Suspension of Disbelief

I’m at an impasse. I got a short script and wanting to move forward with it. But something about the story doesn’t ring true. Not that anyone had to tell me what it was. But it feels….off in my gut. I don’t know what it is though. Maybe a nagging feeling that the story has no universal truth. Or I’m trying to jam a story where there is none.

I had to clear my my so I went to go see “Paddington.”  The story is of a family of bears who due to de-forestation is displaced. Only Paddington is the only one who travels to London to find another life.

The story is fun, and it’s clearly for children. As an adult watching this, a lot of questions came to mind. In the movie, it’s clear this English talking bear gathers no attention. They set this up fast in the beginning as busy Londoners are in the train station moving past him. Ignoring him. Even though he CLEARLY speaks their language. In any other world, people question this, in this movie…NO ONE even bats an eye. It leads you to think that during production meetings, it was most likely “we can’t spend any time on the story having people be amazed of a talking bear, we’d spend too much of it explaining it.” Therein lies the truth.

Sometimes you can kill the spirit of the story by asking too many questions.

To me, it was just the way the English are. They aren’t amused, shocked or moved by anything. A space alien can hit a pub and no one would bat an eye. It’s just the nature of their culture. That’s MY interpretation. Was it ever explained? Nope. And I actually liked it better that they didn’t. Because we’re in another universe that allows this.

I had my short read recently. I’m also dealing with an alternate universe question. Two people whom I’ve spoke to posit that  I never have to explain why a man who comes into town isn’t recognized as a younger version of himself, even though he is, more than likely spoken about in terms of a murder that occurred years earlier. To me, the simple explanation is that if we saw a version of ourselves we don’t necessary would even recognize ourselves. Oftentimes I see a doppelganger of me and see features that resemble mine. Could it be me from a different Universe? The general curiosity would drive me to follow that person, see how that other person lives (hope he drove an expensive car with a lavish house and a hot wife). To me, this wasn’t a huge detail. But it is something someone would ask. Thoughout the shoot.

It pays to listen. There were moments during my thesis film where I had a young crew. One of my production assistants, a freshman girl, asked me a question during the shoot about a detail I’d overlooked. Instead of finding a solution, and because I was pressed for time, I shrugged it off. Sure enough, it was a detail EVERYONE asked about during the screening. No bad ideas. Only potential good ones you ignore at your peril.

So, now I’ve been waffling about what I should re-write to make it flow better. To make it less of an issue. This is the balance of filmmaking. You may have an intention to the story, but a lot of people will see things you didn’t think about.  Actually a LOT of times people will interpret your movie in ways you never thought. A lot of those are fascinating. I think this is the true magic of movies.