{"id":2104,"date":"2013-05-10T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T04:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smugfilm.com\/?p=2104"},"modified":"2013-07-23T03:33:48","modified_gmt":"2013-07-23T07:33:48","slug":"the-big-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/the-big-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Picture: Christopher Guest Should Write More Scripts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThe Big Picture<\/a> (1989)
\n<\/b>Directed by Christopher Guest
\nScreenplay by Christopher Guest & Michael Varhol & Michael McKean
\n100 min.<\/p>\n

Rob Reiner once told a story on Kevin Pollak\u2019s Chat Show<\/a> about going to the premiere of The Princess Bride<\/a> and seeing Christopher Guest there.\u00a0 In his mind, he thought, ‘that’s nice of him to come and show his support’.\u00a0 Then, after a minute, it dawned on him\u2014he’s in the movie!\u00a0 He goes on to explain that Guest is such a good actor that he completely disappears into his roles\u2014so much so that Rob literally forgot he was even in his movie.
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\nChristopher Guest’s movies also seem to disappear in one\u2019s mind.\u00a0 You don\u2019t really think about them, and then you\u2019re like \u2018oh yeah, those!\u2019\u00a0 Like Guest, they seem to just sort of exist on their own little island or something.\u00a0 I think it’s the improv\u2014more specifically, his unique style of it.<\/p>\n

What most people wrongly assume about improv in film is that it’s literally made up on the fly while the camera’s rolling. The technical processes required to make a movie are very detailed and costly, and to allow actors to just make everything up willy-nilly would be a waste of money, as it would often mean out of focus, poorly lit footage, awkward staging, and continuity errors.\u00a0 (Goodfellas<\/a> has a lot<\/i> of ad-libs, which is big part of why the movie is littered with continuity errors.)\u00a0 For your actors and shots to look good, things need to be planned, sometimes down to the inch. Marks are made, movements are rehearsed, and actions are worked out before the camera even rolls so that everything can be captured with precision.\u00a0 So for most movies, when ad-libbing and improvisation occurs, it\u2019s at the rehearsal stage, and then incorporated into the planned action.\u00a0 It’s still made up on the fly, but not as literally as you might think.<\/p>\n

Christopher Guest throws this all out the window. Eugene Levy once told a story (incidentally from the same program, Kevin Pollak\u2019s Chat Show, really the best interview show of all time) about arriving on set of one of Guest’s movies and being thrown into a scene with almost no direction. When he asked if they’d rehearse, Guest said, \u2018no, we’ll just do it’.\u00a0 They just rolled camera and whatever happened was the scene.<\/p>\n

There actually are technical ways to make this work.\u00a0 Wide lenses (which have a larger focal length and need less light to be well-exposed) and camera men with experience shooting v\u00e9rit\u00e9 style can get you usable on-the-fly footage. This is how documentaries are made.<\/p>\n

Creating a drama this way is pretty remarkable.\u00a0 I think it’s why I’m not that into the famous Guest movies though.\u00a0 Waiting for Guffman<\/a>, Best in Show<\/a>, A Mighty Wind<\/a>, and For Your Consideration<\/a> all have their moments, but ultimately don’t really do much for me.\u00a0 Their unwieldy shooting style just seems to organically lend itself to unwieldy narratives.\u00a0 When your stylistic choice is anti-craftsmanship, it’s difficult to be a craftsman.\u00a0 Despite this, Guest is without a doubt an auteur and a craftsman, just not always my cup of tea.<\/p>\n

You might notice I’m being unusually light on Guest, since, if you’ve read any of my other pieces, you’ll notice a trend of scathing, sarcastic criticisms, often broad and sweeping, delivered with biting brevity. \u00a0So why does Guest get a pass from me?<\/p>\n

Because The Big Picture<\/a> is awesome. Don\u2019t get me wrong, it doesn’t make me like his other movies more or anything. That’s an easy trap to fall into when you like something by an artist\u2014your adoration and familiarity with one of their pieces warns you up to their lesser work, creating a bias and a general openness to being accepting of missteps.\u00a0 Instead, The Big Picture existing just makes it a total heartbreaker that he doesn’t write more scripts.\u00a0 He’s clearly better at it than he is at just letting things happen.<\/p>\n

It’s not that Guffman and the like aren’t scripted<\/i>, i.e., it’s not literally just \u2018hey, we got a camera, I’ll call up Ed Begley Jr. and well make something\u2019.\u00a0 They obviously follow an outline\u2014I suspect, a very detailed one.\u00a0 But Guest just isn’t Larry David, who’s absolutely mastered the form with Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/a>. \u00a0In fact, they\u2019re basically polar opposites\u2014Sour Grapes<\/a> shows David’s total ineptitude when it comes to writing and directing a feature movie).<\/p>\n

Guest, however, can write three acts, dialogue and all. \u00a0The Big Picture is a lot of fun. \u00a0It’s a familiar story\u2014the rise and fall of a young artist, his tragic descent into hubris and his ultimate redemption. \u00a0It’s a road well paved by the Greeks thousands of years ago and trafficked by a plethora of artists since. \u00a0But Guest’s take is refreshing, and equal to any of the best cars on the road.<\/p>\n

The strength of The Big Picture is its forays into the possibilities of the cinema. Scenes drift with ease into stop-motion dream sequences, noir parody, and comical satirization of Hollywood homogenization.\u00a0 It’s the work of a filmmaker with an exhaustive knowledge of movie history and a wanton desire to languish in it.\u00a0 Peep this exuberant parody of student art films from the movie\u2019s opening sequence:<\/p>\n