Get the Picture?

Get the Picture? The Movie Lover's Guide to Watching Films, Jim Piper, New York, 2001

I am indeed a movie lover. I see a lot of movies and review them. My reviews are typically quite positive...I am there to be entertained, not to figure out how the world works...and not nearly as critical of them as many of the well known reviewers who seem to think that if a movie can be enjoyed by Average Moe then it is inherently a bad movie.

With that said, I have also taken a few movie-related classes at Portland Sate University and as such am quite familiar with terms such as low-angle, cross-cut, jump-cut, realism, formalism, and so forth. I am capable of looking beyond the surface at the subtext meanings of any given movie. And, sad as it may be, I still enjoy an implausible morality tale masquerading as an adventure flick like The Island (2005).

Apparently that means I am not the target audience for Get the Picture. Throughout the entire book I feel like I am being talked down to. Over and over we are told that the things that make movies enjoyable for average people are the very things that mean a movie is "bad". For Piper, it is a shame if a person does not worship the work of someone like Fellini.

If you have never seen a Fellini movie consider yourself fortunate. I have seen a couple of his movies including 8-1/2 (1963), perhaps his best known work. His work is not for the average person. Fellini is indeed a master at using a variety of techniques and interesting shots. Unfortunately, he does this in the service of stories that a very select few people will find interesting. His stories are all but incomprehensible with a bizarre mix of narcissism, drug-fueled mind-altered experiences, and perhaps a hint of cubism.

Frankly, the average U.S. film-goer really is not wired to enjoy that. We would much prefer watching Bruce Willis gun down 1-2000 bad guys or hear Chris Rock spout his one-liners. Of course, that is a problem for Piper who specifically mentions that U.S. movie watchers enjoy bad films.

So be it.

If you are of the opinion that movies that entertain regardless of whether they have any deep meaning are superior to movies that have deep, multi-faceted layers of meaning but leave the viewer bored to tears then this book is not for you.

Conversely, if you are an elitist who thinks that the fewer people who comprehend or enjoy the movies that suit your taste equals a better movie, the writing of Piper will thrill you to your core.