Bernardo Villela is like a mallrat except at the movies. He is a writer, director, editor and film enthusiast who seeks to continue to explore and learn about cinema, chronicle the journey and share his findings.
When I shared my post on George Michael on my personal Facebook, I wrote that:
Rather than write half-heartedly about a “bigger name.” I wrote wholeheartedly about one whose work I know well, and admit faults of mine due to where I was on my path. An honest assessment and appreciation is better than obsequiousness.
In that vein many of the films that were obscured from notice by the leviathan of Star Wars or the films she script doctored, I was just learning about, impacted me more and for longer than the great space opera.
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
I saw this on repeat quite a bit because it was a regular rotation film in the early-90s on premium film channels. It stung to see a mother daughter relationship like that but as a young drama enthusiast it was addicting.
The Unseen Hand: Fisher’s Work as Script Doctor
Coming to grips with the film business, and some of its realities, whether you like it or not, can alway be difficult for a young idealistic artist. Perhaps for no other reason than the nebulous nature of crediting screenwriting. Yes, giving notes can be like leading a horse to water, and even if a writer follows through (I know based on some note sessions of my own) how the notes are taken is at times entirely within their purview.
But we must at least stop and give these people who work tirelessly for no glory to make any film just a bit better than they may otherwise be. Check some of these films Carrie Fisher doctored, whether I liked them then or discovered them later, many of them I am quite fond of, some even in a guilty pleasure kind of way. It is noteworthy though. Especially one entry which my own BAMs awarded. Carrie one-upped Harrison Ford’s infamous assessment that “you can type this shit…” and actually helped craft a necessary and pivotal midpoint in the prequels shaping in some small part the life and career of her fictional mother in the Star Wars universe.
But there was far more than that film that she helped shape. Take a look:
So many sidebars can be had on any of those films, but like many in the original trilogy she had the double-edged sword of Star Wars in her career such that when she made other notable onscreen appearances they went overlooked, some of them I needed to be reminded of after she suffered her heart attack.
Other Works
In chronology some of these were:
Shampoo
The Blues Brothers
a 1980 surprise, uncredited appearance on SNL
Thumbelina in an episode of Shelly Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre
The Man with One Red Shoe
Hannah and Her Sisters
Loverboy
The ‘burbs
When Harry Met Sally…
Soapdish (Which I was also obsessed with for a time thanks to HBO)
Hook (In a cameo, also as script doctor, one of my latter Spielberg viewings)
Though uncredited it’s hard to forget her scene in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (It also bears noting that Fisher was a script doctor on an early Myers film So, I Married an Axe Murderer).
She did quite a bit of voice work including voicing Roz Katz on an episode of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.
Over the course of more than a decade she voiced Angela on many episodes of Family Guy including two forthcoming ones.
She was then a nun in consecutive films Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.
She had a guest role on the brilliant but canceled Jack and Bobby as the First Lady, and also was in the third installment of Wes Craven’s meta-horror Scream series.
She was a force on and behind the screen that many, myself included, never fully realized.
And, yes, she was Princess Leia in Star Wars episodes 4-7, and the forthcoming eighth installment, which is already in the can. And even I, a late-comer to the Star Wars series. Having never really started it for real until 1999. However, I also felt the influence of that character, naming a character in a screenplay of mine Leia and having her dress as a princess for Halloween.
Advocacy and Social Media
But in addition to that she was also on the forefront in being open and honest regarding her battles with mental illness, long before addressing it openly, and trying to remove stigma became commonplace.
In the age of social media, especially Twitter, brevity is the soul of wit indeed, and this is another arena she excelled in. In response to her appearance becoming a ridiculous talking point in Episode VII she said the following:
Please stop debating about whetherOR not👁aged well.unfortunately it hurts all3 of my feelings.My BODY hasnt aged as well as I have.Blow us👌🏼
She also self-deprecatingly, but insightfully chimed in on one of the most peculiar running themes of the 2016 Presidential debates: Trump’s sniffling:
Conclusion
Last year she was nominated for a BAM Award as part of the cast of The Force Awakens. She was one of the final people considered for Best Supporting Actress. As she, and I hope this piece showed, she was always far more than that and she will be sorely missed.
