Note -the IMDB pages about the movies I’m discussing contain details that would be considered spoilers, in the context of what I’m writing about here.
I think I’ve written before about how I too often find book blurbs and movie trailers too revealing. As in, containing plot spoilers. How often have you watched a trailer and felt like you’d seen the whole movie?
Now, I do know that the makers of these trailers are experts at pulling disparate parts of a movie together to create a kind of flow within the trailer that creates a different story that’s distinct, perhaps even distracting from the movies true story. Still.
Long ago I watched a movie called “The Girl With All The Gifts“, on the basis of seeing the title and the movie poster (which as I recall was different from the poster on IMDB). I had no idea that it was a particular kind of movie, and didn’t realise for quite some time way through the movie – because it was well-crafted and neatly told.
Had I watched the trailer and read the blurb, I think I would have enjoyed the film less (something backed up when I was at a writers’ convention and the title was mentioned-I hadn’t know it had orginated as a book-I said what a great movie it was, to receive some murmurs of disdain from some others who had clearly read the book and found the movie wanting).
Now recently I watched another movie that I enjoyed, titled “Hurry Up Tomorrow“, again on the basis of the poster – well, the Netflix title card which showed a woman standing in front of a burning house. That was enough for me. There’s a whole bunch of story in that single image. So I watched the movie.
It started out weird, but went along the kind of off-beat, arthouse trajectory of many movies I’ve enjoyed in the past. Just plain odd. Well-made, well-lit, surreal and, for the most part, engaging.
I did not know that the lead actor is a well-known singer, and the story follows a vaguely autobiographical arc, with many liberties. I knew of him, but didn’t really know his music or his story. Afterward, I followed up, and read some more. Now, this guy’s music is not really to my taste-I had a listen to the sountrack album and some other songs. That’s okay. I like the movie.
Then, still following up, I found out the movie bombed at the box office. That it was critically panned, as self-indulgent and essentially an extended video for his latest music.
I didn’t get that at all. I just enjoyed a weird movie with an odd structure. If I had know all that ahead of time, I suspect I would have enjoyed it less.
What would I know, though?
I guess I’m just coming at this saying that, however my brain works, I like not knowing too much ahead of time. At least when it comes to entertainment.
Oh, since I’m supposed to be using this blog as a promotion tool for my writing, I should mention that my Yearbook 2025 is out now, both in print and as an ebook. This is a lot of reading-130,000 words-for not too much coin-$9.99 electronic.
The First Annual Collection by Sean Monaghan
A treasure trove of great reads, filled with compelling, mind-bending fiction.
Includes the Full novel The Ingersal Ballet, the Award-Winning novelette “Daisy and Maisie, External Hull Maintenance Experts” and more, including “Sigrid’s Eagle”, “Caprock”, “Mangled Gravity”, “Peruser”, “Heading for Boise”, “Lying Cameras”, “The Quiet Hours”. And the never before published Morgenfeld story only available here, “The Diorama”.
With an introduction and an afterword by the author.
I think I’ll do a follow up post in the near future about working on my own blurbs so that they give away just enough of the story to get the reader intrigued, and not enough to put them off.
The High Wire Artist.
Thanks for reading.
Sean
Movie ticket image: Adobe stock
Sean Monaghan - Writer 