CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: " I don't see movies in terms of a balance between simplicity and complexity. I think it's really about mystery."
Found this very interesting quote in a Nolan interview: "I don't see movies in terms of a balance between simplicity and complexity. I think it's really about mystery. And our expectations of films, my whole life, but really since the 1950s, have been informed by television and the expectations of television. And sometimes that's unfortunate.
So, I often use non-chronological, non-linear structures. That was something that was done a lot in the silent era, in early talkies, right up until television came along. And then television sort of imposed a more linear, a more simple approach because of the way in which we watched television from the 1950s onwards.Then when home video DVD came along and now streaming, we could once again be more adventurous because you can watch something, you can stop it, you can rewind something, have a look at it. And so, we can make more dense narratives, more complicated narratives.
But ultimately, the thing about the experience in a movie theater with an audience: it should be about mystery. You don't want to understand the entire story right from the beginning. Otherwise, there's nothing to unfold. And so, really the skill, the job of the filmmaker, is to try and be a little bit ahead of the audience, not too far ahead, not too far behind. When you're behind the audience, and the audience is understanding things before you're explaining them, the audience gets very frustrated in a different way."
What do you guys think, is mystery the main element that can make a movie good? I personally think that mystery is what makes a good film or show great, when you do not know what to expect, but you still have a clue of what's happening. That's a tough balance to find, and most movies now in Hollywood have taken the safer approach of being "behind the audience'. Just giving the audience what they expect, either willingly or not, relegating the movie to 'good' at most, but most likely passable/boring.
Link to the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIefxbSJT8&t=250s
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/156uxbe/christopher_nolan_i_dont_see_movies_in_terms_of_a/
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