MovieChat Forums > Duplicity (2009) Discussion > Is Deus Ex MAchina the latest trend in m...

Is Deus Ex MAchina the latest trend in movies ?

posted 15 years ago by aps722
15 replies | jump to latest

I really think that this is the tell tale sign of a clunker. A semi-complex plot that has to be "explained away" by someone doing a voice over on top of a montage of backflashes to tell us how it all happened. I really hate this. Good story telling should behave like a yo-yo. It should unwind and then - of its own volition - wind back up.

What is with these filmakers nowadays? They release these yo-yo stories that only unwind, then leave themselves spinning on the floor in a tangle of string needing to be picked up by the hand of some CSI-like recap at the end.

Pee-You !

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"What one man can do, another can do"

[–] cinecing 15 years ago

"A semi-complex plot that has to be "explained away" by someone doing a voice over on top of a montage of backflashes to tell us how it all happened. I really hate this "

Well you must not be a fan of Raymond Chandler stories or Film Noir genre . Too bad .

[–] aps722 15 years ago

Well, to be honest I was not even aware that that was a classic technique. But I would feel a little better about it if I had some assurance that movies nowadays do it BECAUSE they are attempting a classic technique instead of just being lazy. Thanks for the info, though. I didn't know that.

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"What one man can do, another can do"

[–] bron-tay 15 years ago

Actually, there IS a difference between those Raymond Chandler movies and ones like Duplicity. In the Chandler stories, it was just someone telling a story. The whole thing was a recollection, infused with the teller's reflections and motives. These ones like Duplicity require the constant diddling of the Omniscient Narrator to keep you up. And that is bad storytelling.

~~~~~~~
Think cynical thoughts.

[–] filmklassik 15 years ago

Something else to keep in mind is that Raymond Chandler -- while a gifted wordsmith -- was abominable at plotting and evidently admitted as much in several of his letters and essays.

So Chandler's oeuvre is maybe not the best work to be pointing to for examples of clean, "air-tight" story-telling.

[–] bron-tay 15 years ago

Coup de grace.

~~~~~~~
Think cynical thoughts.

[–] cgawolf 15 years ago

"Well, to be honest I was not even aware that that was a classic technique."

That made me giggle, considering Deus Ex as a dramatic device is roughly 2 millenia old. "classic" in the truest sense of the word :P

[–] poohgp 15 years ago

"Deus Ex Machina" has nothing to do with voice over narration (see "Adaptation")- also, where was the voice over narration in this movie?? There was NONE.

"If I'd been a ranch, they would have named me The Bar Nothing"

[–] aps722 15 years ago

I mean Deus Ex Machina in the sense that if you were to miss the last 5 minutes of the movie, then you would understand nothing about how things transpired. Specifically, the revelation that Company B's president set the whole thing up. I just don't go for that "sudden explanation" type of thing - whether its from left-field or down from the sky ;))
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"What one man can do, another can do"

[–] poohgp 15 years ago

Well, if you mean a "twist ending"- yes, that seems to be fairly common: "The Sixth Sense", "The Usual Suspects", etc. Any of those movies, if you missed the last 5 minutes you would have missed everything. I don't think it is lazy storytelling, just the opposite- a film maker perhaps trying TOO hard to make a picture interesting by throwing in a "twist". Plus, audiences seem to like it.

"If I'd been a ranch, they would have named me The Bar Nothing"

[–] sltfilho 15 years ago

Personally I think utterly annoying when in the end of a film there's the explanation that calls be dumb*ss, like: "Ohh-- So that's why she went away, because she needed the money!", kind of thing.

I didn't feel that in this movie, though. I found the end really entertaining and coherent. The lack of violence is a plus in this movie, too.

And the movie really can play (wisely) with the ambiguous personality of the characters, in the personal level and (obviously) in the 'professional' one.

I really liked this flick.

[–] MuchToBeGratefulFor 15 years ago

I mean Deus Ex Machina in the sense that if you were to miss the last 5 minutes of the movie, then you would understand nothing about how things transpired. Specifically, the revelation that Company B's president set the whole thing up.

That does not fit the definition of Deus Ex Machina. That's simply a twist ending, and I agree that twist endings have become way overdone. But that they are not as annoying as a Deus Ex Machina, which is a completely contrived way to get out of some supposedly insoluble situation.

You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi

[–] AsHimself 15 years ago

But that they are not as annoying as a Deus Ex Machina, which is a completely contrived way to get out of some supposedly insoluble situation.

That does not fit the definition of "contrived." Something contrived is actually well-planned, thoughtful, clever, etc. "Ill-contrived" fits with Deus Ex Machina.

Deus Ex Machina isn't a recent annoyance, by the way. It's been a stupid element of drama for thousands of years.

[–] chrisbedford 15 years ago

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But that they are not as annoying as a Deus Ex Machina, which is a completely contrived way to get out of some supposedly insoluble situation.
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That does not fit the definition of "contrived." Something contrived is actually well-planned, thoughtful, clever, etc. "Ill-contrived" fits with Deus Ex Machina

Pedant.

Yes maybe, if you want to follow some early 20th century definition of "contrived". But the more common modern meaning of contrived is what you describe as "ill-contrived", i.e. credibility is stretched to make it work. And the poster said "completely contrived", which emphasises that.

Deus Ex Machina isn't a recent annoyance, by the way. It's been a stupid element of drama for thousands of years

As is virtually any dramatic device used in movies since their inception. Who said otherwise? The OP merely asked (a little pretentiously perhaps, like s/he has probably just learned the term) if DeM was the "latest trend".

[–] Katiedot 15 years ago

I mean Deus Ex Machina in the sense that if you were to miss the last 5 minutes of the movie, then you would understand nothing about how things transpired.

Deus ex machina literally translates as the god outside the machine and refers to when something outside of the storyline suddenly sweeps in and effects a massive impact on the story (like a god suddenly coming out of nowhere and changing a human's life). It has nothing to do with voiceovers and nothing to do with a surprise twist in the plot if that surprise twist involved characters or factors that already are part of the storyline.

That said, you're right, it's often a sign of poor writing and indicates that the scriptwriter could come up with no other way of moving the story forward than by creating a character that has nothing to do with the film to rescue the story. None of that happens in Duplicity, though.

~psychos don't explode in the sunlight, I don't care HOW psycho they are~

[–] t-lor 15 years ago

Are there 2 versions of this movie :?
Cause i just saw it yesterday, and cant remember a single voice over :?
And there were quite a few flashbacks, but i found em rather self-explanatory