I spend a lot of time on Twitter and I see tons of amazing dialogue and reflections. Twitter Thread of the Day is a feature on my blog where I’ll try to share one thread that was particularly interesting, smart, moving, or impactful for me. Go here to read past editions of Twitter Thread of the Day.
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Today, writer/director Guillermo del Toro (one of my favorites!) explains the brilliance of Zodiac. While I think Zodiac is David Fincher’s masterpiece, it’s not a film I’ve gone back to revisit very often. It’s a film about the nature of obsession and it offers no easy resolution of any kind. I find it Fincher’s most disquieting film — it makes me physically uncomfortable to watch it. But I really should check it out again sometime soon.
ZODIAC in 13 tweets. Every great movie works at many levels. Some ar evident: the dramaturgy (writing, plot, character, structure)
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT Image crafting and sound as storytelling tools (mix, balance of score, source and design- cinematography, wardrobe & set design)
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT Staging / editing and acting (the great ballet bewteen emotion, drive and camera work and rythm- perusive or melodic) but then…
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT …the truly great movies have deeper roots. In the case of Zodiac, all the formal elements become a quasi-hypnotic all-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT it lulls you into a different world and takes what was real and makes it symbolic. It puts you in a trance-like state that
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT makes everything operate at a deeper level: ALL actions on screen become equally important- This is extremely diffciult
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT What I mean by this is: you watch a dinner scene or a tense basement exploration with the same enraptured attention.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT Tonally, the film is “of a piece” It is a unity of cinematic space and reality. It transcends all its individual elements and thus-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT they become unbreakable. In ths rarefied strata, only a few films exist. Of recent memory No Country For Old Men is one of them.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT This films (to use a tired metaphor) are icebergs. Their technical / narrative achievements are quantifiable but most of their –
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT -real merits remain submerged and have a spiritual / faith connection with the very root of who the filmmaker is. In other words-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT -their are sustained by the unwavering faith of the filmmaker. Being roughly of the same generation as Fincher I must state that-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT -the zodiac killings were not just news. They somewhat crystalized the underbelly of an entire era. So does this masterful film.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017
@RealGDT Tweet 14: I meant “are” and not “ar” and “percusive” not “perusive” Tut-tut-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) March 5, 2017