A friend took me to see F1 on 4th of July. I enjoyed it, overall. I hated the romantic interest aspect. Kerry Condon did a fantastic job being giddy about Brad Pitt but then maintaining professional composure. So it wasn't the lack of acting or chemistry. The problem was that from the very start, Pitt's character had to learn to stay, to stick around with friends, to be a long-term contributor. And throughout the film, as we discover more about his physical condition, that idea is hammered home. So when we see him bouncing across sand dunes -- what happened to his vertebre injuries? -- over the end credits, I just felt sad and angry. This is a tradgedy because he failed to grow up.
But I'm not writing this to talk about writing and telegraphing a message. Something else struck me like a slap across the face. The edits. Overall the thing was solid; cut to race day with an overpowering beat throbbing like the engines. But cuts like these just felt wrong:
My memory has at least two of these, one perhaps worse than this. But with both characters centered on the camera, instead of feeling the conflict of the two drivers, I felt like they were swapping places like The Twins in The Matrix Reloaded. I found it disorienting.
The flim was sprinkled with edits that felt wrong.
Then I got to watch Ballerina. It's been a long time since I enjoyed carniage like that. It was appropriately over-the-top, hilarious, awesome action. And early on I saw this cut and knew I was in for a good ride:
I'm still not sure why it hit me so hard, perhaps evoking the punch-ins from the slow-motion action of 300, but whatever it was, this was the moment that got me hooked.
~Luke Holzmann Your Media Production Mentor
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