We remember great movie quotes because they are funny or
poignant or important, and many of us use our favorites in everyday
conversation. There is an art to a great movie line and just a little bit of
science. What will tug at the heart strings, tickle the funny bone, or stick in
viewers’ minds? There is some calculation to it all. Although, just as often,
writers stumble backward into something great.
The quotes that interest me most, however, are not the
humorous quips or the bravado-laden boasts. I am intrigued by the individual
lines that get at the heart of a film. Sometimes, these lines stick out right
away, and other times, it takes a moment’s thought, but when it hits you, it
hits you like a ton of bricks. These are the quotes this year that best summed
up the soul of the movies in which they appeared, the lines that tell us all we
need to know about the characters speaking them and the lives they lead.
10. “It’s just an ordinary pen – looks like a pen, writes
like a pen, and listens like a pen.” – from A
Most Wanted Man
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s German intelligence officer,
Gunther Bachmann, says this to a man he is sending to do his dirty work for
him. It speaks directly to the complex worldview of a man whose only job is
deception. Bachmann sends many people to do his bidding, but he always believes
he is on the side of right, or at least, this is what he has convinced himself.
Deception is second nature to him now, including self-deception.
9. “A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing.” –
from Birdman
Though never spoken in the film, this line appears on a
scrap of paper taped to Riggan Thompson’s (Michael Keaton) dressing-room
mirror. For a film about an actor who wants to be taken seriously as an artist
in a world where being taken seriously means less and less, it is a bold
statement of purpose. The villain of Birdman
is the instant-evaluation culture bred by the Internet, a culture that
criticizes and dismisses art with all the consideration of a swarm of flies on
a fresh carcass. The line reminds us that the swarm does not matter, even if
that swarm is us.
8. “This is not only your film.” – from Life Itself
Leave it to Roger Ebert, in his dying days, to sum up the
great paradox of documentary filmmaking. Director Steve James is rightly
protective of his craft, and Ebert is more than willing to share the struggles
of his cancer and treatment, but at the end of the day, the question remains:
For whom is this documentary made? For James? For Ebert’s family? For the
audience? Once a work of art is completed and submitted for exhibition and
scrutiny, it belongs to everyone. Speaking via email, Ebert tells James
succinctly that he may be the director, but one day, the film will not belong
only to him.
7. “I think forgiveness has been highly underrated.” – from Calvary
When Catholic priest Father James (Brendan Gleeson) says
this to his daughter, played by Kelly Reilly, she believes he is asking her for
forgiveness, and he is, but it is so much more. The heart of John Michael
McDonagh’s slow-burn meditation on faith in a faithless world is forgiveness
and who deserves it and who has earned it. Every character in the movie is
either seeking forgiveness or committing acts for which they should be
forgiven. In one line, Father James summarizes his world view. We all deserve
forgiveness, whether or not we have earned it.
6. “I don’t share that interpretation of events.” – from Force Majeure
Force Majeure is
about a husband and wife whose marriage has been forever altered by one shared
moment, and though they lived that moment together, they did not experience it
the same way. Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) cannot face up to what he has done. He
cannot admit it for fear of the blow to his pride, so he denies what he knows
to be true. He falls back on trying to sound logical when his protestations are
anything but. The film begins with the event, but it tells the story of Tomas
coming to grips with the event as it occurred, not as he wishes it had.
5. “It’s like all of life has unfolded before us just so we
could stand here and say, ‘Fuck yeah!’” – from Boyhood
The character who says this is not of particular note, but
the sentiment may be the epitome of viewer reactions to the film. Boyhood is about life unveiling itself
in the little moments, the details, the minutes that pass rather than the
years. While we sit and analyze the past and plan for the future, life simply
moves forward. The grandest statement Richard Linklater’s film makes is that we
should stop analyzing and planning, and instead, maybe we should take a second
just to stand here and say, “Fuck yeah.”
4. “On TV, it looks so real.” – from Nightcrawler
Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a man who has not faced
reality in some time. He has no goal but to succeed at whatever he may try and
by any means necessary. So, he slithers through the Los Angeles night, preying
on carnage and selling it to the highest bidder in network news. We know the
reality. He does not, and the hyper-sensational news – not too far removed from
the world we live in – certainly cannot see the reality. When Bloom tours the
news studio, he says this about the fake Los Angeles backdrop behind the desk,
but he could just as well be speaking about the news itself.
3. “Nobody is stopping you.” – from Winter Sleep
Said multiple times by multiple characters, the line grows
in thematic weight each time someone new utters it, failing to recognize the
irony of his statement. Everyone in this movie is stagnating, dreaming of a
different, better life, but unmotivated to seek out fulfillment. Instead, they
argue and complain and accuse others of being too lazy or too scared to chase
after what they want. They are right when they say there is nothing standing in
the way, but no one seems to realize this about their own goals. All they would
need to do to find out is take a step in the right direction.
2. “So I’m to become a non-entity?” – from Mr. Turner
Art is an ever-evolving medium, bouncing from one
inspiration to another and from this stylistic choice to that. The worst fate I
can imagine befalling an artist is to live to see his pioneering style fall out
of fashion. This is the theme of Mr.
Turner and the preoccupation of the protagonist, JMW Turner. We meet him
when he is riding high in the European art world, an influence on and the envy
of his contemporaries, but no one stays at the top forever. Turner knows this,
and as his life slips from him and his work falls into obscurity, he wonders
aloud to his doctor if he and all he has accomplished will add up to nothing in
the end.
1. “You will never do something as hard as staring someone
in the eyes and telling them the truth.” – from A Most Violent Year
Abel, as played by Oscar Isaac, is a man of honor and
integrity, but the business he has chosen has fallen into the muck. It is a
world of thieves, liars, criminals, and gangsters. Struggling to keep his
business afloat with nothing but honesty and hard work, there is no one who
knows the difficulty in telling the truth better than Abel. He says this line
about midway through the film to a group of salespeople-in-training. From the
ground up, he is trying to build a business that is above reproach, but he has
no delusions about the world around him. He is preparing his troops for the
hardships they will face in following his example, but for his conscience, he
must put himself and everyone else to the test.
Check back tomorrow as
Last Cinema Standing’s Year in Review continues with the Top 10 Performances of
the Year.
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