This one clearly, sadly, qualifies as an In Memoriam also. Though we all know that 2016 has featured some shattering losses, this is one I can write some about because George Michael did mean something to me growing up. While, yes, I enjoy Prince’s work (making this random post in early 2016), and Bowie’s there was not the connection on a personal level for me.
As is often the case, this connectivity hit home for me more later on than during my formative years. So far as the links I perceived at the time:
Yes, I had a jean jacket.
Yes, I did my own attempt at the wiggle-dance (far less convincing than my interpretive dance set to “Into the Groove” or my imitation of Axl Rose’s “snake” dance)
Yes, I even thought the boots worked for him if for no one else.
Yes, this is a play but is not that far off my look (2nd from Left, front row, bandana-clad).
As tends to be the case when one is young, impressionable, and wont to react in fear and revulsion at new things; I was repelled from Michael in part as he drifted from the ever-present limelight but also when he was coming to terms with his sexuality and dealing with depression, into my early-20s stuggling with my own identity. It’s not a wonder that as I spent my purgatorial time in denial I went to knock his persona from that pedestal down some even if I didn’t know why.
My longing for discretion and so-called normality allowed more puritanical and uninformed impulses to dominate my sentiment toward him. Moreover, it made me make a mistake I am loath to make: confusing artist and man. Not to mention that posthumous reporting has shown he was frequently charitable but didn’t brag about it.
However, once I began to more fully understand, and embrace both myself, and understand some issues pertaining to gay culture and him personally (namely how he did didn’t run and hide from the scandal that officially outed him, but instead lampooned it), my view of him altered.
With time away from tabloid headlines I was left to wonder: “OK, with all this new awareness in societal (which followed my own), why aren’t more of us saying ‘damn, he’s good!’
Hence, it comes as no surprise that I got a great kick out of his prominence in Keanu.
So this film showed he had some legs as someone who could be believably revealed to tough guys in a goofy comedy. However, he and Wham! made their cultural impact along the way. Just take a look at the video for, and two parodies for “Wake Me Up (Before You Go-Go).”
Aside from that his videos were also statements: straightforward, restrained, and performance-driven for the most part, and iconic for it.
He was directly responsible for the impact of “Faith” as he directed it, a fact I just learned.
But these weren’t the only songs and videos of note. Here are some more…
Last, but not least, there’s the now-rare modern-era Christmas classic “Last Christmas.” The coincidence of his departing this world on Christmas Day is lost on no one.
If this isn’t enough to convince you he had a film legacy, consider the IMDb lists him on over 200 titles.
His art will live on, as will his impact, whether it was fully appreciated at the time doesn’t matter. What does is that he has made an impact, has been of influence, and continues to be.
It’s delightfully off-kilter until it’s just delightful. As opposed to his Amazon ad and other recent works its lacking in self-conscious quirkiness and just is. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!
Kudos to the New York Daily News for making this one happen.
I won’t bother you with math or laments of 2016 (we all have those). Instead, I will just share with you the shortlists at current, and to emphasize how much closer these individuals and films are to a nomination (January 2nd) and being honored (January 9th), I’ve included some images of notable past honorees. Movies viewed between now and December 31st are eligible and may make surprise appearances among the nominees.
The Revenant Zootopia The Jungle Book Antboy 3 The Witch Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping O.J.: Made in America Don’t Breathe Pete’s Dragon The Purge: Election Year Der Bunker Theeb Aquarius Finding Dory Before the Flood Kubo and the Two Strings Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Note: Ten (10) will be nominated in the above category and will compose my year’s top 10.
The White Ribbon which in 2010 smashed the nomination record (21).
Antboy 3 De Boskampi’s Der Bunker O Diabo Mora Qui The Young Messiah Debra Paget, For Example Glassland London Town Money Monster The Mirror The River Thief
Note: five (5) will be nominated in the above category.
Travis Knight Kubo and the Two Strings
Robert Eggers The Witch
Nikia Chryssos Der Bunker
Kleber Mendoça Filho Aquarius
Jon Favreau The Jungle Book
Jodie Foster Money Monster
Gareth Edwards Rogue One
Fede Alvarez Don’t Breathe
Ezra Edelman O.J.: Made in America
Anthony & Joe Russo Captain America: Civil War
Alejandro G. Iñárritu The Revenant
Jessica Lange remains the only Actress to win consecutive awards in the category (’99 and ’00), and has the longest gap between individual wins after a Supporting Actress win in 2014.
