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"Unrest" review in NY Times

Hajnalka

Senior Member
Messages
910
Location
Germany
Thankfully it sounds like this movie has a realistic ending.
Read an interesting article about the ending. Jen Brea had won a scholarship or something like that in a think tank for filmmakers and said they tried a lot of subtly different endings for Unrest. The first ending was too dark. And the second one too positive, so they spent a lot of time tweaking it (with e.g. music, last words). Jen said something about how the ending is very important. They didn't want people to completely despair, but to come out of the cinema with anger, but also with hope and the will to change things and to advocate. (This is very free from my bad memory.)

I was irritated by the trailer, because it implies a positive development or happy ending, that is not there in the movie and in real life. The scenes from the trailer are in the movie, but in a different order and different context. But I guess the trailer was made this way for the reason that people prefer positive stories. And it might be hard enough to get healthy people to watch a movie about illness and a depressing trailer might make it a lot harder (just my speculation).
(Edited: grammar)
 
Last edited:
Messages
5,238
Location
Sofa, UK
Several posts have been edited or removed from this thread because they strayed into political discussion resulting in personal attacks. Please refrain from posting about politics: it just starts arguments and it's not what these forums are for.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
So many people want both fiction and life to be uplifting.
Many need life to be upbeat, but many are dissatisfied too. The entertainment reflects that, gives us a window to a better life, even if only for an hour or two. Tragedies do have a long tradition in entertainment, but comedies are about laughter, and dramas are about a series of adverse events and then the good people win. Soaps are an unending series of tragedy followed by triumph.

Where tragedy shines is in showing injustice. We don't just like happy endings, we like being outraged by injustice. We can use that meme in conjunction with Unrest. Its just the first part of the story. If the world responds then the second part will be better.
 

Solstice

Senior Member
Messages
641
Many need life to be upbeat, but many are dissatisfied too. The entertainment reflects that, gives us a window to a better life, even if only for an hour or two. Tragedies do have a long tradition in entertainment, but comedies are about laughter, and dramas are about a series of adverse events and then the good people win. Soaps are an unending series of tragedy followed by triumph.

Where tragedy shines is in showing injustice. We don't just like happy endings, we like being outraged by injustice. We can use that meme in conjunction with Unrest. Its just the first part of the story. If the world responds then the second part will be better.

Except in The Wire. The Wire :thumbsup: .
 
Messages
1,478
I think we all want a happy ending of sorts...perhaps not as processed, over researched and distorted as the Disney version though. I've cut down on sugar in real life ....the virtual sugar from these films are a little too much for me ...I like my fiction to be like an espresso: complex, needs a little sugar and with a general bitterness throughout.

I think sometimes film makers do over research their market and play to the lowest common denominator that sells stuff. That's why you need film festivals and independent makers I guess. Hopefully unrest won't disappoint.