Over the weekend, I spent a lazy afternoon sprawled in front of The Bourne Ultimatum. Now, perhaps it was the after-effects of a boozy night before, but I found myself feeling a little queasy as I tried to follow the film's jerky hand-held camera and fast paced editing. I'm a huge fan of what Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass have done with the Bourne Trilogy*, and I have no doubt their rapid fire style and frenetic editing constructs the razor-wire tension in the films, so I wonder if the audience is supposed to feel a little queasy?
Back in the 1920s, a talented Russian by the name of Sergei Eistenstein forever changed cinema through his use of montage. The famous "Odessa Steps" sequence of his Battleship Potemkin (1925) is the master-class in film editing, and illustrates the power of the montage to transcend the meaning of the single image, confront the audience, and even challenge time itself.
"Odessa Steps" - Image via GreenCineEisenstein's montage theory lays the foundation for all action films, MTV, and any tripped out drug or dream sequence. At the core is this idea of affecting the audience: confronting or confounding (or causing queasiness!), the key is that we not only watch the film, but experience it.
Watching The Bourne Ultimatum, you can't help but notice your heart rate ratchet up as Desh hunts Nicky through labyrinthine Tangiers, or when another 'Asset', Paz, tracks down Bourne in that insane car chase. Greengrass amps up his action sequences with an amazing soundtrack - just listen to the bathroom fight between Desh and Bourne, and how he crescendos the car chase: roaring engines, squealing tires and shrieking metal laid over a scene that is all cut up.
You're invested, you're on the run...you're realising you'd make a terrible spy.
* Heads up, it looks like Greengrass has signed on to the Untitled Jason Bourne Project, due out in 2010! Woooo!!
4 comments:
Just wanted to say - love the blog and super title!
Two very enthusiastic thumbs up :)
Yay! Thanks for the thumbs, Lorna!
I totally agree on the freaky-real sounds of Bourne. I was in the shower once while J was watching Bourne Identity, and I happened to emerge right on that big fight scene. Clad only in my towel, and in another room entirely, I found myself looking at toothbrushes wondering if they'd be good weapons to fight off the surprise intruder. Turns out there was just really good surround sound. Yikes.
That's too good, Kate! I'm sorry I'm going to have to steal that scene and put it in a film sometime.
I'll thank you in my Oscar acceptance speech :) xx
Post a Comment