Vera Farmiga The Conjuring 2
Toni Collette Glassland
Sonia Braga Aquarius
Raleigh Cain The River Thief
Oona Von Maydell Der Bunker
Mila Kunis Bad Moms
Margot Robbie Suicide Squad
Kerry Washington Confirmation
Julia Roberts Money Monster
Jemma Dallender The Mirror
Jane Levy Don’t Breathe
Anya Taylor-Joy The Witch
Michael Shannon in 2011 is the most recent American honoree, and one two native Kentuckians (Jeremy Sumpter is the other).
Andy Samberg Popstar
Dylan Minnette Don’t Breathe
Eddie Redmayne Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
George Clooney Money Monster
Joel Courtney The Rive Thief
Johnny Depp Donald Trump’s The Art the Deal: The Movie
Joshua Dickinson The Mirror
Leonardo DiCaprio The Revenant
Paul Reubens Pee Wee’s Big Holiday
Pit Bukowski Der Bunker
Wendell Pierce Confirmation
Will Poulter Glassland
Zac Efron Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Toni Collette (1999 and 2002) remains the only two-time winner in this category to date.
Tiffany Haddish KeanuSofia Boutella Star Trek Beyond
Maria Bello Lights Out
Kathryn Hahn Bad Moms
Judi Dench Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Frances O’Connor The Conjuring 2
Annalise Basso Ouija The Origin of Evil
Anna Kendrick Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Aliso Sudol Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Christina Applegate Bad Moms
R.I.P. Alan Rickman Best Supporting Actor in 2011 for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.
Will Poulter The Revenant
Tom Hardy The Revenant
Will Arnett Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Tom Holland Captain America: Civil War
Steven Lynch Don’t Breathe
Parron Oswalt Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie
Nate Fallows The Mirror
Keegan-Michael Key Keanu
Jack O’Connell Money Monster
Irandhir Santos Aquarius
Greg Kinnear Confirmation
Dwayne Johnson Central Intelligence
Daniel Fripan Der Bunker
Christian McKay The Young Messiah
Andy Devine Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
One thing I wanted to do to differentiate my awards from the start was to borrow categories from disparate award shows, Best Cast from the SAG Awards was an obvious starting point. (Pictured the cast of Into the Woods 2014)
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping De Boskampi’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Bad Moms Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal O Diabo Mora Aqui Money Monster Captain America: Civil War Don’t Breathe Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates The Revenant The Witch Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Note: cast members meriting mention will be included by name when nominations are announced.
Young Actress in a Leading Role honorees have hailed from America, Canada, Georgia (Lika Babulani, prictured), Italy, and Australia.
Adam Greaves-Neal The Young Messiah
Art Parkinson Kubo and the Two Strings
Colin Critchley Legends of the Hidden Temple
Daniel Huttlestone London Town
Davis Cleveland Rufus
Gabriel Bateman Lights Out
Griffin Gluck Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life
Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat Theeb
Neel Sethi The Jungle Book
Oakes Fegley Pete’s Dragon
Oskar Dietz Antboy 3
Thor Braun Die Boskampi’s
Elle Fanning helped kick off parity among youth an adult categories earning an award as both Best Actress (Super 8)
Thomas Barbusca Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life
Samuel Ting Graf Antboy 3
Rick Lens De Boskampi’s
Jace Norman Rufus
Isaiah Tootoosis The Revenant
Harvey Scrimshaw The Witch
Emjay Anthony Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie
Albert Tsai Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie
Jacob Tremblay Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie
Emjay Anthony Bad Moms
David Mazouz Incarnate
When seeking parity in awards this was the first natural growth for categories I found. The groups of young performers have hailed from many different nations (Denmark, Belgium [twice], Canada, United Kingdom, and the United states [pictured in Super 8]).
Antboy 3 De Boskampi’s The Young Messiah Adventures in Babysitting Legends of the Hidden Temple Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life Ouija: The Origin of Evil Bad Moms The BFG The Conjuring 2
Note: cast members meriting mention will be included by name when nominations are announced.
