Spoiler alert: this breakdown contains crucial information about the plot of the film. Black Swan is a movie that makes you pay a lot more than the admission price. But the payoff is huge.  To be honest with you, I found most of the film annoying. Yes, the dancing is lovely. But the s

Drama is the most intimate of all fiction forms. That gives it the ability to affect an audience deeply. But that same quality creates special problems for the storyteller. I’ve Loved You So Long is one of the best dramas of the year, and writer Philippe Claudel has used some ex

Revolutionary Road is one of those rare ambitious dramas Hollywood puts out during Oscar season to make it look like they care about people older than a teenager. They don’t. If you want to see top drama, you have to go to American television, respected around the world for its

All musicals have a special problem when it comes to storytelling. They use two tracks of communication, drama and music. The writer must let each form do what it does best and then somehow connect them and make them appear to be one line.  Dreamgirls has many fine elements, most espe

Spoiler Alert: This breakdown contains information about the ending of the film.  The myth-drama is one of the most powerful story combinations that we have. Myth gives us the hero’s journey and the epic scope. Drama gives us the family and the deep, complex issue. When the love

Is there a double standard when it comes to evaluating “chick flicks” compared to male-oriented action and war films? According to one critic, we incorrectly assign more value to the drama of male bonding than we do to the female bonding portrayed in such films as Divine S

The key story device of the film adaptation of Chicago is the decision to do the musical numbers as fantasies from the mind of the lead character, Roxie, who dreams of being a star.  This device has two advantages. First, it gives the audience an excuse for why “real” char

Gangs of New York may be the most ambitious film of the last few years. Its production design and cinematography are among the best I have ever seen. Unfortunately its story structure cannot support the film’s ambition.  The main structural element that sets this movie apart fro

The cross cut story structure of The Hours sets a high standard for the film. By doing a “day in the life” of three women from three different decades, the film inevitably 1) compares and contrasts the three, 2) highlights the importance of the cut from one scene to anothe

In America shows how powerful a small family drama can be when it is written and acted with a high level of craft. It’s a film where you remember the moments. But those moments are memorable because the writers wove them into an overall structure that builds to a surprising emot