There are so many films that aren’t subtle that picking just one is tough.
But I’ll point to a pretty good movie that ditched subtlety because, even though the filmmakers had a likable hero with a compelling story, they just weren’t confident enough in their star or plot, and felt as if they had to turn the antagonist into Evil Incarnate.
I’m referring to Cinderella Man, Ron Howard’s movie about Jimmy Braddock.
As I said, Braddock was a good guy, his story was a very interesting one, and he was played by a very good, very likable actor, Russell Crowe. The audience was almost bound to root for Braddock! But just in case they might not, Howard and his writer(s) turned Max Baer into a heartless killer.
That wasn’t fair or accurate, and worse still, there was no need for that!
“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”
…not just any bunny rabbit, but a bunny with his feet chopped off and given to Charlie Company soldiers as good luck amulets before embarking on their scenic hike through the hamlets of My Lai…
It strikes me that time-travel movies are uniquely suited to this sort of thing.
Take, say, The Butterfly Effect: his childhood sweetheart just killed herself, so he goes back in time to change history such that – well, now she’s still breathing, but he’s behind bars. So he goes back in time again to change history such that – well, now he’s a quadruple amputee. So he goes back in time yet again, finally changing history with all the precision of Bill Murray on his last run-through for Groundhog Day: preventing a kid from getting molested, reuniting a mother and daughter, making sure everybody is alive and well and in possession of all their limbs, and THE END.
So we see George Bailey’s life play out like a noble biopic – saving the lives of helpless children, keeping his grieving boss out of prison, sacrificing his education and his honeymoon so hard-working people can own homes – and we see him contemplate suicide upon taking the blame for his uncle’s mistake, but he considers how awful everyone would be without him and heads home so people from all walks of life can give detailed explanations of why they’re appreciatively coming through for him.
Now, that’s already “explicit” rather than “subtle”. Less subtle: a for-real angel walks him through just how great a guy he is – “Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn’t there to save them, because you weren’t there to save Harry!” – because, to somehow make the film even less subtle, that ‘biopic-up-to-now’ bit is the story of yet other angels showing that angel the simple truth of why he has to save George by showing our hero simple truth in turn.
I’ve been thinking of unsubtle films as ones that slap you in the face with their messages. I have no idea what message Kill Bill was trying to deliver, other than maybe, “Don’t fuck with Uma Thurman.”
Pretty much
“Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill, Vol. 1” is about as basic a movie as
you can get–The Bride (Uma Thurman) was once upon a time badly
beaten and shot in the head by people she once worked with and
(well, one of them, at least) loved; she falls into a coma, sleeps a
couple of years, and wakes up demanding payback, big time.”
I don’t know… KB had some pretty subtle moments. Hell, KB was even referenced in Pulp Fiction (KB has the basic structure of Fox Force Five), which many people don’t get:
My favorite KB subtle moment followed the “Green Hornet” sequence. Immediately after, the Bride pulls up to a stoplight, to the right of Sofie Fatale. Sofie’s cell phone rings, she answers it, and the Bride flashes back to the massacre, her memory going to Sofie laughing on the phone while people are getting killed around her.
This is the first time we see the Bride remembering Sofie.
The ringtone on Sofie’s cell phone? The tune to Auld Lang Syne. The words accompanying that part of the tune? “Should auld acquaintance be forgot…”
The overall movie isn’t “subtle”, but there’s a lot going on in it that requires careful viewing to catch.