Don't blame Lyne. The problem was in the writing - Deep Water (2022) Discussion

[–] rushington (765) 3 years ago

The problem resided in the killer being shown right in front of the audience from the onset and the events unfolding like a lackluster documentary.

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[–] buzzlightbeer (1901) 3 years ago

Good point.

I was wondering if Affleck really did it, since it was more hinted than actually told. I was taking it as a red herring and looking for a 3rd act payoff.

Another thing is there didnt seem to be anyone to pull for. I was pulling for affleck the whole way until that final showdown. I was still hoping for sime kind of clever twist a la Harlan Coben

The third act plot points felt contrived. Like her sauntering down into his snail dungeon and finding the wallet. Wtf. Convenient much? Lol

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[–] BeaSouth (3284) 2 years ago

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[–] TheArgentinian (7062) 3 years ago

I thought it was very well directed. It was written by the creator of Euphoria. So there you go.

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[–] buzzlightbeer (1901) 3 years ago

there i go...what. not sure what you mean but i don't give credit to this movie based on other works; i assess it on its own merits.

i have heard good things about euphoria, but that's irrelevant to how this was made, imo.

deep water has a lot of issues, but maybe we can't all see them. and btw yes i agree it was well directed, but if you read up i specifically said DONT blame the director, blame the writers. (and possibly the editors)

it was rejected by disney for theater release, and sold at a discount to hulu for tv release. i suspect this is because they knew it wasn't that great.

cheers

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[–] CommonSense (241) 3 years ago

Very good, same here. I judge everything individually as well. Other great works Doesn't mean everythings great and something thats bad gets a pass.

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[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I think the writing was poor, but was so the direction.

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[–] buzzlightbeer (1901) 3 years ago

interesting. without qualifying that somehow i can't really see what you mean.

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[–] buzzlightbeer (1901) 3 years ago

i guess this poster moved on.

well, i can't see anything really wrong with the direction other than some of the shots seemed too long and the editing could've been tightened a great deal. i always wonder what people mean when they say 'bad direction' ...hence why i asked ^^

the cinematography was good IMO, and the casting, and the locations etc. so i really don't know what you mean

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[–] CommonSense (241) 3 years ago

"lots of implausible stuff, lots of convenient plot turns. basically lazy writing."

I agree. But this happens in a ton of shows & movies. Can't blame the writers, a majority of the audiences don't care, understand or recognize it. Or just consider them tv shows/movies and not to be taken seriously.

You, like me and tons of others, see these things and dislike them. Be t we happen to be a minority.

I hate over-the-top in shows & movies. Unless its sci-fi or fantasy, then i got more of a threshold. But i still dislike convenient plot turns in them. Its 2022, can we be more clever.

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[–] buzzlightbeer (1901) 3 years ago

yeah for me it's as simple as i don't like my 'suspension of disbelief' impeded. that's it.

i can buy into whatever is on screen (metal droids having a conversation rolling across a desert bill murray reliving the same day over and over ) so long as it doesn't violate its own rules 'of that world' the movie exists in.

but there's another meaning for plausibility, which is how overly convenient some elements are, to advance the plot. this is the variety i was using in my post about this movie. several developments in this movie were too convenient, which IMO insults the viewer's intelligence. it may technically be realistic (we all know truth is stranger than fiction) but it has to be good 'story form' or it gets rejected as 'unlikely'. In my early days my term i coined for this was 'Spoon Feeding'. OTN dialogue is another example.

nice chatting with you. rare to find another movie lover on the board who actually thinks about these things.

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[–] CommonSense (241) 3 years ago

I agree and you say it so much better than i can say it. I can think it, but to put it into words as you did i will slack.

On these boards it is rare to see people as us that thinks of these things. My gf isn't ordinary, but she doesn't get bugged by nearly as much as i will with movies/shows.

It really sucks IMDB boards are gone. I get it because there were alot of trolls & nasty people on there. But I generally enjoyed being able to share common interests with people or have an adult debate when we saw things differently. This site and any other don't have near enough people to sustain long debates or conversations on a topic unfortunately.

