In Bruges - Film Review

I wrote this retrospective film review on In Bruges for Spindle Magazine. In my all time top 10 movies, it's the story of hit-man Ray seeking solace and redemption in the fairy-tale town of Bruges. It blends gallows humour, incredible dialogue and several sterling performances to produce a tenderly brilliant gangster film like no other.

Read the full review up on Spindle Mag.

Murder My Sweet & Using IMdB for Dialogue

Murder My Sweet, is the film adaptation of Raymand Chandler's hardboiled detective novel Farewell My Lovely. It's one of the most effective adaptations of the writer's work with it's slick first person narrative, Dick Powell nailing the dry wit of Philip Marlowe, and director Edward Dymytryk presenting a dark, cynical vision of 1940s society.

Chandler's dialogue is second-to-none, and Dymytryk kept it all intact for the film - Marlowe's sarcasm and deadpan delivery are one of the great hallmarks of the noir genre - and something I and many crime fiction writer's aspire to emulate. So when researching Murder My Sweet on IMdB the quotes section proved a fantastic little resource. Nothing like reading the novel or watching the film to really get a feel for the rhythm and beats of the dialogue, but if you haven't got time for that commitment, but need some inspiration dialogue-wise, check out IMdB's quotes section of your favourite movies. If the dialogue's anywhere near as quotable as some of the classic film noir's, there's gonna be a shit-ton of great lines to inspire you.

Joss Whedon - Bafta Guru

The Bafta Guru site is a bountiful resource on filmmaking, they've got screenwriting lectures, interviews, and opportunities. This interview with Joss Whedon for their 'Life in Pictures' strand isn't just a great overview of the writer/director, it's also amazing what you can learn from just listening to him. Plus it's really fucking funny. Like really really funny. I've probably posted it before but after revisiting it last week, it bears repeat listening. This is the guy who created Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Serenity. He brought the Avengers together in a bickering harmony. I could listen to him all day.

The Guard - script

John Michael McDonagh's feature debut is an Irish black comedy with Brendan Gleeson as the titular Guard. Gerry Boyle is an unorthodox policeman who doesn't shy away from confrontation, he's teamed up with Don Cheadle's by-the-book FBI agent Wendell Everett to take down a ring of international drug smugglers.

It's dark and hilarious with a cast of great characters and dialogue sharp enough to draw blood. I found the script here and it's well worth a read - funny, touching and an excellent example of how to individualise your character voices.

Into the Woods - John Yorke

Insightful, accessible and totally comprehensive. John Yorke's 'Into the Woods' isn't just a book for aspiring screenwriters, it's for anyone interested in stories, and the psychology behind why we tell them. He doesn't only offer sage advice on how to tell (read - show) better stories, but why we do so in such a frequently recurring form.

John is primarily concerned with structure, and although he mainly references films his theories can be applied to any dramatic form, be they for the screen, stage or page. He successfully argues that the 5 act structure fits perfectly within the 3 act structure. In the traditional 3 act story, act 2 is twice as long as act 1 and act 3, and in John's example he divides this longer act 2 into 3 separate acts, therefore equating 5.

Around this central peg of structure he details how it affects each and every scene, how it influences subtext, characters and even dialogue. It's hard to pick out the most prevalent quote, seriously, at the risk of sounding a kiss ass, there were so many spot on sentences that perfectly articulated an idea, but the importance for every fiction writer to grasp how to show rather than tell, is essential and summed up succinctly.

"Screenwriting is showing not telling; structure is the presentation of images in such a way an audience are forced to work out the relationship between them."

This is where the audience's imagination comes into play, where they have to do a little work and interpret what they're seeing or reading, and this is why films, novels and plays can be so powerful - because good writers encourage their audience to invest some of themselves in the material, to make up their own minds, to form their own conclusions. Rather than shove the exact idea you want your public to take from your work, give them the ingredients, and see what recipe they come up with.

John also pulls no punches, respectfully critiquing gurus such as Robert McKee and Joseph Campbell, as well as some the best screenwriters working today, like Charlie Kauffman. The appendix is full of breakdowns of structural form, and outlines of protagonists' road of change, of some well known movies, from the Godfather to Indiana Jones.

Further Reading

Story - Robert McKee

The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell

Screenplay - Syd Field

The Writer's Journey - Christopher Vogler

On Screenwriting - Frederick Gaffney

There's No Time To Explain Why There's No Time To Explain!

If you hate exposition you'll love this supercut from Slacktory.

Sorkinisms

Even the best screenwriters recycle dialogue, and some of them do it a lot. A lot a lot. There, now does that make you feel better about your dialogue writing?

There, now does that make you feel better about your dialogue writing? Cuts taken from these Aaron Sorkin penned films; Malice, A Few Good Men, Bulworth, Sports Night, The West Wing, Studio 60, Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network.