Bonnie deserves better.

Last class period we watched The Player (1992) by Robert Altman. The movie is about a studio script screener executive who gets threatening postcards sent to him by a writer whose script he rejected. The executive, Griffin Mill sets off to figure out who is sending the post cards and ends up murdering a writer who he believes to be the one. The postcards continue to be sent, meanwhile he falls in love with the dead writers girlfriend. In the end he is blackmailed to use the writers story in order to keep his secret quiet. The story is the story of the executive murdering the writer, and getting away with it. He wants to name the movie The Player. This is how it ends, and it kind of pokes fun at the viewer for believing it was all real.

The cinematography in the movie was excellent. I really enjoyed the beginning scene. It was one very long shot that would zoom in and out from behind blinds in order to show what the business had to put up with as far as writers. He also transitions with sound and overlays tracks to help direct you who is talking and transition into the next conversation. I think that this was fascinating. This is a trademark of Altman. Altman also uses sound to perpetuate a film noir feel. He uses strange beats to make seemingly normal scenes feel extremely uncomfortable. An example of this is in the sex \ scene with Jane Gudmundsdottir (the dead writers girlfriend). The entire time there is a strange drum beat which makes the viewer incredibly uncomfortable.

The movie has a distinct criticism on the movie making business (as most of our class movies do). The ending is fake and unrealistic, Griffin gets away with murder and lives happily ever after. There is also a scene where the company is giving away some kind of award. Nobody in the audience is paying attention. The guy who spoke first didn’t even listen to the following speaker. I think this is Altman’s criticism of the entire hollywood culture.

Griffin Mills himself is a dynamic character. He is a lot more compassionate in the beginning. He gets more and more sucked into the “jerk”ness of the corporate world. His hair also gets more and more disheveled. You never really see him feel guilty. This is interesting because of what June said about how crimes shouldn't necessarily be punished because the guilt can sometimes be enough. She also said that if you don’t feel bad maybe what you did wasn’t wrong. I think that is an interesting thought.