Back to selection
“THE KILLING ROOM” director, Jonathan Liebesman
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 16, 11:30 am — Prospector Square Theatre, Park City]
The Killing Room was never consciously shaped by any changes in the collective structures of other films today. However any filmmaker is influenced by what he or she sees around in film, movies, books and life.
I do believe that there is a collective consciousness that breezes through many films as far as technique or structural choices are concerned. As for technique and execution, for a while now, the Hollywood films that have made the most impact on me have been those that attempt to make their situations very real and grounded, such as Paul Greengrass’s movies. Filmmakers like Christopher Nolan also inject a handheld reality and stream of consciousness into their hyperreal stories in order to ground them and elevate them.
As far as structure, as filmmakers, we are able to explore tangents in shorthand without losing the audience. Although on the surface this may seem non-linear, today’s filmmakers are able to keep an emotional linearity which brings the audience through any number of stories being told at once. The Hours comes to mind as well as Iñárritu’s films.
Although these films have different stories that are structured non-linearly, for me, their real power is fueled by a very linear emotional motor. The Limey has a fantastic shorthand. These films remind me of the mind which jumps around visually, and the order of our thoughts; what we think of next is always emotionally motivated from the previous thought.
I don’t think audiences have evolved to cope with modern films, with quick cuts and non-linear visuals, as much as filmmakers’ skills have evolved in imitating real thought patterns of the audience that have remained the same since the cave.
