Friday, December 19, 2008

Seven Pounds

You can swear on a blog and not upset the FCC, right? Holy shit, this movie's amazing.

Mark invited me up to see the Writers Guild's screening last night. Seven Pounds is the type of movie you can't say much about without spoiling the experience of the movie for others.

After the film the screenwriter, Grant Nieporte, talked about his process and answered audience questions. He had been working on sitcoms for years, and wrote screenplays in his free time. Apparently, he has six previous scripts in a drawer at home that no one will ever see. But with this story, he knew he'd finally found his voice. Success stories that don't happen overnight but instead involve a lot of quiet, hard work, always makes me feel good. Not with a twinge of schadenfreude, but because it validates this belief if you work really, really hard to craft whatever small talent you were born with, you will make it.

But here's something I can say about the movie--it's a question for others who've seen it: near the climax, what does Will Smith first take out of his car but ultimately leave on the driver's seat? Mark and I couldn't figure it out. It's a question we should have posed for Nieporte, but of course didn't think about it until we were back in the car and heading home.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe the gift was a big box of chocolates in the shape of a heart. And then when Will Smith gives it to Rosario Dawson, he could nudge and go "Wink, wink! Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Say no more!"

Michelle Panik said...

How I love a Disney ending.

Renee Thompson said...

I haven't seen this yet, Michelle, but Steve and I did go see "Australia" a few days ago, and man. What a letdown. It's a cliche from the get-go, and the computerized graphics are beyond ridiculous. The bombing scenes alone require that you completely suspend belief. Acting on the part of the kid was good, however; am sure we'll see more of him.

Looking forward to seeing Seven Pounds; have heard good things about it.

Michelle Panik said...

Let me know if you see the movie, Renee. I can't stop thinking about it. The last time I was so affected by a film was "Good Will Hunting," and this beats that by a long shot.

Thanks for the tip about "Australia."