All_About_The_Thing

about the wind in the trees. Many modern films are self conscious but telling a story that
is different doesn't just mean taking the obvious (a cranky petrol station attendant in the
American outback, for instance) and reversing it (it turns out he's an okay guy), or putting
some other spin on it.
Although good film making cannot be taught, good films can be demonstrated.
When we see how The Thing goes about telling a story it feels so instructive. Yet to
understand The Thing is not to see the strings move. Our pleasure is increased, not
diminished, and that really is the mark of a great film.
We should be careful because every pointer, every piece of good advice, every
rule can be broken in the pursuit of something that feels right, that has authenticity. What
we need is a burning desire to tell a story. The Thing breaks quite a lot of rules itself but
because it does so without even thinking about it (confidence) we don't notice. It's just
The Thing. It's the same as the person with the great personality, they can get away with
making comments that others can't. It is just how they are, and they don't even seem to be
trying.
To be a great film maker it helps (in most cases, not all) to have learnt everything
but to have forgotten it. Similarly, the end point of all analysis of art seems to be the
realisation that you know nothing. Anything goes. But you have to learn everything and
then forget it before you can say this.
When I began this book I hoped it could be used almost as a manual on how to
make films that draw the viewer in, that seduce without even appearing to try. The
subtitle might have been, How to Make a Classic. I now realise that was probably a little
over ambitious.
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