Fractionals

I haven't seen any of the nominated films, but whatever. Dumb!

I had crash on my netflix queue a while back, but took it off. I don't need to fill my head with that kind of garbage. Or something.

I haven't seen any of the nominated films either, I admit. Still, based on what I have seen and the opinions of people I trust, or even what each of the five were about, I'd have rather any of the other four won Best Picture.

And Kate, what ever do you mean? Don't you need a film to teach you that Racism Is Wrong?

i prefer films that don't preach to me about social wrongs that I'm already aware of. and that involve child rape.

We're agreed on the former. But I certainly didn't know about the latter - why the hell is that in Crash?

oh i don't know if child rape is in crash. i never saw it. I prefer films that involve child rape though as opposed to movies like crash that preach about social wrongs. I think that's what I meant. I'm hungover today. I apologize.

Ahh, I see. Re-reading the original, I probably should have gotten that.

What mystifies me is that although everything I've seen and read nothing but bad things about Crash, many sane people whose taste I respect (my brother, for example) thought it was quite good. So I'm not going to assume I'd hate it, but I do still assume I'd like the other four better.

(still, Three 6 Mafia! Won an Oscar!)

Of the nominees, I've only seen Crash. I didn't feel preached to.. It didn't seem like a 'lesson' flick to me, but one that told a story where the writer didn't pretend that people don't have prejudices. I enjoyed it.

See what I mean? Aaron's not the type of guy to fall into easy White Liberal Guilt pit-traps, nor into easy self-congratulations, so I have to assume there's something about the film.

(my brother isn't either, but Aaron happens to be the one who commented)

The prejudices weren't simple black-white things. They were present whether the character in question was black, white, asian, muslim or whatever.

Crash defies easy explanation and there are things I'd like to talk about but will spoil the experience of watching it.

What I can say is that you don't feel like you're watching a simple linear story unfold, but are instead allowed to observe lives that are nearly as complex as 'real life.'

Really? Because having read this, it sure doesn't sound like it:

http://www.moviepooper.com/4/1740crash.html

That's not to say that I necessarily think it should have won. I'm going to wait until I see the others first.

That page ruined whatever you would have felt watching it the first time. The whole point of some of those scenes are that you don't know how they're going to come out.

That page also only talks about the black-white tensions and leaves out anything that wasn't black-white.

So, the Persian and Mexican characters they mention... they're black or white?

And I call shenanigans on the whole "That page ruined whatever you would have felt watching it the first time" thing. I've watched/read/whatever plenty of movies, TV shows, novels and so on knowing how they turned out and it hasn't made them any less powerful. If Crash relies purely on surprise, it's not that good.

Should we start talking about Troy now? 8-)

Point. Truth is I had only read the first 3/4 of the page and then dashed off my response. Then I went back to reread. Even having read it all the way, my criticism still stands. That page focuses on the black-white tensions. The movie is more complex.

I don't think it's a shenanigan. What I'm saying is that the first time you see it, you should see it without knowing how things turn out. Things aren't written with the expectation that you'll know what happens; you should view them that way. If you you've had the plot resolution explained to you, you'll still enjoy the movie if it's a good movie, but you will not experience it the same way you would have.

But maybe that's just my approach. I don't read reviews before seeing something I want to see because most of the fun I get out of movies (on a first viewing) is because I don't know what's going to happen. I don't like knowing anything more than what I can learn from a trailer.

Having said that, I enjoyed Crash the second time through.

Let's not talk about Troy. :)

"Things aren't written with the expectation that you'll know what happens; you should view them that way."

That is, except for 'things' based on real people, real events, existing works of fiction, etc.

Then it's fair game.

Dammit, I was just going to whip out Hamlet et al. Way to close that loophole.

I think it's safe to say we approach this sort of thing differently, though; for the most part I relish spoilers, and they don't effect my enjoyment of a movie negatively. A History Of Violence, for example.

Glad I was quick enough on that. Would have hated to have to close the loophole AFTER you'd made that point.

As for the rest, fair enough.