MovieChat Forums > The Informers (2009) Discussion > Why don't people understand this film?

Why don't people understand this film?

posted 15 years ago by andre_giao
20 replies | jump to latest

I've just watched "The Informers" and it was like being punched all the time. I felt anger, rage, disgust, pitty, compassion and was shocked with some scenes that I wasn't really expecting. This is what I feel when I read a Bret Easton Ellis novel. I really enjoyed the characters development and was surprised with all the aesthetics of cinematography, hairstyle, wardrobe.

Sure, moralistic people will say "The Informers" has no story, it's only a bunch of people with nothing to do, rich, spoiled and always high, in sex orgies, but people who don't want to watch all the nuances of human nature should stay at home - or at least stop watching good and mature films like this.

The acting was superb - Jon Foster, Thornton, Amber Heard and specially Kim Basinger, who worked a lot with her eyes and body expressions.

Although it doesn't follow the vampire theme from the book, I think Ellis should have been proud with it, it really captures the atmosphere of his book.

Finally, sorry for my english... :)

[–] razman1983 15 years ago

I just watched this movie last night ( i was high) but still..i dont really understand wtf was going on...there's like 4-5 different people..each with problems...the end? wtf

-Spoilers are for the weak

[–] andre_giao 15 years ago

You're one of the movie's character: high and without understanding anything around you.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] dimagic 15 years ago

but people who don't want to watch all the nuances of human nature should stay at home - or at least stop watching good and mature films like this.

You should watch more movies, it will improve your perspective.

[–] UberNoodle 15 years ago

You should accept that you aren't the centre of the universe. It will help you too.

I enjoyed the film very much and I could possibly haven watched more films that you have. How could you ever know?

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] bouchersimon86 15 years ago

Its not really a matter of understanding it, its just a matter on enjoying the product. this is not your classic movie, intro- problem - solving problem - ending. Its a little bit different, and that is what i look for in a movie. And that is why i liked this movie. It is just plain and simple a sad movie with sad things happening from the start till the end. Like other people have said, i enjoyed the emotion in this film. When they are at the funeral and one of them is sad and all the other doesnt seem to care, it showed where this movie was going. the movie doesnt really make sense because the life of the characters dont realy make sense. I didnt read the book, so i cant compare, but i can say that i really enjoyed this movie for what it had to give, and that is a lot of sadness.

ps. Amber Heard is HOT!!!!

[–] SeisCinemaSeis 15 years ago

I have understood it (at least I think so). it's a series of vignettes about several characters (yuppies most of them) whose lifes are loosely interconected to each other. They all are miserable cheaters, greedy, depressed, banal people, addicted to drugs, sex or both, etc. They all suffer the consequences of their excesses and they all pay out or it's implicit that eventually they'll pay out. What else?
Those elements could have made a very good movie in more capable hands but under Gregor Jordan direction it all became a mess. The fact that it doesn't contain an ending doesn't bother me at all. However if at least the movie were more than mere isolated anecdotes about those characters then I'd have changed my opinion about this film. If there is a main theme, a leit motiv, it's so vague that it got lost in the middle of that mishmash.

I love films with a non-linear narrative, even extremely bizarre ones like 'Un chien andalou' (Buñuel), Fando y Lis (Jodorowsky), Eraserhead (Lynch), Naked Lunch (Cronenberg), 5x2 (Ozon), Satyricon (Fellini), Teorema (Pasolini), Zerkalo (Tarkovsky), etc. but they all were highly gratifying experiences from one or another reason. 'The informers' feels more like a dyslexic and dumbed-down version of 'Magnolia' or 'Babel', two great films with a similar narrative structure directed by vastly superior directors.

[–] fourthwall1-2 15 years ago

No matter how much of an anti-plot turd a movie is, there will always be people who like it, and will scrape the bottom of the barel in order to find meaning in it.

No wonder this movie hit straight to DVD land.

[–] zina-vukin 14 years ago

A year and a half later I have to say I really like your comment.

"Martha is 108... years old. She weighs somewhat more than that". - George

[–] thormn8 14 years ago

Ellis' work captures the dread and decadence of the Eighties more acutely than anyone else. Most people seem to think it was all about synthesizers and big hair. Some of us, however, (Ellis included), were appalled by the degraded values, the particularlly heartless growth of capitalism, and the nihilistic dog eat dog tone of the time. These are not new problems, but the Eighties was the era in which well-off white Christians decided to cement their privilage in the most cynical way possible.

[–] guyatvideoshop 14 years ago

The book was awfull. It was a collection of short stories he wrote when he was in college, this is before he started on Less Than Zero. He never intended them to be mashed together, into some loose narrative, they were compiled and released after American Psycho probably as a way to cash in on his post-american psycho success.
The movie was even worse, its only highlight was Amber Heard.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] I_Shall_Be_Released 13 years ago

I think the movie was pretty awful at capturing Ellis's prose. Not that there were any particular oustanding errors, but the transition did not work well. The only film that has ever worked at capturing Ellis's style was American Pyscho and that was probably only because it differed from his usual tone.

The comments above are beyond ludicrous. Ellis is one of the top modern literary authors. I'm a writing/literature student myself and have studied many of his works in class.

Let me break it down for you- Less Than Zero and American Pyscho are the most well known, with American Pyscho recognized as his magnus opus. Rules of Attraction is also popular in post-structuralist analysis, but most people have never heard of it- it gets lost amongst the popularity of Less Than Zero and controversy of American Psycho. Glamorama is controversial- some people love it, some people hate it, there is rarely a middle ground. The Informers is less known, but well respected amongst writers and academics. It's frequantly studied in short-story courses.

[–] kamas716 13 years ago

20+ years ago, I really liked Less Than Zero, having grown up a bit since then, it's not a great movie, just above average. Seeing it does bring back fond memories of that time in my life, but that actually has zip to do with the movie itself. Having seen four movies based on his work, the only one that actually is a good movie (IMO) is American Psycho.

I haven't read any of his novels, and I doubt I ever will if they happen to be anything like the movies. The movies come off as rather pretensious tripe. Perhaps it's the limitations of the director's, but the story seems to be trying to make some profound statement, but never actually gets around to it.

This movie, in particular, just seemed to have a bunch of loosely related (like 7 degrees of separation related) characters doing random stuff that didn't actually move the story forward. I got the feeling that this movie could have been edited down to fit in a 30 minute TV slot and not lost a thing.

I'll go.

This is no time for bravery, I'll let you.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] melanie1784 13 years ago

The informers is one of my favourite books and this movie does it no justice. I understand the movie and im sure most people do. That being said, it just isn't a good movie.

[–] RomeoInDespair 12 years ago

How B.E.E fans hate this is beyond me. The whole thing is just so nihilistic and empty.How can they watch the ending at the beach and not think of his work?

I need more sun.
There is no more sun.it moves out to an empty desolate beach.beautiful

[–] 12 years ago

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