MIchael Mann's Public Enemies Script

Minimalism, Michael Mann and Miami Vice

I have been away a while due to heavy work and other commitments - the usual juggling of life! Yet my passion for Michael Mann films does not wane. Some folk may be wondering where my review is of Public Enemies. I did of course see it at the movie theatre, and I do of course have an opinion on it. Yet with Mann movies, as I have said before, they seem to get better with age and repeated viewings. I am not entirely sure why this is. I think it is because each frame in a Mann shot is so packed with "essence" that it is impossible to take it in a single viewing. The Public Enemies DVD (two disc edition of course) was on my Christmas list and I was thrilled to get it from my lovely sister. Whilst Mann films are undoubtedly made for the big screen, there is also something very intimate about watching a Mann film on your own TV, in your own lounge, lights dimmed or better off, at the right viewing distance and, importantly, alone. Only then can you immerse yourself not only into Mann's world, but into your own, as you allow your emotions to manifest, even overflow. It is a response not only to the characters you are watching, but there is this deep level reflection into your own self.

After several viewings of the DVD I will come back to write my thoughts.

One blogger helped crystallize how I perceive some of Mann's recent movies (Public Enemies and Miami Vice), referring to the stripping down of character backgrounds. The following is an extract by Khoi Vinh from www.subtraction.com:


“Public Enemies,” continues Mann’s ongoing exploration of a stark, almost ascetic kind of narrative sensibility. With a nearly impudent disregard for common storytelling conventions, the director has in recent years taken to gutting from his works anything and everything that might be superfluous to the forward momentum of his core narratives. He affords his characters practically no backstory or prehistory, his plots are reduced to the threadbare, and subplots are often extracted altogether. Including “Public Enemies,” his past three movies are so elemental and succinct (not necessarily in running time, but in scope) that they’re just as much like episodes within a larger series of events as wholly contained feature films of their own.

What’s left out from these movies is as important and beautiful as what’s included. They’re exercises in doing as much as possible with as little as possible, implying whole swaths of narrative information by allowing the audience to extrapolate events, details, backstories and subplots from only the barest hints of their presence. In fact, what Mann is doing here (and why I am so obviously drawn to this sensibility) is designing these stories — not just their presentation but more fundamentally their construction, too — and doing so in a way that evokes many of the very same things that thrill me about design.

Mann employs an architectural approach that establishes a plot framework but declines to fill every nook and cranny. He uses very few elements to suggest many more, and in so doing constructs a kind of environment that the audience experiences rather than a narrative account that the audience observes. This is very much minimalism and experience design at work; it just happens to star Johnny Depp, is all.

Michael Mann Interview: "I'm interested in extreme conflict"

I have been away a while, but am still here to keep adding to this blog all things Michael Mann. The Guardian newspaper here in the UK ran an excellent video interview for their website with Michael Mann, from their "In the director's chair" series. Mann touches insightfully into the making of Public Enemies, and gives a glimpse of his working philosophy, some of which mentions the duality of humanity that comes across in so many of his films. Intriguingly, he says he would love to revisit 18th century America, and his movie The Last of the Mohicans. Check it out here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2009/jul/02/michael-mann-public-enemies

Your views on Public Enemies - post them here!

"STICKY" POST

Although I am presently "lost" in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland with no hope of seeing Michael Mann's Public Enemies until the 7th July, I am sure you will be lining up to see the movie on its opening public debut. I really want to hear all the feedback from all you Michael Mann fans, so having seen the film please leave your initial comments, views and reviews in the comments under this post. Should be fascinating to see the responses from you guys.

I have made this post a "sticky", so don't miss any new posts below this one.

