"Out Of The Furnace" thoughts

It’s pretty fool hardy maybe of me to say, but sometimes I really dislike movies that tell us how life sucks. I think there definitely is a market for movies like that. But for me, I really like movies that the audience gets to discover on many levels. What people may refer to as “layers.”

I recently watched “Out Of The Furnace” a movie starring Christian Bale as a townie who tries to keep his brother (played by Casey Affleck) out of trouble with the local hillbillies. The town is pure poverty. And at any given moment, they remind you of it. The trashed home. The beer drinking in the morning. The Alleghany river slang. It all gives you flavor. And it is harsh. I mean, you smell the people through the screen. Now, as filmmakers, you really want to take people to a place that they don’t have access to. A LOT of people have access to white trash. Sometimes it’s too realistic. Small town politics. Hands are tied to criminals and so forth. Is this a movie? Not to my tastes. Is it storytelling? NOPE. I’ll tell you why.

…imagine what it was like back in the caveman days after coming home from being out on a hunt. You’re tired. You’re in pain. The sun probably boiled your skin to a leathery texture. It’s a total shit show. Now, Ogg, the town storyteller comes forth and…tells you about how tough it is doing what you just got back doing. In other words, stories are suppose to be made up. Not…Ogg looking out his damn cave and reporting. If I wanted reporting, I’d watch CNN. Or…you get my meaning. It’s all trying to escape. And if I have to reminded how much society sucks towards one another, it doesn’t make me forget my miseries. I mean, murder mysteries make more sense (and as God as my witness, you’ll have to pry those from my dead cold hands). Since there is an unfolding plot and a whodunit. I’m intrigued. Movies like “Out of the Furnace” seems to draw a lot of jokes. Such as “out of the furnace? Shit put it back in, that movie ‘aint done yet” or “It was better in the furnace.”

Anyway, if you make movies, try to make something good happen at the end. Or at least an upbeat moment. People want to whistle your tune out of the theater. They don’t buy popcorn to watch two sweat soaked brothers dirty steel workers in a dying town do back yard fight club for money whilst Woody Harrelson watches on. Or maybe they do. In which case, get extra butter.