The first page of Locke by Stephen Knight winner of Best Original Screenplay in 2014.
Kleber Mendoça Filho Aquarius
Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Jamie Linden, Alan DiFiore, and Jim Kouf Money Monster
Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues Don’t Breathe
J.K. Rowling Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
James DeMonaco The Purge: Election Year
Robert Eggers The Witch
Nikia Chryssos Der Bunker
Andrew Stanton, Victoria Strouse and Bob Peterson, and Angus MacLane Finding Dory
Marc Haimes and Chris Butler, and Shannon Tindel Kubo and the Two Strings
Byron Howard & Rich Moore & Jared Bush & Jim Reardon & Josie Trinidad & Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee, and Jared Bush Zootopia
Stephen Borwn, Zach Hyatt, Alex J. Reid, David G. Stanley, Scott A. Sloane, and Johnny Umansky Legends of the Hidden Temple
Ransom Riggs and Jane Goldman Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and Mark Millar Captain America: Civil War
David Lowery & Toby Halbrooks, Malcolm Marmorstein, Seton I. Miller, and S.S. Field Pete’sDragon
Justin Marks and Rudyard Kipling The Jungle Book
Mark L. Smith & Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Michael Punke The Revenant
Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, John Knoll and Gary Whitta, George Lucas Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Anders Ølholm and Kenneth Bøgh Andersen Antboy 3
Anne Rice, Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, and Cyrus Nowrastweh The Young Messiah
Above is one of the easiest award decisions I ever had.
Nathan Whitehead The Purge: Election Year
Mogwai, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Gabriel Satolalla Before the Flood
Michael Giacchino Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Mark Korven The Witch
John Debney The Young Messiah
John Debney The Jungle Book
Jerry Lane Theeb
James Newton Howard Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Dominic Lewis Money Monster
Dario Marianelli Kubo and the Two Strings
Daniel Hart Pete’s Dragon
Andrew Lockington Incarnate
Note: The above scores are all available on Spotify. I have curated a playlist here.
It’s not necessary to have quick smash-cutting travel montages to be up for Best Editing, but it doesn’t hurt.
Best Editing
Nominees only, no public shortlist.
If possible I’ll try an find a clip for this year’s winner as it is the most effective way t demonstrate why a given film won.
Wolfgang Thaler Theeb
Pedro Luque Don’t Breathe
Pedro Sotero and Fabricio Tadeu Aquarius
Joel Ransom The Young Messiah
Jarin Blascke The Witch
Greig Fraser Rogue One
Frank Passingham Kubo and the Two Strings
Emmanuel Lubezki The Revenant
Bill Pope The Jungle Book
Antonio Rossi Before the Flood
Andy Patch The River Thief
It doesn’t have to be a work of fantasy or science fiction to be considered in this category as Is Anybody There? shows.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children The Revenant Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Legends of the Hidden Temple O Diabo Mora Aqui The Jungle Book Aquarius
Mixing sensibilities and periods always gets my attention.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children The Revenant Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Star Trek Beyond Antboy 3 Captain America: Civil War Der Bunker
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is one of many examples that prove horror films can win Best Makeup at the BAM Awards.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
The Revenant
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Star Trek Beyond
X-Men Apocalypse
Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal The Movie
20 years after the White House blew up in Independence Day and won the first Visual Effects Award. 20 Years later, Donald Trump is snubbed in the same category as his winning the election was deemed more a mass hallucination. For more serious political commentary go here. #ShamelessSelfPromotion
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Captain America: Civil War Pete’s Dragon The Jungle Book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Kubo and the Two Strings Star Trek Beyond
Ludivine Sagnier and Virginie Ledoyen in 8 Femmes won the first Best Song Award, establishing a precedent of the songs not necessarily needing to be “original.” 2016’s shortlist includes covers as well
“The Dragon Song” Pete’s Dragon
“I’m So Humble” Popstar
“Equal Rights” Popstar
“Turn Up the Beef” Popstar
“Finest (Bin Laden Song)” Popstar
“Mona Lisa” Popstar
“Hunter the Hunter is Gon’ Eat” Popstar
“Should I Move?” Popstar
“Two Banditos” Popstar
“Things in My Jeep” Popstar
“Ashley Wednesday” Popstar
“Donkey Roll” Popstar
“Ibitha” Popstar
“Incredible Thoughts” Popstars
“Karate Guy” Popstar
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” Trolls
“Hello” Trolls
“I Wan’na Be Like You” The Jungle Book
“Trust in Me” The Jungle Book
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” Kubo and the Two Strings
“Mafia Twist” De Boskampi’s
“Bare Necessities” The Jungle Book
Chloë Grace Moretz in 2012 was the youngest recipient of the Entertainer of the Year Award (15).