Feel free to message me directly if you just wanna talk about a show or movie. Or if you want me to check out any post you wrote or replied to.

As you said, was nice chatting with a fellow person with same path of thought

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[–] buzzlightbeer (1901) 3 years ago

hello commonsense,

i wish there was a way to save users as friends. i will try to check in with you sometimes to see what you are up to.

i agree, ending the imdb boards was tragic. i still have not forgiven them!

have a great day.

cheers

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[–] CommonSense (241) 3 years ago

Hi Buzzlightbeer.

Gotta say i like the name. Yeah it sucks we can't add people on here as friends. I'll just have to come to this article and track you down. As that doesn't sound stalk-ish, lol.

I plan to take a peek at your other comments to see if I've seen myself or can offer an opinion. Might be a lot of agreeing since you seem to have your head & thought process screwed on right, lol.

You have a great day as well, thanks.

Cheers

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[–] Snoopy828 (579) 3 years ago

I disagree with this assessment. The whole "don't blame the director blame the writer, don't blame the actor blame the writer" argument is a little tired at this point.

If you're an actor, or director for that matter and you sign onto a project the script is the script. It's your job to make the best movie possible. If an actor gives a bad performance that's on the actor.

If you're a director and you direct a bad movie, again that's on YOU. Now you can ALSO blame the writer for delivering a hammy script. But at the end of the day, you're the director, and it's your name attached to the project.

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[–] buzzlightbeer (1901) 3 years ago

yeah sure that's fine but i do believe you missed my point. 'blame' really had nothing to do with it, other than as a figure of speech.

i was saying (forget the word blame) the issue was in the writing, which is something Lyne couldn't make up for with any amount of good directing, camera work etc. IMO if you start with a problem script, there is no coming back from that.

a good script can be turned into a good film
a good script can be turned into a bad film
a bad script can NOT be turned into a good film

but i agree that yes, it's on Lyne that he chose to proceed with this faulty script

cheers

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[–] Snoopy828 (579) 3 years ago

Honestly, I took this movie for what it was. To me it reminded me of one of those mass produced early to mid 90s late night erotic thrillers that HBO and Cinemax used to crank out. It was fairly entertaining until the end. The ending was terrible. It was messy but a watchable mess.

But there is a saying in Hollywood. Everyone thinks they can save a bad script going into production of a movie or TV show. However, 9/10 times those problems only get worse as production ensues

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[–] letess (1513) 3 years ago

This movie just misses being really good. So, yes to the writing. Lyne made Unfaithful years ago and it was based on the great French movie La femme infidele (or The Unfaithful Wife) but was a completely different movie. Although Deep Water, the novel, was written by Patricia Highsmith, this movie Deep Water resembles La femme infidele more than Unfaithful does. These psychological thrillers were done so well in older movies, especially with Chabrol or Clouzot or Hitchcock. Movies like Diabolique, Elevator to the Gallows, Le Boucher (the Butcher), Marnie, Postman Rings Twice, Vertigo - all involve a couple and then there is intrigue and suspense usually where one of the parties is doing something criminal that’s a little twisted. This ending was abrupt and flat and a couple of scenes preceding were also rushed and flat.

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[–] novicepq (10) 2 years ago

Isn't it strange that Lynn chose to direct it if he knew the script was bad? What was he doing then? And he couldn't get the writer to rewrite scenes?

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[–] buzzlightbeer (1901) 2 years ago

eh, if you reread my op it may hit you differently.

never said lynne is perfect. but the key issues (not all, just key) with this one are from the script. he just directed what was there, i guess. Maybe Lynne needed the money lol

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[–] Burgershmurger (1360) 2 years ago

You do know it's an adaptation of a Highsmith novel, don't you?

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[–] buzzlightbeer (1901) 2 years ago

No i didnt know that.

I wonder how much was changed. The implausibilities may have been only in the movie.