Mabuta # 13
Kanoma's notes in parenthesis ( )
Translator's notes in brackets [ ]
13th installment
All about movie previews
I like movie previews. It's good watching previews on TV or on rental movies, but it's probably the best to watch previews in a movie theater. For myself, who doesn't look at movie-related magazines or home pages, the movie theater is the fastest place for me to get news on upcoming movies, and as it's really the only place, it's quite exciting.
That's right, if you were to make a comparison between a course of food, the theater would be like a restaurant. Of course, it's essential that you pick a restaurant with a good atmosphere. Then, the preview would be like an appetizer, its purpose to raise your expectations for the upcoming main dish, and this is something you need. The storyline of the movie is like the main dish, but popcorn is not the dessert, rather, that'd be rice. I would like to have rice with the main dish (normally, rice is served after the main dish, but I'd like to have it brought out with the main dish). Dessert is where the end credits roll, and you're having lingering memories of the movie, so, would soup go here? Ah, well, whatever's good. In any case, with the theater being like a restaurant, the entire course of the food is long-awaited and well-prepared, and so if you didn't touch the main dish it'd be rather wasteful.
That's why this time I'm going to write about movie previews.
All of that is not an exaggeration about just one movie. If you really think about it, the main concern [of a movie preview] is to attract an audience, and things are calculated down to the smallest detail, I know how these things are made. For that reason, they're unusually thrilling. They show the direction that the movie will take by: cleverly chosen extracts of dialogue (with the scenes in which they're spoken), giving a glimpse of a deeper meaning, a single word that really strikes your heart, a poetic or philosphical display, in any case, they usually choose great parts of the movie to show. Showing only one scene, or even a line of only one word can really make a big impression, and all expectations for that certain movie are raised. And then, the music and sound effects used are great. Previews seen in the movie theater generally last only about two minutes, and so in the last few seconds the music brings itself to a climax, and after the sudden drop there is a strange tension hanging in the atmosphere of the theater itself, and even more so a sense of excitement.
There have been plenty of times where my expectations for a movie have been completely betrayed. Times where I've thought, 'Oh that preview looks really good.' Times when the advertisement has shown a bit too much of the movie. I understand that, but then again, why does it have to happen? When your expectations for a movie are just short of the movie itself, or when the preview looks interesting and the movie itself isn't -- this is a problem. Here I'll give some tangible examples.
Bad example 1: over-used pattern for an action movie
The main plot of action movies are usually pretty weak. For that reason, the previews for action movies usually consist of flashy action scenes shown successively. And then, at the actual movie, as it doesn't consist solely of action scenes, the story is cheap, often pointless and continues sluggishly. And when it's time for an action scene, you realize that you've already seen the scene during the preview, and so you're left thinking, 'Oh, this scene, right.'
Bad example 2: over-used pattern for "tearful" movies
Generally, the popular sad movies are about a separation, particularly if it's a movie about dealing with bereavement. Often if you see a preview for this type of movie you can sort of guess at the ending. I can forgive something like this, but it's horrible if it flows right into the climax of the story. "I want to shout out my love to the whole world" or something like that, and then right at that moment, "someone help me, ... please help me" or something like that, and it's pretty obvious that that's where you're supposed to cry. And so to the last, I'd rather have previews in which it's just suggestive.
Bad example 3: over-used pattern for suspense movies
There has been a lot of suspense movies lately that have had the tagline of 'will you be able to see it through to the very last moment?' And then the preview shows parts of the main plot, as well as the obstacles that the protagonist must face. It's not a stupid thing if you can read into the preview that there will be some kind of twist. It's fine up to this point. But it goes too far if the expectations for the movie are built around this twist. The movies that M. Night Shyamalan directs are an example of this. "Sixth Sense" was good. But everything else after that movie was pretty bad. Movies like "Signs" and "Unbreakable." What I mean by this is a movie in which the twist is almost nothing, and that's the last surprise, but what of it .... it almost becomes a joke.
With the several examples I've given, if I look at what I've written, I get the feeling that it's the absolute worst if it's simple to manipulate the audience. .... But I'm going to stop with that here. In order to create some kind of balance, possibly, I'm going to talk about some significant previews and movies. I want previews in which they don't show the momentous scenes, in which the time is not linear, and the story turns out to be completely different from what the movie is actually about. The audience always wants to be fooled in a positive way. And if this mentality is understood, and previews are made in this fashion, then surely movies can become more interesting. I want the quality of movie previews to not go down. Great previews stir up the imagination. For me there is value in that.
Extra: I'll introduce you to some interesting movies. Writing about movies is great fun, huh.
Horror: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is a high quality production. In B horror movies there is a common gag factor that is not in orthodox horror movies. There's also this difference in Japan between B horror movies and orthodox horror. It's fairly scary. It's probably difficult for a person to watch who is weak with portrayals of pain and grotesque things.
Suspense: Both "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Fargo" were directed by the Coen brothers. It's great when the story is cynical and full of black humor. The movies are simple, but the contents are extremely deep. I'm thankful for this.
Suspense Love Story?: "The Butterfly Effect" has a great tempo, and the story develops in such a way that you can watch it to the very end without growing weary of it. It's a movie that's scary, moving and has various elements packed into it. The ending song by OASIS really raises this movie that much more. Out of the recent movies I've seen, that's the number one hit.
Human Drama: "Murder in the First" is based on a true story and takes place in Alcatraz. The contents might seem unusual, but if you see it, it's a masterpiece that you absolutely won't regret. I recommend this movie to people who like "The Shawshank Redemption." You could cry.
Comedy: American comedies typically have low humor in them, but "The Naked Gun" is an exceptional fine-quality stupid movie. The jokes in the movie are prepared in minute detail, and it is impossible to see everything with only one watch. "Scary Movie" and "Hot Shots!" are comparable parody movies, and they will make you crack up.
Action?: "Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels" is a movie in which so many characters are introduced at the beginning, that's it's impossible to keep them straight. But as the movie goes on, you gradually are able to organize them. The strength of these movies is in how well the characters are established, and the flawlessness of the scripts. The story and tempo are great. These movies are more cynical than "Kisarazu Cat's Eye." These are the movies that me and Lay love, our "SUPER COOL kei" movies. Because I like "Pulp Fiction" I'm definitely obsessed with movies like this. I can't really recommend this movie for people who have seen "Snatch." The technique and development are very similar.