The Theory of Size is one that film can uniquely explore. As incredible as the Hubble Telecscope’s images of the universe are, this film really puts the massiveness of existence and the tininess of the world into context better than anything I’ve seen.
If you need something a bit more humorous on Christmas Eve, check back later today. Enjoy!
The synoptic platitude of King’s work is that he finds “horror in the commonplace,” as has been reported ad nauseum. Stephen King’s It, features Pennywise, likely the horror genre’s most well-known clown, but it’s so much more than just that. Stephen King’s leviathan of a novel is a best to tackle in terms of adaptation. Even with as many devoted fans as the book has there is some controversy among Constant Readers about how necessary the first 200 pages or so are, this is where we get to learn of the last rash of killings in Derry and most importantly about the Lucky Seven, or The Losers’ Club. It being a book I’ve personally read twice tells you what I feel of its construction as a novel.
When dealing with a novel that has disagreements amongst fans about a large section you’re dealing with an unenviable adaptation task. One small example is the lack of time to establish minor characters. An example, one of the secondary villains , Henry Bowers, an acolyte of Pennywise, ends up in an asylum. The fact that he is now fearfully obedient of not just to Pennywise, but also an abusive orderly, is delicious irony, which due to lack of adequate screen time and inspiration is intimated in a ham-fisted way. Add to that the fact that it’s a network mini-series and the fact that Tommy Lee Wallace was perhaps hamstrung by the negative initial reaction to Halloween III and was creating a mini-series for Network TV that had to go for implication and expectation over exhibition and exposition.
However, one thing that was incredibly well done was the casting of Pennywise (Tim Curry) and the pacing of his interjection into the narrative of this screen version.
It starts off quickly with a stinger wherein Pennywise’s return to the modern day is confirmed. The handling of the first kill is not unlike a scene from Fritz Lang’s M with a scream, cutaway, the involvement of a balloon, and no blood even in aftermath. It’s the furtherance into near-graphic violence with a “Standards and Practices” approach that makes this handling questionable, not to mention all the sublimated and/or omitted sexual tension of the story.
The one-two punch of Pennywise appearances in the first 13 minutes of this 180-minute film whets the appetite and allows the audience to settle in to learning about who these people are, what they went through together, how they are reuniting, and why. This separates it from the book inasmuch as it starts in the present and then goes back to the Georgie Denbrough murder which gets it started in the book. With Curry’s first extended appearance there is an unease in where and how he appears (out of nowhere and in a storm drain), not so much what he says, and then at the last second he bears his teeth and makes his approach and delivers the scare.
There’s then a layoff and it’s not until 43 minutes in until Pennywise is heard from again, but not seen; as dead kids talk to Beverly through the pipes leading to her bathroom sink. Pennywise only speaks after her dad doesn’t notice the blood she sees all about the bathroom and is terrified by. Her father is just another blind adult. Making Pennywise a horror only kids can see and feel opens the door for a lot of the wondrous implication this story has in store.
Fifty minutes in comes the It version of the shower scene, which plays on a more common trauma for adolescent males, the post-gym class shower. Young Eddie (Adam Faraizl), who is domineered by his mother, tries to avoid it entirely. His coach at least makes him return and shower on his own. This opens the door for Pennywise to find him alone and frighten him. It also establishes a pattern of Pennywise using scare tactics specific to the kids. Here he refers to Eddie as “Wheezy” mocking his psychosomatic asthma and also “Girly-boy” referring to the homophobic bullying he’s prone to due to his size, lack of athleticism, and subservient nature.
