i could only put myself through 20 minutes of this film due to its terrible editing, flitting from one place to another during conversations, dubbing of conversations before they take place, confusing fast non-linear.... if done correctly and the timing is good all these can be a real strong point for a film, however i felt this film looked like a school student who had just found out how to use final cut put it together. very bad.
sharethe OP clearly knows nothing about film making.
he just wanted to sit on a couch and see some kick-ass action while he drank a couple beers.
the editing should be the last thing to complain about. sorry it was a buzz-kill for you.
Kai - after the crash
I thought the movie was fairly well done and there's no question that the editing was superb. The acting on the other hand....umm...felt a little flat, not through the whole movie, but there were certainly moments where I wasn't believing it. I'm not sure what it was, perhaps the delivery and body gestures of the actors....they seemed to be too aware of themselves, and there seemed to be a lot of Improvisation which might explain the stiffness in their movements and deliverance of the lines. The dialog was a little weak as well.
shareI was actually very impressed. I've been reading through the script, and it has a few of the flashbacks, but for the most part it is linear. So, the structure was found in the editing room.
As others have said, its used to suggest the way the mind works--its a kind of stream of consciousness. I did wonder if it was likely that different coversations with the same people in different places would always provide content complementary to questions and answers posed in other conversations with other people, but if you think about it, the whole movie is a flashback (he's sitting on the plane and remembering), so Wilson is simply fitting everything together into a congruous whole. And its not like his mind wanders that much. Even if he keeps thinking of one thing, and then another, he always keeps the major events in order. The movie is perfectly coherent. Anyone who can't follow it either has some form of ADD or needs to learn a little patience.
Listening to the director's track on the DVD, Soderbergh explained that with the editing, he was trying to provide a "trailer" of upcoming scenes within the movie. The technique he used was also intended as an homage to European modernist filmmakers of the '60s.
shareSorry kickthekoney, but you missed the point!
shareHey Maroon -- the film was non linear!
What is the sound an imploding pimp makes?
It's funny you should say that, because the thing that really stood out for me in this film, the thing that really really sold it to me, was the editing. The movie wouldn't make sense if it wasn't edited the way it was. Unfortunately, you only made it 20 minutes in, because otherwise you would've known that.
shareI didn't have any trouble following the storylne, but I do think it was cut to accommodate those with less than perfect attention spams. It's smacks of laziness to me. I like more character and plot development. Using smoking a cigarette to show the passage of time is not very imaginative. I noticed the editor was a woman. Carol Littleton (Body Heat), now that woman can cut a movie.
sharePulp Fiction is non-linear.
share[deleted]
from the dictionary
The theatrical genre of melodrama uses theme-music to manipulate the spectator's emotional response and to denote character types. The term combines "melody" (from the Greek "melōidía", meaning "song") and "drama"
Apártense vacas, que la vida es corta
The show must go on...
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I thought they overdid the quick editing and jump cuts. This is the kind of movie that editors love because it's one of the rare occasions that non-filmmakers actually notice the editing. Trouble is, for a rather conventional character study like this one, the editing shouldn't be what everyone talks about.
It should be all about performance, character and mood. Not, "Ooooh, did you notice all the weird, fancy editing?"
Another thing that annoys me is people mixing up the concepts of non-linearity and jump-cutting. Pulp Fiction is non-linear but I'll eat an aardvark if there's a single jump cut in the entire picture, or a shot that lasts less than 4 seconds. Tarantino knows that unnecessary cinematic devices can spoil the performances, disrupt the mood and take the viewer out of the moment. Frankly, I think the editing in the Limey makes it look dated and kind of passe. It won't age well.
Which is too bad, because it's not a bad film and I like Terence Stamp's performance.