Quote Originally Posted by [url=http://mayyam.com/hub/viewtopic.php?p=2288653#2288653
kid-glove[/url]]Like in case of Welles-Mankiewicz. Hub's flowchart goes like, it's good, it's Sujatha, if it's bad, it's Sangar.
All I said was:

I watched Kane. Liked it. An all time fav. film. Compelled to read a lot into it, but checked myself after seeing other films of the maker.
I watched The Trial. Disliked it.
I watched Touch of Evil. Disliked it.
Demoted Welles.

Moreover I saw nothing common between Kane and Trial-ToE.
So I speculated that perhaps what I liked in Kane did not come from Welles. Perhaps Mankewicz.
Whether I should promote Mankewicz will depend on his non-Welles films which I am yet to watch.

What I wanted to understand was specific directorial touches in Trial, ToE which you felt owed to Welles.

I found the basic material (story!) in Trial and ToE too weak to make the film engaging for me. Nothing in the directorial efforts that would overcome this weakness.

To quote an example: 'Tresspassers will be prosecuted' sign in passing in Kane. That's pretty much what we do throughout the film. I stood up and took notice rightaway. Absolutely nothing like that in Trial and ToE.

It is not like I think writer is everything. I know 'bringing it to life' is the magic of film. My respect for action-directors owes to this. My favorite Tarantino film is Kill Bill 1, not RD. KB2 or Pulp. When I saw them I understood why I liked KB1 has perhaps little to do with what is seen as his universal appeal (the conversations, lon-ninearity estra).

It is the mesh of the lines and action, the mix of formats, music, the comic-book feel of KB1 that I found excellent. The bride being shot, close range in mid-sentence in the opening scene. Waking up and tapping her temple to get a sonorous sound All these do not exist in paper. I do get that.

It is just that I am put of by basic material, if it is not made interesting enough that finishes the movie for me. In fact every clever 'movie thing' after that only works against it. I start feeling like 'you fire your writer and think you can get away with all this dazzle eh?'.

Apples oranges notwithstanding, I like Coens for burn after reading, even Hudsucker Proxy NOT Barton Fink (and I won't even bring up 'no country').