Device Notes

  Patlabor 2 features scenes of characters speaking at length, weighing, rationalizing, and speculating about the world and its history.  Oshii is a thinker, and this is the most blatant way he shows it in his films and tries to share his thinking with an audience.   Dense and memorable words can easily distract from the other elements of a film.  There are also many who will say that a film isn't supposed to have a "message"; such things would be better conveyed through nonfiction media.   Many of those viewers will tell you a movie's effect comes not from its "ideas," but its moods or illusionism.  Films have many dimensions.  We all know they can profoundly affect people's thinking and behavior.  Some people deny art affects reality at all, but I don't even think those people really believe that.  Still, it is true in some respect that "messages" or "ideas" don't have the significance a lot of people attribute to them....

I'm posting this so late that the title barely makes sense anymore.  So late that it unfortunately comes at a time when I'm compelled to pay respects to the memory of the great David Bordwell.  The banner image, from Moonrise Kingdom , is the image on the cover of Film Art: An Introduction , his book with Kristin Thompson.   For a long time, Bordwell and Thompson have struck me as having the most productive, informative, and personally edifying approach to closely viewing and discussing films.  It's an approach I often fear I don't live up to.  The rigor and knowledge they bring to the table seems vastly greater than almost anyone else's, and is certainly greater than my own.   At least, I've tried to avoid making far-fetched or baseless claims about films while still emphasizing why they are important, and the potential profundity of experience they offer.  My desire to strike this balance comes mainly from Bordwell and Thompson's influence...