Do you have free will? If you do, stop reading right now (I know you can as you are the master of your actions), because I'm about to recommend a documentary about four people who don't have free will. You wouldn't be able to relate.
Yes, it's Protagonist, my favorite movie from the Sundance film festival, and it comes out tomorrow. Okay, you caught me, in my Sundance article, I ranked it #2, but awarding Hounddog the #1 spot was merely a protest vote (since everyone else hated that movie so much). If I'd been totally honest, I would have ranked that #3.
Protagonist is about four people who didn't like something about themselves and so tried to do the opposite, only to finally realize that they didn't change anything and were living lies. That's also (coincidentally) the general theme of my own screenplay. But I didn't tell that to director Jessica Yu at Sundance after her screening, because that's exactly what the guy in front of me told her, and she didn't look impressed and eager to direct his script; she looked terrified.
The reviews of this movie I've read focus on the extremism of each of the characters, theorizing that they didn't have the energy to sustain it (a kid abused by his father becomes a bank robber, a gay man becomes a Christian preacher, the son of a Jewish woman and an abusive Nazi man becomes a left-wing terrorist, and a wimpy kid becomes an expert in martial arts).
But really the movie is about the fate of identity. You can make an improvement or have a misstep here or there, you can gain or lose weight, you can dress better or worse, you can change where you live or who you kiss, and you can make decisions that will wildly alter your material fate (I'm probably leaving a few potential human actions out of this)... but no matter how much you attempt to change something about your fundamental character beyond a superficial level, it will always fail, and you will always be essentially the same person.
This movie is fascinating because it shows four people who try to change one specific thing about themselves but ultimately can't, because the fate of their personality had other ideas.
If you're in New York, which I hope you are since you're reading a blog about the darn place, you can see it with director Jessica Yu in attendance at the IFC Center at 8:05 pm on Friday.
But I wouldn't suggest pitching your fatalism-tinged scripts to her. You'll just make the woman uncomfortable.
Don't know what is wrong what is rite but i know that every one has there own point of view and same goes to this one
Posted by: Belstaff outlets | December 31, 2011 at 08:04 AM
Rxn15O At last, someone comes up with the "right" answer!
Posted by: Henny | April 08, 2011 at 08:35 PM
3dkDxr Ppl like you get all the brains. I just get to say thanks for he answer.
Posted by: Kayo | April 08, 2011 at 05:32 PM
Okay, Elisabeth, let's hear it.
Posted by: Rhys Southan | December 07, 2007 at 12:22 AM
I very much disagree with the premise of that movie.
Posted by: Elisabeth | December 06, 2007 at 10:49 AM