Films need more heart
Betsy Sharkey’s article “Rude” [Jan. 26] aptly describes my reaction to the recent trend of quality films to feature unlikable characters. The films she describes, such as “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Nebraska,” “Blue Jasmine” and “American Hustle” (I haven’t seen “Osage County”), are all excellent in their way, and the acting performances are outstanding. And yet, at the heart of movies, just as at the heart of a novel, lies the ancient art of storytelling, and a good story is one where we care about and root for the characters.
Most of these films with unlikable characters leave me indifferent to their fate. During the course of the movie I find myself thinking, so what? Get on with it. I was delighted to watch a wonderful antidote to these films, “In a World,” directed by and starring Lake Bell. This is not a Pollyanna work of cute cut-outs but a film about real people, nuanced, but people you like and care about.
Ken Christensen
Los Osos, Calif.
Sharkey is — in my opinion — mistaken. The issue is not the characters in these highly touted films who are cruel, thieving, self-absorbed, spiteful, callous, etc. Nor is it the acting, which is uniformly brilliant. It’s about the story and its lack of a moral heart. “Inside Llewyn Davis” never seemed to be about Greenwich Village; he was just a churl who used people and never practiced. “American Hustle” was just about a con and people who got away with it. “Wolf ” shows us the same sleaze we are used to from Wall Street Ponzi scammers. Who cares? The celebration of excess, the centrality of depravity and the absence of empathy make the movies that Sharkey lauds small meals served in large plates that are consumed and then forgotten.
Phil Brimble
Los Angeles
In a world filled with despicable characters such as Bernie Madoff, who masqueraded as a nice guy, to Donald Trump, who makes no pretense about what he is, is it any wonder that such characters, both real and imagined, would work their way into pop culture? The only thing that is surprising is how long it has taken, especially given that, as Sharkey points out, every good story needs something or someone that provokes conflict. Such characters are a staple in literature, but it has taken time for those without any seeming re- deeming qualities to hit the big screen.
The industry concern has been that such bad guys will so turn audiences off the film will fail to be a commercial success. But in a world where terrorists take down the World Trade Center and every mentally ill person with a gun can placidly take out innocents, it seems to set the stage for us to see unvarnished villainy. Quentin Tarantino has successfully mined this vein for years, reminding us there are some truly evil people in our society.
Perhaps the tide is turning toward more adult fare with rich stories and even richer, juicier characters with a warts-and-all look at our society that causes us to examine ourselves.
Michael Solomon
Canoga Park
Film directors have three tasks: coax stunning acting from their cast, entertain audiences with the chosen script and make money. David O. Russell accomplished all three in “American Hustle” with unlikable characters. The Coen brothers accomplished only the first. Blaming the audience for the brothers’ failure to make an enjoyable film is misplaced. A bad film is a bad film, no matter how wonderfully unlikable its characters are.
Patrick O’Heffernan
Mar Vista dom. In that light, rock has had an amazing run.
Roberts is off-base making early funeral arrangements for rock based on anything having to do with the Grammys, which have always been years behind when it comes to youth music in general. No major rock movement or group was ever given a Grammy nod when it was current. Finally, Roberts knows there is a thriving guitar rock underground, ignored by the Grammys. To paraphrase Frank Zappa, “Rock’s not dead, it just smells funny.”
Bruce Duff
Los Angeles
Here are some of the chart toppers of the 1970s, when rock music with a capital R was at its peak: B.J. Thomas, the Jackson 5, Carpenters, Diana Ross, the Osmonds, the Bee Gees, Neil Diamond, Helen Reddy, Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Barry White, Barry Manilow, KC & the Sunshine Band and many more.
As soon as the suits moved in and packaged rock, marketed rebellion, part of the mystique disappeared.
Rock music is as dead as it ever was and will continue to be dead. “Good riddance”? Your writer should find another way to justify his growing love of music made by computers.
Mike Flanagan
Silver Lake