“Three Movies You Must See” “Places In The Heart”, “The Drop”, “Red”

Some movies stay with me drawing me back to watch them several times. “The Drop”, “Places In The Heart” and “Red”, are three of these movies.

Prose fiction does not have to comply with the somewhat strict structure of a film or play. Adapting fiction to a film requires a writer who understands character development, dialogue, and conflict, which moves a film along.

“The Power of the Dog” is based on a 1967 novel by Thomas Savage, a closeted gay man whose critically acclaimed fiction drew on his formative years living and working on a Montana ranch. The book is a novel of the West, and in an afterword written for a reprint, Annie Proulx observes that “something aching and lonely and terrible of the West is caught forever” in Savage’s pages. Director Jane Campion, directed a visually beautiful film, with talented actors. What she was not able to do was capture conflict to move the story along. She adapted the prose to film without paying attention to the different forms needed for film. Not certain who to root for was also an issue. Arguments are not sufficient. Life-or-death conflict is necessary to move the story along. Although she studied at the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School, her focus seems to be on visually beautiful filmography and good acting, missing the necessary clear conflict and hero we need in a film.

  Recently director Martin Scorsese went off track while adapting nonfiction to the screen, unable to adapt to script format (Play-like writing).

Aristotle said:

Recognition is a “change from ignorance to knowledge.” This change takes place within the character(s) of the story and can either lead to positive or negative results after the knowledge is attained

Aristotle listed the character as secondary to the plot because “character determines man’s qualities, but it is by their action that they are happy or the reverse.” Thus, the character comes in as a subsidiary of the actions or plot.

Without a compelling plot, no action or reaction will create a compelling character. 

https://screencraft.org/blog/aristotles-six-golden-rules-of-screenwriting/ (a link to an explanation of screenwriting necessities as explained using Aristotle’s structure)

“Places In the Heart”

“The places referred to in the title of director/writer Robert Benton’s 1984 movie are, he has said, places that he holds sacred in his own heart: The small town in Texas where he grew up, various friends and relatives he remembers from those days, the little boy that he once was, and the things that happened or almost happened. His memories provide the material for a wonderful movie, and he has made it.” Roger Ebert.

Cast:

	Sally Field	…	Edna Spalding
	Lindsay Crouse	…	Margaret Lomax
	Ed Harris	…	Wayne Lomax
	Amy Madigan	…	Viola Kelsey
	John Malkovich	…	Mr. Will
	Danny Glover	…	Moze

Sally Field, won her second Academy Award for her work in this film (not that I use the awards as standards for good work).). Fields, who began as “Gidget” and the “Flying Nun”, on television, went off and studied with one of my acting teachers, Lee Strasberg, and credits him for teaching her to become a real actress. She remains to this day one of my favorite actresses due to her ability to reach down inside herself and pull up real emotions we identify with.

Luckily for all the actors in this film, Director/Screenwriter Benton, understands dramatic structure and character structure. Every character appearing in the story has an internal and external conflict to overcome which makes us want to follow them, and since they are like us all trying their best during a difficult time in our nation’s history (The depression), we root for them. If we compare our nation’s depression (when this film takes place) to the covid pandemic we can identify with the struggles of the characters.

As for the actors, director Benton cast, in leads and major supporting roles, actors with such depth of reality and talent, that even the smallest parts ring true.

Danny Glover, is the first serious supporting actor/character to appear, embodying a smart black man who is a prisoner of the system in the South at that time of the Depression (1939). Initially stealing silver eating utensils, from Field’s character, whose husband (the sheriff) has been shot dead by an intoxicated man, Fields employs him to work for her, helping her to discover if she might grow cotton on her farm to save her two children as well as her farm. Field’s character starts as a housewife and mother and it is the growth she exhibits as she takes control to save her farm and the two tenants (both men in difficult situations no fault of their own) she is forced to take in. Malkovich (playing a blind relative of the banker who holds the note on her farm), starts as an irritable tenant who is drawn in as is Glover to Field’s desperate character’s dream to grow cotton and save them all from despair. Fields herself took her life into her own hands deciding as mentioned above to no longer be a lightweight flying nun but to fulfill her dream of being a real actress. I suspect she had plenty of reality to call upon in this role.

John Malkovich convincing as a blinded war veteran treated like an invalid by his family but embraced and respected by Field’s character, that he becomes part of this unusual caring family of needy strangers, who join together to grow cotton and save the farm. It is Glover and Field’s unconventional peer relationship (allowed by Field’s nonjudgemental, character) that initiates the growth we see in both characters as we cheer them on against a system that was then restricted for women and minorities. We find ourselves cheering for ordinary people, trapped by convention and life events out of their control (a spouse’s death, a soldier blinded by war).

All of these flushed-out, fascinating characters, are surrounded by an exquisite, realistic view of the deep South during the Depression, demonstrating the opposition these characters are up against. This is a tribute to director Robert Benson and his cinematographer.

 While picking cotton to beat other farmers to be first to sell, I felt pain when Field’s character cut her fingers on cotton thorns.

Néstor Almendros Cuyás, the cinematographer, created a real-world for these characters to inhabit. Using real light (ambient light) instead of studio lighting, he created the feeling I recall, seeing cotton fields being picked, as a child growing up in the deep South myself.

Director Benson doesn’t’ name and blame as is done in the plastic doll movie, “Barbie”. He develops a story of perseverance, with hard work and determination that inspires while capturing our attention.The characters in Benton’s film are real people, in extraordinary circumstances, figuring out how to  keep family together and make a living during the most difficult of times.  

