How To Watch A Movie by David Thomson

 

For a book about the various aspects of how movies can be seen, this is quite an intellectual challenge. It does help to have seen lots of films going back in time. David Thomson is not just a film critic, more a connoisseur. I made a few notes on each chapter as I went along:

1. ARE WE HAVING FUN?
"The ultimate subject of this book is watching or paying attention (that encompasses listening, fantasizing, and longing for next week) and so it extends to watching as a total enterprise or commitment". See what I mean? So why, near the end of this chapter do we get told about Derek Jeter, "the longtime shortstop for the New York Yankees"? It's because on YouTube there is awful advert for Gatorade. Thomson is not impressed: "it leaves us like suckers".

2. SCREENS
I knew that before digital technology, projectionists had to change reels, but what I didn't know was this happens every ten minutes. Thomson tells us about the different ways we can watch movies including TV, computers and even phones. Then "our creepy readiness for real disaster, as long as it stays on the screen". As an example, he describes "M" starring Peter Lorre and how this paved the way for murders in films and shows, including "Dexter", "Psycho", "Seven", "Silence of the Lambs" and more.

3. ALONE TOGETHER
Here are the classics from the war years, and then a big discussion about happy endings, and how many movies did not. Another long piece about "Locke" (see my post of 23rd February) which Thomson ends with "No film I've seen in recent years is more eloquent on where we are now, and on how alone we feel". He calls big concrete pours as "drops" which must be the American word.

4. SEE IT ONCE, WATCH IT TWICE
In 1955 Thomson says he had only heard about "Citizen Kane" until it was shown in at The Classic in Tooting. "I was the only member of the audience". This has also happened to me. He says he didn't understand with "the plot beyond my grasp". He was not the only one. But he's now seen it many times. Unlike some films he mentions that only deserve to be seen once, if that. But he does like the Joseph Losey remake of "M" and it is on YouTube.

5. WATCHING AND SEEING
There are lots about "Rear Window" with James Stewart, obviously. "He never realises (the people opposite) can see him". I didn't know that it was filmed in an elaborate set built in LA. Then lots about "Blow Up", both on the subject and the title. Thomson tells us that the shower scene in "Psycho" was a "flagrant artfulness that wont permit the censor to interfere in his razor sharp cuts".

6. WHAT IS CINEMATIC INFORMATION?
An interesting note about CinemaScope and it's adaption for TV. All about framing the image. Thomson then selects Alfred Hitchcock to talk about "the epitome of control" and goes on to describe in detail the first 30 minutes of "Psycho" and the casting of Janet Leigh. (He says the remake is a travesty).

7. WHAT IS A SHOT?
From film cameras to our phones, he explores in great detail what goes into taking a picture. There are examples of movies to look at "decision making" of a shot, from 1944's "Lara" to 2014's "Gone Girl".

8. WHAT IS A CUT AND DOES IT HURT?
We get a piece about tracking shots which I love. Obviously a mention of the beginning of Hitchcock's "Touch of Evil" but nothing about "Goodfellas" which I think has the best of these. Cuts in time include those in "Citizen Kane" and then onto the Directors Cut. A good section on editing where Thomson says "Let editing act as an accelerating force in a story". And then "cross cut close ups".

9. WHAT DO YOU HEAR
In my case,now, not everything. There is more about "Psycho" and how Bernard Herman's score amplified the scene in the shower. Then how changing the composer on "Chinatown" was a masterstroke. But much more about Orson Welles who "knew and cared the most about sound" having started in radio where the 1938 broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" led to being given a chance directing movies. "Before Welles, no movie director had had such aptitude for sound , or such experience with it's potential for trickery". An interesting bit about dubbing and then the fact movies now have sound designers. Thomson notes the sound of the train as Michael Corleone prepares to kill his enemies in "The Godfather". There are mentions of many movies where music plays a big part.

10. WHAT IS A STORY AND DOES IT MATTER?
Why does the write go into so much detail (4 pages) about the plot of "All is Lost"? I have to agree that J C Chandor is a great director (I also loved "Margin Call" and "A Most Violet Year". Just a shame "Triple Frontier" is only on Netflix.) But we don't need to hear the plots of all the films Thomson mentions to know about stories.

11. WHO MAKES THESE MOVIES?
An interesting piece about "The Bandwagon" where Fred Astaire never had a credit as director even though he insisted on the way his dance numbers were shot. The full figures of the dancers had to be seen. We do have examples of just how many people it takes to make a movie and what their contributions are. Then "the last category pf the people who make the movies - ourselves". How our attendance influences what and how movies are made.

12. WHAT DOES A HERO DO?
Here is Tom Hardy in "Locke" yet again. In comparison comes Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Expendables" and how it became "a rest home franchise for for male superheroes who have seen better days". We get a lot about Denzel Washington in 2014's "The Equalizer" when he was about 60. Thomson tells us that the violence was not the worst but bad enough. And it does go on and on. So does his review over another four pages. But then a note about "Deja Vu" directed by Tony Scott where I agreed "the more you see it the better it gets".

13. CAN YOU SEE THE MONEY?
An amazing section about how much Elizabeth Taylor was paid for "Cleopatra" and how a $2 Million budget became $44 Million.

14. THE DOCUMENT AND THE DREAM
I'm not sure what Thomson is trying to tell us, it does ramble on. Is he running out of steam? maybe the balance of "truth and fiction"? he quote some quite obscure movies, maybe for the real film buffs.

15. WHERE IS THE SCREEN
There is something about the various formats from VHS to DVD's and onto YouTube etc. Thomson talks about aspect ratio, and how I remembered seeing that DVD of "Casino" in widescreen but huge amounts of blank screen at the top and bottom. The conversions these days are far better. For me, I need the cinema to be able to concentrate and not let my mind wander, or get up and make a cup of tea.

To summarise, there is an awful lot of deviation which may have been padding? But it is the most intelligent and intellectual book I have ever read about movies. Sometimes quite hard work, but overall essential reading for those interested in this subject.