Blade Runner

[Mylochka]

I bought the super-dooper-deluxe DVD set of four slightly different versions of Blade Runner on sale in July.  Finally got around to watching some of it.  The accompanying documentaries are very, very, very thorough, let me tell you.  Fell asleep about an hour or so in.  Surprised to find when I woke up an hour or so later that they were still discussing pre-production issues...

Here's a version that moves a lot faster, though: 

Speedrun: Blade Runner in 60 seconds (Ep #6)

[Buster's Uncle]

BLADE RUNNER!

  One more kiss, deear/ One more siigh

[Mylochka]

Here's my next favorite 60 second Blade Runner -- Blade Runner Noir (perfect if you like your Blade Runner without so much pesky science fiction..)

Blade Runner - The Film Noir Cut

[Mylochka]

Lego Blade Runner wasn't as funny as I had hoped, but on the plus side, Leon looks really good...

BLADE RUNNER IN 60 SECONDS IN LEGO

[Buster's Uncle]

Here's my next favorite 60 second Blade Runner -- Blade Runner Noir (perfect if you like your Blade Runner without so much pesky science fiction..)

Blade Runner - The Film Noir Cut

Very much in the spirit of what we've always talked about doing with the Blade Runner technology when it gets good enough - replace Ford with Bogart, Young with Bacall, and so on down the line, recasting with the usual suspects from noir, and demonstrating that it would really change nothing.  -Also, it would just be cool.

[Mylochka]

I think situating the film withing the noir genre gives a richness an resonance to the film that it would not have otherwise. I guess that's why I'm one of those folks who can't watch the versions of the film that cut the narration...

[Buster's Uncle]

Without the narration, the driving to freedom closing scene won't work, and without that scene, the elevator doors close and the movie stops instead of ends.

That's what ruined the director's cut for me more.

[Rusty Edge]

Oh! But I love the scene with the Joanna Cassidy character ( what was her name? ) in the lego version.

I remember reading about that years ago. They were saying that narration is a failure to tell the story.
But it's a staple in the Noire genre, and it's dramatic end twists-  so it fit. Perhaps it could have done with less narration. But none? We'd need more movie and more dialogue.

I remember coming out of the theater with my brother, and he was explaining that he thought the movie was realistic, in that he always thought a detective shouldn't have to flash his badge, or  tell anyone in a shady nightclub that he was a cop,
especially not the owner. They should recognize a cop  for what he was on first sight .

[Buster's Uncle]

Zora.

[Rusty Edge]

Aha! I might have remembered that in a couple days..... or not. Names can be a challenge sometimes. I was blanking on that one. Not even a first letter.

[Buster's Uncle]

Happens to me all the time.  We're gettin' old, man.

Somebody oughtta do something about that four-year lifespan...

[Buster's Uncle]

Lego Blade Runner wasn't as funny as I had hoped, but on the plus side, Leon looks really good...

BLADE RUNNER IN 60 SECONDS IN LEGO

AAAAARGH!  That was the director's cut in 60 seconds.  It didn't end, it just stopped.

[Rusty Edge]

Happens to me all the time.  We're gettin' old, man.

Somebody oughtta do something about that four-year lifespan...

   Well, I do have a trip to my home world next month....

[Mylochka]

Oh! But I love the scene with the Joanna Cassidy character ( what was her name? ) in the lego version.

I remember reading about that years ago. They were saying that narration is a failure to tell the story.
But it's a staple in the Noire genre, and it's dramatic end twists-  so it fit. Perhaps it could have done with less narration. But none? We'd need more movie and more dialogue.

I remember coming out of the theater with my brother, and he was explaining that he thought the movie was realistic, in that he always thought a detective shouldn't have to flash his badge, or  tell anyone in a shady nightclub that he was a cop,
especially not the owner. They should recognize a cop  for what he was on first sight .

The whole "narration is a failure to tell the story" argument is, I think, an example of taking an principle you learn in Film School and mistakenly trying to make it into an inviolable rule.  Yes, film is a visual medium, therefore -- in general -- you should strive to show rather than simply tell. But that doesn't mean that all "telling" is automatically a sign of failure. Narration doesn't have to just be expository.  Narration - when done well - can provide another level of richness and color. For example, one of my favorite lines is "Sushi - that's what my ex-wife used to call me - cold fish."  There in just a few seconds, we get not only a quick preview of Deckard's personality, but also a short-hand synopsis of what went wrong with his failed marriage.  Likewise, his one sentence description of the police chief lets us know all we need to know about not only that man but fills us in on Deckard's working relationship with his boss.

[Mylochka]

Lego Blade Runner wasn't as funny as I had hoped, but on the plus side, Leon looks really good...

BLADE RUNNER IN 60 SECONDS IN LEGO

AAAAARGH!  That was the director's cut in 60 seconds.  It didn't end, it just stopped.

yep. the theme music didn't even get to finish out...