There’s
what a film is about, and what it’s about.
If, like me, and many like me, you’ve been watching The Wire box-sets recently, then you should understand the implied
nuance in that statement. Often, what a film is “about”, in the first sense, the narrative's foundation, the film's main topic,
is easy to identify - in this case, it is bereavement, loss. The second sense is more difficult to pin down,
because it touches on all the other facets of the film's interpretation. For that reason, it
seems more useful to frame the pertinent question thus :
“What are the filmmakers about here?”.
Even then, we have only fractionally improved things, as we can see when we
consider possible responses for this film: “They’re about making a film that deals with
bereavement”. “They’re about communicating the old idea that when we, the players in life’s
drama, have said our piece, and exited stage left or right, that our backdrop,
our environment will, in some sense, “continue” irregardless.” “They’re about style. They‘re about playing with symmetries and
asymmetries. They’re about finding
an urban aesthetic in much the same way that the makers of Wendy and Lucy were. They’re about choreography and cinematography, setting the actors on
meticulously planned trajectories and recording the result with motionless
cameras whose field of vision often captures the action from below chest height”.
And so on. What’s the solution to this seemingly endless list of responses? Of
course, there is none. In criticism, the about/about distinction is as old as
the hills, it’s just that it’s interesting to
recognise it cropping up in modern parlance like this.
Continuing the theme, suppose you were to ask me whether the filmmakers
here “got game”. In that case, and in kind, I would reply “mos’ def’”. The location,
cast of characters, cinematography, script, and pacing are all fine. The
narrative is intriguing and maintains the interest for the most part. Clearly, a
lot of thought has gone into this piece, and it’s an enjoyable viewing
experience. From the film’s dedication, storyline and closing music, we leave
the cinema confident that we appreciate that the film is primarily a reflection
on mortality, bereavement, and such. On further reflection, we identify the way
that the filmmakers have alluded to this theme
throughout, and we suspect that they have been rigorous in their storytelling. However,
in this light, what were at the time genuinely humorous moments perhaps now
appear a bit too studied. Perhaps, were we to see the movie again, we would not
laugh at these moments, because now we suspect that the film lacks “heart”.
Perhaps the about/about exercise has it’s merits after
all, because it has shown that we are fairly sure that