Tuesday, December 16, 2008
CRITIQUE from film, "I NEED YOU" viewing...
Hey Joey,
I just finished watching your film, "I Need You". I watched it twice because I hadn't watched it all the way through the first time and thought that would be better. A lot of it's tough to watch - it's poingant. But it has more impact the second time. It's much more obvious the second time that the dancing at the beginning is when they're both successfull out-patients. The first time they both seem pretty "crazy" even then. The second time it's also more obvious when the Captian is beginning to go manic - when Ernie is trying to talk him out of his "Bongo" obsession.
I thought the early scene when Ernie is trying to talk Captian out of his Bongo obsession was a little long, and though it's filmed in regular light, which makes it more sane (which is what it's supposed to be), the regular light makes Ernie's wig and teeth more obviously fake.
But the scene shortly after that when Captian Jamaca is explaining how Paul died and why Paul died was great. In fact it was so good that I wished some (or all) of what he was saying was sub-titled so people couldn't miss what he was saying.
Some of the zoo scenes were long, but they did have the effect of showing Paul's manic phase kicking in.
All of the parts with the phone guy were really good. In fact they were perfect and striking. Especially the end, when he smiles at the camera from the end of the pier.
Irronically you start by saying Ernie is our worst fucking nightmare, and end by saying he's probably never going to get better, but in reality he didn't do anything bad in the entire film. He just tried to keep Captain Jamaca from messing up. It was less obvious that he followed Captian Jamaca into not taking his meds.
Maybe you could start with more voice-over during the part showing the psych hospital in the rain talking about the numbers of people on out-patient status. This would make it more obvious that Ernie and Paul are recent out-patients trying to pull it together. Also, the dates help a lot, but they're usually small and I found it difficult to follow their progress, which I think is important so you can see how the two are deteriorating over time.
I'll probably watch it a couple more times. The grainy colored film sequences are great. A lot of texture in sound and picture. I loved the Martin Luther King part too. And I thought it was funny the second time I watched, at the beginning it says the film was "dierected" which seemed to indicate it was already a story, the director merely "erected" it for everyone to see.
Maybe that's more critique than you wanted. You said you were re-working it so I thought more ideas might help you brain storm (but then they might not also). It's too bad you couldn't make them look less crazy at the beginning and establish Paul as Paul so watchers could see the Captain Jamaca transformation as extreme and indicative as it is supposed to be - as an indicator that Paul's starting to go manic.
Anyway, you said this was done in 1995 I thought, but you also said it was done after Len. I didn't know Len was that old. makes it even more impressive.
Now I'm more impatient to see Nice People.
James
