So…

Is ‘complexity’ is just a euphemism for ‘a mess of thoughts’?

Or is ‘complex’ a term to to suggest an uninclusive idea that requires some degree of prior knowledge or level of education?

Is complexity in art just another word for creative elitism?

Or am I just a jerk?

YOU DECIDE.

Maybe there is space for super complex, multi stranded, thought provoking movies that “SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE WOLRD WE LIVE IN TODAY.”

The trouble is that the space where these complex movies can exist is very tiny. Why? Because the main reason most people drag there lazy butts out of home to actually ‘go to the movies’ isn’t beacuse they really want to see a certain film, or because the film has a wonderful cast, it isn’t even becuase the story sounds interesting or the film has got great reviews. It’s because on the night in question:

THEY AIN’T GOT NOTHING BETTER TO DO.

(Yeah okay agreed! When they realise THEY AIN’T GOT NOTHING BETTER TO DO they then look at the “what’s on” section in there local rag and make the choice on ‘what to see’ based on cast, subject matter, reviews etc. But that initial decision – LET’S GO TO MOVIES – I believe comes out of having ‘nothing much better to do on the night in question’.

Consequently I think most people want to walk into ‘the big dark room’, kick back with some candy and let the sound and images wash all over ‘em before they walk out and go home.

They don’t want a statement about humanity, current affairs or even anything that they have to actively participate in – even if that participation is simply ‘to concentrate’!. They just want sound and images to flood them in a big eruption of noise and spectacle so they can stroll out all fuzzy headed going THAT MOVIE WAS COOL MAN just moments before they…..forget all about it and go home.

The end.

Unlike that sentence….

Happy New Year! I agree completely with your blog about complexity in films.

Granted there are exceptions to the single protagonist, single story rule, but even the late (and on many occasions great) Altman, king of the loose, multiple protagonist film story, couldn’t pull it off every time (for every Nashville there was a Pret A Porter).
I also think that there’s a lot of confusion between ’simple’ and simplistic. I’ve been to a lot of writers groups where people pitch ideas that are over stuffed with twists incidents and characters; worried that a clear story with a visible protagonist will somehow be dismissed as ’shallow’.

My favourite film of last year was ‘Little Miss Sunshine’. In pitch form it could be made to sound depressingly generic (dysfunctional family travel to beauty pageant)-but it was also funny, sad, subversive and said as much to say abotu success, failure and the American Dream as any ‘complicated’ or ‘difficult’ film.

Although it couldn’t be more different in its subject matter, ‘Sugarhouse Lane’ pulls off a similar feat; it might only be three men and a gun, but it’s also about a lot more…