The lack of memory most the characters have of this summer in their childhood, now that they are adults is in many ways tied to place, and also dependent on the act of forgetting a perilous preternatural world as kids growing up tend to do. Only Mike Hanlon (Tim Reid), who stays in Derry, remembers well, and becomes the custodian of the history of Pennywise’s generationally spaced appearances (i.e. disappearance of settlers, standpipe disaster, Easter Egg Hunt, etc.). Each of these characters walks out of important moments in their respective lives on the power of a promise and a nebulous memory, which speaks to the resonance of the trauma and bond they felt.
The specificity of Pennywise’s tailored horror reveals itself when he first appears to young Richie Tozier (Seth Green). He is a werewolf at first and then shows the clown version of himself once he has Richie terrified. Pennywise is a polymorphic horror whose most ubiquitous version plays on coulrophobia, the fear of clowns, a fear I don’t share (save for in this tale) but is universally effective because it is a façade innocence that masks malevolence. While at first he may seem to be other things, a werewolf, a black dog, the Man in the Moon, Mrs. Kersh, Mr. Keene, a disembodied voice, a sign on a marquee, a logo on the back of playing cards, grotesqueries in fortune cookies, It’s true form, and many more. The heart of the fear of clowns is the fracture of a benign reality that reveals the true tenebrous nature of reality, which is at the core of this story. The reason for Pennywise’s cyclical repetitious feedings succeeding is that no one who ever peeked behind the veil is strong enough to hold the memory or bound to readdress the monster by a promise to dear friends. The selection of a clown here combines adult and childhood fears in a cipher both can relate to.
As a child Bill says he’s not sure he ever wants to grow up, not only is that a moment of a natural adolescent struggle against Peter Pan Syndrome, but it’s a subconscious realization being verbalized. He knows growing up and old means forgetting and unwillingness to engage in a fight he might not even believe in. Getting out of sight of Derry allows six of the seven to escape the thoughts for the most part, but one never does and it’s the only reason they ever line up for a rematch.
The last person we see receive their phone call from Mike Hanlon as an adult is Stan Uris (Richard Masur). Stan, as a kid, by his very nature was the hardest to convince of Pennywise’s reality. When he hears the news from Mike it opens up the floodgates and he is overwhelmed. The mention of It fractures his cognitive dissonance. He commits suicide, leaving his one-word note written in blood: “It.” Perhaps the key to Pennywise’s effectiveness is that he can get in their heads when he’s not there; he’s psychological parasite.
Horror in beauty and innocence also recurs as a theme in the film, perhaps more simply joyful than a clown to any child would be a balloon. Yet this is one motif used to terrify the Lucky Seven on many occasions in both the past and present. Even with the characters well into adulthood and jaded, the same triggers that worked before work now and King’s choices are just as spot-on there like Beethoven’s Für Elise evocative of beauty and melancholy being a funeral march by proxy.
The near-defeat comes in their almost abandoning the cause. And if one never felt unease or fear looking at a clown seeing its tainting might take you to that place, but having it be whatever can scare you, is perhaps the most clever device King has even used in attacking the hierarchy of fear.
Some of the keys to this adaptation are not what it managed to shoehorn in from the book but what it, through an audiovisual medium, was able to bring to life like never before. Pennywise’s voice and mannerisms, and the variable nature of them; the use of sound edit to blend personas, are among them. Ending the film with a Pennywise laugh and a circus theme on calliope may not have been the proper note to a rushed attempt at an emotional ending but it was a decision that could only occur on film and for that it’s appreciated. The ability to crosscut through time and use L-cuts gave aid to characters attempting to reconcile their past and present, and added emotional impact where needed. Rarely were they needed as reminders of valuable information. Likewise an artist’s rendering of Pennywise’s first appearance in town in the 1700s, that image coming to life and talking to the characters may be more vivid in a reader’s imagination but it takes on a life and accuracy of time period, as well as a crudeness of art, probably not inferred by most readers.
Stephen King has tackled many horror tropes both common and uncommon alike throughout his prolific career, few resonate like his treatment of the clown. Even considering some of the limitations this film version had to contend with it’s highly memorable.
If you think that short animated films deserve serious analysis, you should first visit Cartoon Brew, and second watch more films like Peace on Earth. It’s a chilling, gorgeously rendered, dystopian future that counts on simple ideas and hope (or loss thereof) rather than incessant cynicism for its effect, and incorporates a holiday theme. Enjoy!
The Movie Rat 