One movie and new kids? RANT

[torillgrnhaug]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> 
>
> The two existing movies by any standard were gutted to the limit. The
> movies, but more so CoS, jump from scene to scene with no explaination
> as to why things are happening, no plot development, no underlying
> character motivation. I have trouble believing that anyone who had
> never read the book could even make a coherent story out of what they
> were shown in CoS. Many of the scene that were filmed that developed
> the story line and explained people's action were found in the DVD
> extras. The movie would have been substantially improved if those
> scenes had been left in, and their total running time is not that much.
> 


> What they realy need is a director and producer who have some
> independant artistic vision. Director and producer who will fight for
> that artistic vision and not let it be compromised. So far, none of
> the director I've heard suggested are anything more that product
> packaging technicians; stooges of corporate desire.
> 
> bboy_mn




First, don't call Cuarón a "product packaging technician" He is not.
You can't have seen any of his other films if you say that. He is a
true artist, a wonderful director with a fantastic visual creativity.
I'm sure he definitely has an independent artistic vision and I was
very disappointed when I heard he is not coming back for GoF. (At the
Snitch they posted about a rumour on the set that he wants to come
back for the 5th, I sure hope that's true!!!) Nothing we have seen or
heard so far gives us any reason to believe he will compromise
anything in PoA. Let's face it, we have only seen some very few still
photos from the set. They won't in anyway do justice to the finished
film of moving pictures.... 

Second - and please don't kill me for saying this - I don't really
think LENGTH is the issue here. I completely agree with you on what
you say about CoS and plot and character development, and how keeping
some of the deleted scenes would have done that so much better. But it
really isn't just a question about what Colombus chose to cut, it is
as much a question of what he chose to keep in!! Think about for
instance that ridicilous slapstick scene that he just couldn't resist
to put in and that wasn't even in the book - I'm thinking of that
stupid driving-in-front-of-the-train (WHY would they need to fly so
low anyway!!) and falling-out-of-the-car scene. And the scenes that
developed Harry's doubt about his identity were cut out for THIS???

The problem with the first two films, and CoS more than PS, is that
they lack one coherent vision, one or a few underlying main themes or
ideas. THAT's what you need before you can start cutting. If that's
not there, the films get to be just this string of episodes with
seemingly abrupt cuts between them, there is no central idea developed. 

All the Harry Potter books have many themes in them, and the length of
the books doesn't necessarily correspond to the number of themes. It's
the themes you need to consider, which of them to keep and which to 
cut. It's a good promise about the quality of PoA that the Wood and
house cup theme was cut, it's a minor one and although fun, not
essential to the main themes of PoA. 

What then are the main themes of GoF? Of course, the return of the
Death Eaters and Voldemort as one of the most important ones. To make
that interesting you need to develop what the Death Eaters really are
about - ethnic cleansing, the racist i.e. the mudblood theme. That was
first presented in CoS and Columbuses' bad choices will come back to
hunt the director of GoF - both Kloves and Rowling complain about this
in the DVD interview. Even though they are polite, they both state
that the mudblood theme was played down more than they wanted in the
finished film (which goes to say that you shouldn't blame Kloves for
everything - the deleted scenes -and we haven't seen all that was cut
or never shot from the script - show that the original script is not
what we see on the screen - the director has the final say!!) House
elves will come into this also, but it's not clear whether SPEW needs
to be in. Rowling says in interviews that this has to do with showing
how insensitive and immature teenagers can be about political matters
- that' not necessarily an important theme.

Another main theme underlying GoF - and indeed the whole series - is
"how far can you go to defend yourself against evil?" This was an
important theme in PoA as well, and it comes back here, with the
unforgivable curses and the whole story about Crouch and his son. If
it is done well, it is possible to see the Triwizard tournament in
this light as well - as some sort of tangent to the two other themes.
 The competition for glory - isn't that, too, what the Deatheaters'
thirst for power is about, in corrupted form? The rivalry between the
schools and the more intense and personal rivalry between Cedric and
Harry accentuates this, with it's version of "how far can you go to
win". Can you cheat? Let somebody drown if only you can get to the
shore as the first one? Let the monster kill your rival so you can win
the glory? 

And here lies some of the dark and bitter theme of the Harry Potter
series, played out even stronger in OotP. You don't necessarily get
rewarded for doing the right thing, so that can't be your motive for
doing it. Harry's noble offer to share the cup with his chief rival
Cedric only brings about Cedric's death. They are transported to
Voldemort, they never get to celebrate any victory. Which again points
to the cruel parallell between the tournament and Voldemorts battle to
win first place among wizards.  

If these are chosen as the main themes, and the cutting and keeping of
scenes are done according to what will accentuate and develop these,
and what will only divert from them - then GoF can be made into a very
intense and cruelly beautiful film of about 3 hours. Even if it
doesn't have all our favorite scenes and even if some more minor but
still important themes are lost. I will not begin to suggest which
scenes are essential to achieve this, and which can be lost, because
I'm not a visual artist, I'm not an expert in telling stories visually. 

But if GoF is made into one film with the editing done haphazardly
without any central ideas, then yes, murder and riot. If the director
of "Four weddings and a funeral" is the man to do it is another story
- that film seems far away from the darkness that rises in GoF. But
who knows, and I haven't seen any of his other films, so I'll keep an
open mind. I just say it again, wish Cuarón had stayed on. I think he
could have done it.

Torill