Collateral Best Served Large

Anyone following this blog knows I am stuck on an island in a remote corner of NW Scotland and unable to see Public Enemies. Well, like all good Mann movies, life has its peculiar convergencies. One particular irony in my life, well lets make that two actually, are worth mentioning. The first I had in mind was the fact that I live a moderately stressed life, working hard to pay a reasonably high mortgage paid on a suburban semi-detached 1930's house at the height of the market value (which plummeted during the current recession). So high that for all my years I have never been able to justify converting my uncool, almost antique status 21" cathode TV for a LCD flat screen, super size HD TV. All my Mann DVD's are played exclusively within a 21" square. Religiously, I make sure it is in widescreen aspect - which makes the real estate even smaller. Now true, the resolution is lovely and saturated. I can't tell you how I have been tempted to stick a new TV on the credit card, or add a new monthly payment plan on top of the sofa I bought. However, the irony is this. That I am castaway on a remote island, but what my moans don't reveal, is that I am in a self-catering place that is set on a private beach with unseemly tourqoise waters lapping serenely across them, housing nothing less than a 50" monster Sony Bravia TV (in this sentence my voice elevated excitedly when I got to 50"). In my home I don't even have satellite. Can't afford it. Here I do. And 5 minutes ago, Collateral finished. For some reason, even if you have it on DVD, you always want to watch a Mann movie if it is on TV - I have no idea why.

You may ask, "why are you telling me this?" Well, seeing it on a 50" screen opened my eyes once again to how Mann most wanted it seen. The incredible visceral nature of those really dark night time shots, with light ebbing in and out, like an ocean reflecting moonlight. And the hugely stunning conpositions that suddenly stand out even more when the details present themselves in the larger format. I had no idea just how much I was missing. It just made me marvel even more at just how big a pay off we get from Mann's relentless need for detail. I was revelling in this movie afresh tonight. The moral of this story is, if you want to watch a Mann movie as he intended it to be seen, watch it 50" wide or larger. Any smaller, and you miss half the craft. The irony? Well, I had to travel to a remote island to miss the opening of Public Enemies, but be thrilled by Collateral in a completely new way. It's kind of destiny. I did see it at the cinema, but as anyone knows... you can't take all of a Mann movie in a single viewing. So, it was a real treat tonight.

If you got this far reading you may be wondering about my second point of irony for the day. Well, I was for a time a professional nature photographer, specializing in the 5x4" large format. Like Mann, I am bent on quality. But I also believe in technological advancement if it serves a purpose. The irony is, that despite being reasonably accomplished in landscape photography I cannot afford to buy a digital SLR - or at least the large CMOS sensor version and lenses required to ensure the highest possible resolution and sharpness - unlike the scattering of tourists that dot this island in their flourescent cycling tops. The male tourists brandish their cameras like a fallic symbol. As for me, I had to borrow my fathers D90 with a 18-200 zoom lens that is as sharp as Mr. Bean. The lens barrel slides if you try to tripod mount it and point it to the floor. But with two children in tow, who has time for dark cloths, dark slides, spotmeters and camera movements? And there are tourists with full frame sensor cameras that don't know their apertures from their flipflops. Such is the irony of life. Imagine Vincent (from Collateral) trying to do his job with a water pistol, and you will suddenly know how I feel in this stunning scenery I am in.

Just to reassure you all. I am having a very relaxed time on holiday! But it will be hard going back home... back to 21". But as a comedian once observed in the context of those with small wage packets that spend their benefits on huge TV's, if your house is 90% plasma, you need to work for a bigger house.

Whilst waiting for Public Enemies

As I mentioned, I am a castaway (sort of) on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. So my viewing of Public Enemies is late. So, I thought I would post some images I have taken. Here is the first. Nothing to do with Michael Mann, but, well.....

Zen Pulp: The World of Michael Mann

With the advent of Public Enemies, everyone has become Michael Mann focussed, which is great. Here is a link that is worth highlighting for particular attention, and features video and narration on what is a Mann retrospective of his work. The author Matt Zoller Seitz writes:

This is the first in a five-part series of Moving Image Source video essays on Michael Mann, whose new film, Public Enemies, opens July 1. Part 2 will be posted on Friday, with parts 3, 4, and 5 to follow next week. To read a transcript of the video's narration, click here. To read the author's review of Public Enemies at IFC.com, click here.



Visit the link here.