“The Drop”

Directed by Michaël R. Roskam and written by Dennis Lehane, based on his 2009 short story “Animal Rescue”, the director and writer of the “Drop”, were able to adapt fiction, preserving the dialogue from the story while creating tension, conflict, and resolution sufficient for the film.

“The Drop” with Tom Hardy as Bob Saginowski, Noomi Rapace as Nadia Dunn, James Gandolfini as Marvin ‘Cousin Marv’,  Matthias Schoenaerts as Eric  Deeds, John Ortiz as Detective Evandro, is based on a short story, “Animal Rescue”, written by the writer who wrote “Mystic River”: Clint Eastwood directed it in (2003), Martin Scorsese‘s Shutter Island (2010), and Gone Baby Gone (2007) and Live by Night (2016), his short story “Animal Rescue” was adapted into the film The Drop, noted for being the final film role for actor James Gandolfini.

Actress, Noomi Rapace, played the role of Lisbeth Salander in 2009 in the Swedish-produced film adaptation of Stieg Larsson‘s best-selling novel “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. Teamed together with Tom Hardy again in “Child 44”, this actress demonstrates an ability to listen to and speak to the actors she is working with. These two qualities are necessary for the groundwork of any actor, regardless of the character development they might be capable of, (according to Robert Lewis, director-writer of “Method or Madness”). Hardy demonstrates this ability as well and when cast with Rapace the two develop characters, who speak with each other, and take their time when responding, adding emotional and physical traits to their characters. Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace worked together in “Child 44”, demonstrating this same ability to relate to each other.  Rapace and Hardy take their time in “The Drop”, slowly developing characters both who are internally suffering but willing to take a chance on a relationship. Set in Brooklyn, New York, this gritty crime novel has few sets, focusing on character and story development. Hardy, who is in almost every scene, (in real life is a dog lover and adopter) rescues an abandoned puppy he finds in a garbage can, creating our empathy for his character early on. Hardy’s gentle somewhat bewildered character, has us on his side even when we find out some unlikeable traits from his past. Rapace develops a throughline for her character, who is willing to fall for Hardy, with some residual fear from her past relationships. James Gandolfini, playing ’Cousin Marv”, the antagonist in the story plays Tony Soprano, only less successful in life. He plays him well.

Director Michaël Roskam establishes a dreary, wet, and dangerous ambiance in a dingy neighborhood bar used as a drop for laundering money for gangsters, further establishing the ordinariness of and isolation of the main characters.  Having attended Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam where he graduated in 2005 with a master’s degree in script writing and development, this director understands adapting prose to film structure. As for me, I did know people like these characters when I was a teenager in Brooklyn. Tony and Carmine Sireco were visitors to my friend’s house, dropping off drug deliveries (before Tony became an actor on “The Sopranos”). Gentrified and unrecognizable I can’t say if Brooklyn still has neighborhoods with the vibe like in “The Drop”, but the characters are so compelling in their struggles within the boundaries of their limited lives that we might place them anywhere and identify with and like them. Even Cousin Marv (Gandolfini) has a back story about his father’s need for financing in his nursing home, which justifies his character’s behaviors. Justifying a character’s behavior is an important part of scriptwriting or acting. It might be justified by insanity or other unpleasant reasons but the character’s behavior has to be justified. All these elements, conflict, character justification, as well as a good story (plot), are needed to pique our interest. (“The Drop” can be seen on Amazon Prime,  Flix, Showtime)

“Red”

Director: Trygve Allister Diesen, Lucky McKee

CAST

• Brian Cox as Avery “Ave” Ludlow
• Kyle Gallner as Harold McCormack
• Noel Fisher as Danny McCormack
• Tom Sizemore as Michael McCormack
• Shiloh Fernandez as Pete Doust
• Robert Englund as Willie Doust
• Amanda Plummer as Mrs. Doust
• Ashley Laurence as Mrs. McCormack
• Kim Dickens as Carrie
• Richard Riehle as Sam Berry
• Jack Ketchum as Bartender (credited under his real name, Dallas Mayr)

“Red”, is a 2008 American thriller film based on a novel by Jack Ketchum. It concerns one man’s revenge after his beloved dog is shot to death when he doesn’t have enough money to satisfy an attempted robber. Stephen Susco wrote the screenplay based on the novel. Brian Cox, plays a widower who,while fishing with his dog Red, is accosted by local entitled roughneck kids, who demand money from him.

When he doesn’t pay they shoot and kill his dog (A gift from his now deceased wife). The leader of these kids played by Danny McCormack, is the son of a local bigshot played by Tom Sizemore. Sizemore is perfectly cast as the local entitled big shot who refuses to discipline his son for the murder of the dog.   Ave (Brian Cox), seeks legal civil recourse for the murder of Red but to no avail. A local journalist does a television piece on the story setting off a conflict between Ave (Cox) and McCormack (Sizemore). Sizemore supports his son’s criminal behavior which includes burning down Ave’s business, throwing a rock through his window at home and terrorizing Cox. Not to be deterred Cox begins to fight back. His constrained demeanor slowly leads to physical violence, then an inevitable showdown with guns.

  Noel Fisher as Danny, Sizemore’s son and the leader of the bad boys, does a terrific job, lest we forget that he is acting a part.  

There is a through-line of a catharsis in the three films I mentioned above. I am drawn to films about ordinary people dragged into extraordinary circumstances, while I watch them prevail against difficult odds. I prefer these films of realism to fantasy superhero films as I identify and find inspiration. That said, there is plenty of room for “Superman” films in my collection.

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