[Juan C]

I just read Michael Osadciw's review of the movie Hide and Seek, where he says something I totally agree with:

Quote:

I’m not one to like when Hollywood dishes out happy endings (or mildly happy ones). I don’t care if I leave the film feeling depressed – if that is the mood of the film then that is what I want! If I don’t want to see a downbeat movie I won’t watch it. But what ruins movies most are when happy endings are unnecessarily added to downbeat films.

This reminded me of other cases, such as how David Fincher had to fight for Se7en to end as he thought it should, instead of some artificially happy or cop-out ending.

But of course there are some cases where it's not the case. For example, in Blade Runner (original cut):

Spoiler:

The 'ride onto the sunset', assembled using Shining outtakes, felt totally tacked-on (well, it was tacked-on, wasn't it?)

The Perfect Storm is worse still:

Spoiler:

The Andrea Gail sinks, and all of its crew die. That is really tragic. They are so desperate to have the audience leave the theater with a good feeling, that they add not one, not two, but three uplifting scenes: a sappy love-filled voice-over, played over the figure of Mark Wahlberg in the ocean; M.E. Mastrantonio reading the eulogy at the naval society; and Mastrantonio setting off to see accompanied by yet another voiceover, this time by Clooney saying how great it is to be a skipper.

Yuck.

[Leo Kerr]

Some bother me more than others. The one that has always leapt out at me is the ending of Always.

On the other hand, with respect to Blade Runner, if you're like most people, you saw some form of the theatrical print first. Doesn't that foreknowledge of that prior screening affect how even BR:TDC ends, even though it isn't shown anymore?

Leo

[Juan C]

Leo,

You're right, I saw Blade Runner theatrically when it opened in 1983. But even though I was just a wide-eyed teenager with no knowledge or standards as a filmgoer :b , I noticed the sudden shift in tone and mood.

[Kevin Grey]

Disagree about the last two points for The Perfect Storm. I thought those scenes were necessary to to provide a sense of closure and moving on for the families and friends, as well as the audience. Sappy, sure, but not inappopriate. A true cop-out would have been if some of the crew had survived which was actually considered while developing the movie IIRC.

[Juan C]

Kevin, I see where you're coming from, but I still thinks it dillutes what has happened before. On the other hand, consider another seafaring film by Wolfgang Petersen, Das Boot:

Spoiler:

After narrowly escaping disaster, the submarine goes back to port, welcomed by a cheering crowd and music. The base gets bombed. The wounded captain watches his vessel sink. He dies. Roll credits.

Yeah, I know, The Perfect Storm was a more recent, American, true story. But still.

[Kevin Grey]

But there was nowhere else for Das Boot to go- it never focused on wives and families at home so there was no room for an additional coda there. I would agree on The Perfect Storm if we had stayed with the boat at sea the entire time but since almost equal coverage was given over to the friends and families on shore then it was appropriate to show some sense of closure for them.

Again, not to say that its not sappy but I certainly wouldn't call it a forced happy ending when it pretty much matches exactly what happened in real life, from my understanding (its been years since I read the book).

The Perfect Storm, Titanic, Braveheart, and Gladiator all had endings seemingly unhappy but are presented in an uplifting manner that, as the original article points out, match the mood of the film. There is no one, correct way for a filmmaker to deal with death and loss and sometimes directors will want to show such moments in a manner that provides some sense of closure, hope, and perhaps optimism and other times such moments will be presented as horribly devastating and unfair. The right choice is strictly which one fits with the intent of the film.

The choice is only wrong in those times where a happy ending is inserted in a wholly inappropriate and ubelievable manner, often via means of Deus Ex Machina, that totally betrays the intent of the rest of the film. I would cite War of the Worlds as one of the more recent offenders of this.

[Holadem]

Quote:

The Perfect Storm, Titanic, Braveheart, and Gladiator all had endings seemingly unhappy but are presented in an uplifting manner that, as the original article points out, match the mood of the film. There is no one, correct way for a filmmaker to deal with death and loss and sometimes directors will want to show such moments in a manner that provides some sense of closure, hope, and perhaps optimism and other times such moments will be presented as horribly devastating and unfair. The right choice is strictly which one fits with the intent of the film.

Agreed. The ending of the Perfect Storm wasn't happy by any strech of the imagination - I find it bizzare that you would think a funeral would be.

The film is a tribute to the hard life these folk live. I came out with a very different appreciation for the profession of longshore/commercial fisherman.

Quote:

The choice is only wrong in those times where a happy ending is inserted in a wholly inappropriate and ubelievable manner, often via means of Deus Ex Machina, that totally betrays the intent of the rest of the film. I would cite War of the Worlds as one of the more recent offenders of this.

Agreed even more.

--
H

[Holadem]

Quote:

I’m not one to like when Hollywood dishes out happy endings (or mildly happy ones). I don’t care if I leave the film feeling depressed – if that is the mood of the film then that is what I want! If I don’t want to see a downbeat movie I won’t watch it. But what ruins movies most are when happy endings are unnecessarily added to downbeat films.

It seems you believe that if the movie is downbeat then so should the ending? I can't agree with that.

Happy ending to downbeat movie is only a problem if said ending is not earned.

The Pianist is as depressing as anything I have seen in recent years, and yet it ends (somewhat) happily and rightly so, that dude has certainly earned a right to survival.

Also, there is a flip side to this coin. I thought downbeat ending of Wages of Fear and more recently Cold Mountain were completely stooopid, came out of nowhere, made no thematic sense, and were put there for the sole purpose of AVOIDING a happy ending.

--
H

[Adam_ME]

I remember a lot of people complaining about a certain character(I won't say who for those who still haven't seen it) surviving at the end of L.A. Confidential. I do recall being surprised by that when I saw it in the theater.

I think What Dreams May Come would've been a stronger film had it ended 20 minutes earlier when Robin Williams and his wife were in hell.

Also, I really wish that rumored final line in Minority Report had been left in.

[Kevin Grey]

Also, I really wish that rumored final line in Minority Report had been left in.

What was the rumored final line (spoiler-protected if needed)?

[Haggai]

An interesting thing about L.A. Confidential is that even though the plot of the book is INCREDIBLY different from the movie, the last scene of the film is taken almost verbatim from the last couple of pages of the book. It does feel a little awkward in the movie, whereas it's more appropriate in the book (the way in which the character you're referring to, Adam, reaches that point in the book bears almost no resemblance to what happens in the movie). Although I still think it's one of the two or three best films of the '90s. The amazing achievement in the adaptation of the book is that they changed so much--by necessity, the book's plot is so insanely complex that it would take hours and hours of run-time to unravel it on film--while honoring its atmospheric tone very faithfully.

Holadem, I agree on Wages of Fear. But have you seen Clouzout's Les Diabolique, from around the same time? Enough twists and turns to fill three movies' worth of great endings.