous teenage boys one by one for the Mexican cartel, unaware the final target is his long thought dead son.
Why would a movie audience pay to watch a film about a nutjob ("descends into delirium") killing teenagers for an evil organization ("the Mexican Cartel"); teenagers who may be innocent as well as "anonymous" -- whatever that means? Who is the audience supposed to root for?
Why would a movie audience pay to watch a film about a nutjob (“descends into delirium”) killing teenagers for an evil organization (“the Mexican Cartel”); teenagers who may be innocent as well as “anonymous” — whatever that means? Who is the audience supposed to root for?
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