Oh yeah, Sunrise is very stylized, same with The Seventh Seal, but it is basically a fantasy movie. I remember trying to watch some of those "relationship dramas" by Bergman, and I couldn't stomach them.
Uninterested in that type of film. Who's Tom? Your statement that these types of movies are the sole "real dramas" is, as mentioned, completely flawed. Regardless of your insistence in refusing to aligning your definition of what a drama is with the rest of the world's, in order to get more accurate results, a better thread title and poll would be "Do you dislike romance movies?" which is an entirely different concept altogether.
Man/woman relationship films aren't the sole Dramas, just the most popular in cinema history. If you cut them out..... And I was wrong, Tom had Wilson with him.
Lots of interesting replies in this thread. I keep thinking back to this: I've worked in a Behavioral Hospital for 10 years, which is a nice term for a place where addicts, self harming teens and recently suicidal people are locked in and kept safe temporarily from themselves. I do groups with these people, and much of what I do currently has to do with making them laugh and playing song requests while I sit on the floor with my guitar. However, there was a time when I was much more connected with their pain and conflict in groups, but I sort of handed that to our therapists and saw my role differently. I think I also lost my patience which is never good when helping someone. Their stories maybe effected me too much, so many horror stories that put my tiny problems into perspective. After work, I have no interest in hearing a fictional character's sad story if there is nothing else for me to escape into, especially if that character is whining about some breakup and I just talked to someone who was slowly coerced into a life of prostitution and every form of debauchery just for brief moments of artificial bliss. That said, it appears there are a few people on this raft with me.
Finslaw is obviously talking about a very specific kind of film - a "pure" drama if you will, where you have normal characters who have normal lives and the film is about the relationships between them or perhaps the mindset of one or more of the characters in reaction to the things that happen in their life. Again, I think what makes this either work or not work is the strength of the characters and the writing. If you can take such a bare bones kind of concept, that doesn't rely on jokes, action, suspense or a convoluted plot, and make it compelling, this requires great skill and attention to detail. I personally would be interested in such a movie. In a world with stupid action movies and lots of things that go boom, I like subtlety and sometimes it's great to have what on the surface is a very pedestrian and simple film but one that raises a lot questions or answers in the mind of the viewer. To me this is very rewarding, and it brings to mind a specific type of writing - the slow burn - which many people today probably don't have the attention span for. Personally, I love this kind of film.
A tough one for me. I hope that I'll like a good movie, no matter the genre. I also don't like the idea that my movie watching is narrow and limited. That said, I only really seek out Horror and Sci-Fi. Which is no to say I don't like other genres, but my natural inclination is to see what Horror/Sci-Fi movies are out and about. Don't get me wrong, 90%+ of the movies I watch in this genre are bad. Some really beyond redemption bad. Watch one the other night called "Freeze" that made me want to scoop my eyes from my head. But they're genre's I just love to come back to. Drama's? If there is a flaw then it's in me. There's no reason a drama shouldn't be wonderful. I like some. But as for seeking them out? Yeah, that's not really happening.
Good point. I guess I don't tend to go for chill, quiet or even subtle films. Ooh, nice post. Yeah, I think Drama's flaw may be in me. But I will still shake my fist at the cloud of Modern Drama compared to the ones in the distant past.
I like most genres. Most films too. Like I said earlier, the vast majority are at least good. A small number are great and a small number are really bad. Many are derivative, but how many truly unique films can one expect to see? I really dislike a franchise that most people seem to love (Indiana Jones) because to me those movies are way too silly. It is basically a non-animated cartoon, and I lose my suspension of disbelief when you have these serious, catastrophic things happening but the mood of the film is goofy. It's also why I couldn't get through more than a few episodes of Quantum Leap. You said earlier about not being able to appreciate great acting. I'm kind of the same way. I think most acting is at least good to very good. How many terrible acting performances does one see in a professional film? It has happened but it is pretty rare. So if the performance is at least good then I tend to focus on other things like dialogue or plot. The actors are sort of a means to an end. They exist to convey things to the viewer, not to exist in their own right. To me at least - I'm sure others can see nuances in a performance that I don't really take note of.
That would certainly seem to explain why dramas - and melodramas especially - would not be something one would be looking forward to after such work. I certainly don’t have time to carve out for ultimately pointless, nihilistic “that’s the way it is in the big city, Johnny” productions that essentially throw up their hands for every problem that comes down the pike. There’s also enough real life horror in the daily news that such a genre has zero appeal.
I put this on Urban Dictionary fifteen years ago as an observation on some film and TV dramas. Urban Dictionary: The Pantomime Factor Nothing much has changed since.
I work with someone (around 25yo) who often watches soaps while doing her notes. She is always yelling at the screen "oh you B#@$!" or something else like that, and she relishes her hate for certain characters and scenarios. I find it amusing.
In the UK we have drama/thrillers that last for five or six episodes wherein the viewer can't be sure of anyone or anything, wherein most characters are a bit bitchy to each other, wherein there's no real exposition to provide datum points, and wherein there's no humour either. In short, the way that the plot and dialogue goes, everyone has the prospect of either being bad or, at least, not obviously good. For entertainment, I prefer likeable characters, with the drama content coming from what happens in their lives and how they tackle problems and situations. The backdrop can be space or politics or the armed forces or the police or government agency etc. but at least there are some stakes in the ground to anchor the story and to enable me to find someone with whom I can empathise.
As a TV drama I've always liked the Jesse Stone series, I recorded every episode a decade or so again and start from the beginning when there's naff all on the box. Likewise, my box set of "Justified." I'm waiting to get it back off one of my kids. I've as library of film noir dramas I've recorded off the TV. But as an enjoyable film drama with so many sub plots, you can't beat, "Lone Star."
I'd swear you are the reincarnation of my late father. He'd be giving you the right now. I like well made movies in general no mater the genre, but I do tend to lean towards those based on true stories or just straight up comedies.
How often does this happen in film and TV? I think entering a home that was clearly subject to forced entry would be one thing most characters should be expected to avoid. But generally speaking, I find most criticisms of movies that have to do with characters doing stupid and unbelievable things to be off base because, well, people do stupid things daily. A lot of the time I can even come up with a rationale that explains the character's actions, so many (probably most) times it's not even a valid criticism. The example you provided does seem valid, so not questioning that. It's more just a comment on a lot of the reviews I read. And we must remember that we are watching fictional film and TV. Liberties must be taken for the sake of telling the story.
Dramas of the current time I would term progression rather than progress as there is nothing better or worse about them. The best way to maintain interest in conventional drama over time is to add (good) music to it either in the form of stage musicals or operas. Then it lasts a long time.
Love dramas, the darker the better. Hate tacked on happy Hollywood endings that render meaningless everthing that came before.
Love dramas. Love film noirs also. Comedies were my favorite films when younger, now I watch one only in a blue moon.
I hate forced happy endings too; I can't watch movies made by James L. Brooks because of this. I also hate movies by Garry Marshall, probably the biggest offender in that regard that I can think of.
Curious, I didn't think Terms of Endearment was known for a happy ending, and in the rom com sphere Starting over and Broadcast News either. But after those first 3 I suppose James got happy endingitis.
When you had movies like La Strada 12 Angry Men Shampoo Seventh Seal Breathless Shoot the Piano Player Streetcar Named Desire Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf The Last Detail That was the pinnacle of moviemaking and genre pictures were of a lower order. Nowadays genre pictures are better than the dramas.
