Since, in attempting a review site, I have no way to establish credibility, aside from listing all the films I have seen (which I considered briefly; before slapping myself in the face for being so stupid). I have decided to devote the next few months to putting up THE GOLDEN BOX (there is no gold or boxes involved). Simply said; I will be going through the greats for you, my loyal reader, as well as for myself. No matter how often you come across a film that makes you want to jab forks into you nipples, there will always be a reason for being so brutal and here is the first episode in the process:
THE GOLDEN PLOT TWISTS
Let me assure any reader first that I will not be revealing any spoilers for the following films, since it would be comparable to dissecting a worm; no one would be that interested and the worm would die.
I must admit that these are my favorite awards. One of the most significant reasons for becoming a screenwriter, is to give the audience that great feeling, which can be only described as ‘completion’, where you rethink the entire film you have just seen and everything completes, shifts into place and clicks like a seat belt stuck in a Rubik’s cube. You feel the entire movie working and fitting in your head and it comes from one short sweet moment, and the shorter the more lasting it leaves that sweet taste in your mouth. You leave the cinema, and can barely speak two words to your friends or to that friendly hobo outside your house.
I consider plot shifts and twists essential to any great story or work of art, and nothing short of fantastic when done well.
Anyway, here is the list of my top five ‘Golden Plot Twists’.
5. PSYCHO (1960): From the very beginning, you believe you know what direction this film is going. You find yourself winding down a road, much like the opening; and realize that you turned off three miles earlier, and are on a plane to a different country, entirely. And, yes, my digression got completely out of hand, but picture a smooth river, which flows along sharp turns, making you second guess the next direction, and that pretty much describes ‘Psycho’. What’s more it builds to a climax that will have you pulling your hair out and staring suspiciously at your family all the way through thanksgiving dinner. A Hitchcock classic for good reason.
4. PLANET OF THE APES (1968); How often do you find yourself accepting the world around you? It is what it is. We all look at something or someone with a certain element of prejudice and assumption; it’s, psychologically, human nature. This film is a true example of how any assumption of one or the other can be fooled to the point that we fool ourselves.
It takes you through a society, which toys with our own, in a way that I cannot help but smile. The beautiful twist magnifies that you don’t and shouldn’t make assumptions, and teaches us to question the world around us, learn and grow, imagine and evolve. The feeling of being fooled comes as such a joyous surprise, but none affects you on a basic level as positively as this delightful play on humanity. Who truly knows when we will be able to overcome the hindrance that is our own ignorance? This film allows some of your self to be set free and for that, I am truly grateful.
3. FIGHT CLUB (1999); the bronze medal will metaphorically be swinging its way to David Fincher (and the writers Jim Uhls and Chuck Palahnuik can fight each other over theirs) for their superb collaboration. Not only was the basic plot of the story a build up to the delightful twist, but David Fincher does everything he can, quite successfully, to make the visuals perfectly compliment the words. This is truly the example of how making a beautiful film is a miracle, where many must interact to give you that great and satisfied feeling, like two jugglers, who realized they had too many knives in the air, but committed to their predicament, and the audience thanked them for it (rather than certain cases where one throws a knife at the other, and storms off the stage).
While it’s difficult, the first time you watch it, to understand the direction it will take, you can’t help but remain curious, nervous, and a little amused; like the first time you have sex in a public place. The twist speeds past, grabbing you by the spine and pulling it out through your mouth, making the mysterious ending all the more enthralling. Moreover, it gives you a fun feeling that perhaps your life isn’t as shitty as you thought it was. Any revelation like that is bound to decrease the amount of irritating melodrama at home, and let people focus on their goals (in a perfect world; no one would need to be warned of this fatal flaw).
2. THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995): the most difficult part of this job is putting this film anywhere but first. With what could be considered the most memorable twist, it pained me to do it, like I just had a tasty brunch from a beautiful restaurant and then gave them 4/5 on their comment card. But there had to be agonizing concessions made, and so it grabs the silver (which I have sprinkled with gold dust; for the sake of diplomacy). The film has a superb direction and, to me, some of the most delightful dialogue, swearing and transcendent antagonizing that inspired you to go down the wrong direction. Not only that, but one of the most beautiful disguises is given to the climax.
To whoever says, “I knew it all along”, you’re either a liar or should be working for NASA, and consider hard before choosing the latter, because they can spot a fake. You get taken in to this conversation, like a blind and deaf man being lead through, possibly the largest number of suspects in a film, yet they don’t all feel right. You get taken between flashback and present drifting down rapids that are looking more and more intimidating, as you fall. The film that I would most try and emulate, simply because it laughs in the face of any smug audience member who thinks they always know the answer. I did not; fully confessed and declared from a man who grew up on who-done-its. It is the only twist that can afford to take its time, and wash over your face like a bag of puppies covered in cocaine (Don’t think about that simile; it’s evil).
For the gold, I thought it only appropriate to enlarge the suspense, in spite of the fact that I know many people will speed to the end to save time. I can only hope that you, my loyal reader, will allow me to drift you into the greatest plot twist and enjoy it, as much as I did.
THE GOLD
Throughout the course of film, the future has remained a scary and intimidating place, taking a fearful death and ‘A Christmas Carol’ esque fear of retribution and pain that is due in our final hours. And yet this film looks at the future, the battles, the wars and the trials of battling evil. Yet, this realization comes in the midst of such defined good, such defined evil, black and white separated so far apart, over the course of not one but two films. For the film to end the way it did was nothing short of ideal collaborative motion picture.
That feeling of perfection, when you build the device in the board game ‘Mousetrap’ and everything clicks, slips, and jumps towards a delightful end, while your friend desperately tries to roll the dice, is multiplied by the three years between original and sequel, added to what fills both of these iconic films (Wow. That was a satisfyingly long sentence).
In our fictional world that covers you like a warm blanket of whale blubber, and drives you towards waving a large glowing penis extension from a young age, this climax gripped me by both testicles and I haven’t recovered since. To do what George Lucas (Irving Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett) has done by making a sequel, in my opinion, better than the original, is nothing short of superb filmmaking. But to take it to new levels of brilliance and fantasy in our heads is genius (and for me George; you have the right to make whatever films you like; and I will still come back, sitting in the audience, just for a chance to see something that spectacular again). Who could have possibly thought? A lot of innocence was lost; that there was a possibility of connection, a possibility of more than one dimension. Yet, I consider none better than what I give the gold to:
The epic.
The divine.
The future.
1. STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
[Be certain you watch STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE (1977) prior to this film]
Thank you.
Over the next week, I will bring you:
TOP 5 GOLDEN COMEDIES
TOP 5 GOLDEN TRAGEDIES
TOP 5 GOLDEN FAMILIES (the genre not my favorite family).
SPECIAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE
And completing with my:
TOP 5 GOLDEN FILM (the mesh of all and every significant factor that make film such a superb work of art).
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