What are the recipes of a really great film?
We all have different tastes but some themes and aspects has been tried and tested to make a masterpiece.
I'm not a film expert, just trying to write something out of what I observed after viewing tons of films and watching a really good one last night: Rian Johnson's Looper.
The film takes the much used "man travels to the past to change his future" plot, plays with it, and puts a new take on a time travel story.
To make a good film, one should take note of the following:
- Directors who write and direct their own film is almost always guaranteed to be a good one.
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Take a much used plot/storyline and put your own flavor on it. A much used storyline will help in attracting audiences with set expectations; your own flavor will be the one to destroy it and own your audience.
Example: Create trailers and previews that'll force people to watch the film having a firm set of expectations.
Crash those expectations during the film itself by going above them, not below.
Minutes after Looper's credits rolled, my mind was still reeling from shattered expectations. The movie was something you couldn't have asked for. Others will hate it, but many will definitely like it.
Shortcut: Go Nolan-like and create a totally new niche, ala Inception.
- Brilliant actors.
I've never seen Bruce Willis go through different emotions in a single film and totally awed at the fact that a film with Joseph Gordon Levitt in it tends to be a good one.
Emily Blunt is brilliant as ever, the rainmaker is the boy Dakota Fanning and it's hard to imagine Jeff Daniels play roles other than an anchorman if you're fresh from a full season of The Newsroom.
- Go through the different sets of emotions. You need good actors for this. Bruce Willis did a really good job.
- Think of a good way to establish characters that'll have more than two/three minutes of screen time. Looper did it in 5 min. or less intervals.
Other movies (those that I remember at the time of this writing) that got it right:
- The first Paranormal Activity
- Cabin in the Woods
- Every Pixar movie
- The Dark Knight
- Back to the Future 1 & 2
- Serenity (provided that you watched the whole (and only) season of Firefly.
- Taken
- Star Trek
- Daniel Craig Bond films
You'll notice that TDKR and Avengers are not on the list. Both are awesome eye candies, but not that great story-wise.
P.S. I urge you to watch Looper twice. Download this director's commentary and sync it with the movie on your second pass.