Story is king

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In my past two choices of films-to-see I have been a bit unfortunate. Both films were critically highly acclaimed, had great acting, great direction, superb photography, flawless editing. But I disliked, no: hated, no: loathed the stories.

The Departed features an unusual cruel gangster, played by Jack Nicholson, who, after killing many people in less and more cruel ways, is eventually brought down by a mole he himself installed in the FBI. The Mole, starring Matt Damon, first kills some more people, before he is finally killed. The end.

While the characters are very well described, I just do not see the point of this film. It is just full of cynicism, basically saying the world is bad, and it doesn’t matter if you are the good guy or the bad guy. Life sucks, though it might be more fun if you are cruel. Talking about a post-Tarantino time.

Blood is red

And then yesterday I went to see Tim Burton’s new film, Sweeney Todd. I didn’t know anything about this film, except that it had gotten raving reviews all over Norway. Little did I know that I was to witness a film that would make The Departed look like a romantic comedy.

Basically the film is full of graphical, mostly unmotivated violence.

Again, all departments have done a superb job. What a great color scheme! But what is the story? Is it some sick love story, of a guy who sings while revenging the death of his wife by killing dozens of totally innocent people?

When lacking a story, substitute with 2 servings of violence

I don’t mind violence in films, as long as it is motivated. And graphic violence needs to be especially motivated in the character. For me, Sopranos is an excellent example of necessary display of violence. Or say in Ghandi you just have to have the violence to show how strong a non-violent fight against this very violence was. Or even Full Metal Jacket, which shows the bloodiness of war. Or, or, or.

But neither Martin Scorsese nor Tim Burton, both one of the best directors of our times, convince me that their use of visual violence was necessary for these films. Or rather, that these films were necessary at all. I felt only worse afterwards, having gained no insight into life.