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Author Topic: Green Room  (Read 1506 times)

philip918

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Green Room
« on: September 06, 2016, 03:05:16 PM »
Moving this conversation over here:

Green Room
Very solid thriller, but a few too many shock kills kept it from being as engaging and satisfying as it could have been. That is sort of Saulnier's bag though.
Interesting comment because I agree it's what Saulnier brings to the table in a new way. Is it that you quickly pick up on what he's doing and detach from the characters because anyone can be next to die?

Not quite, because it's clear from the start who's going to last to the end. It's honestly something I can't quite put my finger on, because I recognize the storytelling efficiency most of these deaths serve. Usually they reveal some new piece of information for our main characters - such as the cousin revealing the location of the shotgun right before his face is blown off.

But that was a moment that didn't work for me. It was almost too clean and emotionless. This is the character who was planning on running off with the murdered girl, the girl he loved. So, sure, that's life. It's messy and often meaningless and brutish and short, but that usually doesn't make for great stories. Does make for good punk music though :)

I guess I just thought they could have eked a little more drama and emotion out of some of the deaths. The kid who goes out the window and is immediately stabbed to death, for example. Also, Patrick Stewart going out so easily. Two kids who are picking up guns for the very first time, first time shooting to kill at the very least, just blow him away.

If I'm getting to any kind of a point, it's that I did like these kids. They were quickly and efficiently fleshed out and were endearing. But they were often snuffed out so quickly, that their deaths didn't have time to register emotionally before we cut to the next thing.

jdc

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Re: Green Room
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2016, 05:18:27 PM »

If I'm getting to any kind of a point, it's that I did like these kids. They were quickly and efficiently fleshed out and were endearing. But they were often snuffed out so quickly, that their deaths didn't have time to register emotionally before we cut to the next thing.

It did register for me but given the situation that there in, there wouldn't have been any time for them to take (or give us time) to let the deaths emotionally register?
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Re: Green Room
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2016, 07:45:01 PM »
Interesting to read, and I don't have a counter-point to make. What your looking for is something you find in a more traditional thriller. I'm generally all about not breaking the rules but maximizing their impact, normally I would be right there with you, but I'm so enamored with what Saulnier is doing that I give him a lot of room to explore.

The cousin is a moment that sticks out for me too. Didn't see it coming at all and didn't know what to make of it. There's no impact because the film needs to move on. And it's not that Saulnier is against making a moment cool. The couch shot is awesome. Learning about using feedback on the dogs is great. These are moments genre hounds can revel in. Even something like the arm on the other side of the door, where we can only imagine the damage being done, great genre filmmaking, but Saulnier has other ideas too. Looking forward to see how he develops his style and whether or not it becomes accepted by the mainstream.

philip918

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Re: Green Room
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2016, 07:50:44 PM »

If I'm getting to any kind of a point, it's that I did like these kids. They were quickly and efficiently fleshed out and were endearing. But they were often snuffed out so quickly, that their deaths didn't have time to register emotionally before we cut to the next thing.

It did register for me but given the situation that there in, there wouldn't have been any time for them to take (or give us time) to let the deaths emotionally register?

To me it was more about the moments of their death. The kid crawls out the window and is stabbed to death, mostly off-screen. And I get that's sort of the point. But I thought they could have really wrung some more horror and emotion out of that moment. It's weird advocating for seeing more pain and suffering in a movie... But there is something powerful, and in a weird way almost cathartic, in seeing a character realize they're going to die. They're witness to their own tragedy.