I love a good movie. The Godfather is one of my favorites. As are Network, Barton Fink, Citizen Kane and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
And the interesting thing about really good movies is that while we all know they’re made up and filmed on sound stages by highly paid actors, we manage to suspend disbelief and completely immerse ourselves in them.
Like everyone else, I usually do a pretty good job at that. I usually don’t think about anything except what’s going to happen next when I watch a movie.
But lately, as I’ve gotten more interested in filmmaking, I’ve started to develop a taste for the kinds of details that I like to see in movies. Completely immersing myself has gotten harder and harder to do. Instead of being totally enthralled in the plot as I watch a movie, I pay closer attention to smaller things—the beauty in the camera angles, the lighting, the way the music score flows with the visuals, etc. I love details.
And the more I pay attention to details, the more the film transforms from an interesting story into a piece of technical work.
The thing is that in a piece of technical work, I feel like I can’t ‘connect’ with the characters nearly as well as I can in a story (esp. a book). There’s definitely something lost when I’m appreciating lighting conditions instead of wondering what Michael Corleone is going to do next.
And suddenly, I’m an outsider—analyzing, rather than sharing the journey.
Then, when I find a detail that I really like, I obsess over it. I watch the part it’s in again and again. Maybe it’s a certain silhouette. Maybe it’s an interesting reflection. Maybe it’s a perfect film score. Maybe it’s a well composed shot. It could be anything.
Take my absolute favorite shot from The Godfather, for example:
Sonny Corleone was just ambushed and subsequently whacked (that’s mob jargon for ‘brutally assassinated’) as he pulled up to a toll booth. We see a wide shot of him lying dead on the empty road, his legs resting over a divider at the lower-left of the frame.
And in the background, Sonny’s bodyguards are driving towards him—only they are too late.
A random dog’s barking is heard as they pull to a stop. The brakes screech and a bodyguard gets out—in despair as he realizes what has happened. Slowly, the theme fades up as the scene changes.
This shot, my friends, is masterpiece in cinema. It really doesn’t get better than this.
Yes, it was a brutal and gory Mob shooting—and you know how much I hate overly violent movies—but I have to go against my usual feelings about violence and tell you that I absolutely love this shot.
I’m crazy about the framing—the way the dead body is in the foreground with the car driving up in the background—it’s just so well done. And I can’t quite put it all into words just yet, but that shot feels like it carries heavy emotion—maybe some kind of sense of sadness mixed with an almost ironic matter-of-factness. It’s perfect.
It’s disgusting and it’s gritty, but that shot is so well done that it may well be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
All I can say is that ‘that shot is to die for’. (2xPun intended. I couldn’t help it.)
Now I’d recommend that you go watch The Godfather. Appreciate the details. Pick up the Godfather-isms. It’s truly an offer you can’t refuse.
