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Fight Club (1999) - Directed by David Fincher
"The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club!"
David Fincher is slowly becoming on of my favorite movie directors. I've seen three of his movies: Alien 3, Se7en, and Fight Club, in that order. What I love about him is his ability to go very in-depth into the very soul of psyche, what makes us who we are. Psychological dramas and thrillers are one of my favorite genres, and I get underwhelmed if there isn't enough analysis in a psychological drama. Otherwise, it's just a drama. And I have not seen a psychological drama go more in-depth than Fight Club, a movie that already had to compete with the terrifically terrifying Se7en.
Fight Club is a novel-based film about an insomniac who's been joining support groups to relieve his stress, but is in trouble again when a woman starts doing the same thing he's been doing. Eventually, he meets an easy-going and philosophical soap maker who claims to be everything this insomniac wants to be, and convinces him to start a club for fighting to relieve stress. But this so called club soon turns into a violent gang, and the gang soon turns into a cult that plans to bring society to its knees.
Now what I'm about to say may upset you: There's is a serious plot twist near the end. Now what I'm going to say next might piss you off: I knew the twist of the movie before actually watching it. This helped me see the movie in two lights so I could deliver a proper analysis. The whole movie, narrated by Edward Norton, is about the Narrators journey into his own mind, his own chaos, and the world around them slowly being altered by his "friends," his psyche, and his uncertainty of the future. His need to control things manifests into a false form of freedom which is slowly taking control of the world in a new light.
Not only does the movie boast an incredible evolution of the character and the world around him (as well as that farther away but influenced by him and his friend), but the movie has other strong points. The most notable strong point is FIncher's love of unique cinematography, turning simple CGi moments into twisted and surrealist moments of almost uncomfortable ecstacy that drives the audience to keep guessing at what's going to happen next, even if they flat-out tell you.
And I'm not going to end this without bringing up the acting. My personal favorite cast member was Helena Bonham Carter, who's performance as poverty-mistress Marla was a reminder that reality is what the insomniac is facing even in his own little world, seemingly effortless portraying the stress and uncertainty that mirrors the Narrator's own. And Norton's role as the Narrator/insomniac felt all too convincing to be written off as an act. In fact, both Carter and Norton made Brad Pitt's wonderful performance as the soap maker Tyler look like a little kid mimicking Mickey Mouse. And then, of all things, there's pop rock musician Meat Loaf playing a former bodybuilder coping with testicular cancer, on who appears on and off in the movie. That was a great role, too.
But one thing I notice about Fight Club is the same thing I noticed in Se7en: the need to make an adult movie without resorted to countless moments of sex, blood and language. I think Fincher has a habit of providing social, maybe political and psychological commentary in almost brutally honest ways, taking these adult topics we mistake for maturity into consideration and turning them into either examples of the horrors we face in this world, or turning our habit to mistake these things for real adulthood into mental extremes. Fight Club is an example of how we lust for the things that are considered adult, but are in truth terrible for us. When Tyler wants the Narrator to ease up and let go of a need to control everything, he himself is controlling things more than the Narrator realizes.
Fight Club is my favorite movie of the 90's. The twists, the characters, and the analysis of our modern interpretations of the modern world are all put to their limit without being overdone, and skillfully filmed and directed in an almost surrealist manner. This movie stood out more than sore thumbs, more like shiners and scars on a man's face after entering the Fight Club.
"The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club!"
David Fincher is slowly becoming on of my favorite movie directors. I've seen three of his movies: Alien 3, Se7en, and Fight Club, in that order. What I love about him is his ability to go very in-depth into the very soul of psyche, what makes us who we are. Psychological dramas and thrillers are one of my favorite genres, and I get underwhelmed if there isn't enough analysis in a psychological drama. Otherwise, it's just a drama. And I have not seen a psychological drama go more in-depth than Fight Club, a movie that already had to compete with the terrifically terrifying Se7en.
Fight Club is a novel-based film about an insomniac who's been joining support groups to relieve his stress, but is in trouble again when a woman starts doing the same thing he's been doing. Eventually, he meets an easy-going and philosophical soap maker who claims to be everything this insomniac wants to be, and convinces him to start a club for fighting to relieve stress. But this so called club soon turns into a violent gang, and the gang soon turns into a cult that plans to bring society to its knees.
Now what I'm about to say may upset you: There's is a serious plot twist near the end. Now what I'm going to say next might piss you off: I knew the twist of the movie before actually watching it. This helped me see the movie in two lights so I could deliver a proper analysis. The whole movie, narrated by Edward Norton, is about the Narrators journey into his own mind, his own chaos, and the world around them slowly being altered by his "friends," his psyche, and his uncertainty of the future. His need to control things manifests into a false form of freedom which is slowly taking control of the world in a new light.
Not only does the movie boast an incredible evolution of the character and the world around him (as well as that farther away but influenced by him and his friend), but the movie has other strong points. The most notable strong point is FIncher's love of unique cinematography, turning simple CGi moments into twisted and surrealist moments of almost uncomfortable ecstacy that drives the audience to keep guessing at what's going to happen next, even if they flat-out tell you.
And I'm not going to end this without bringing up the acting. My personal favorite cast member was Helena Bonham Carter, who's performance as poverty-mistress Marla was a reminder that reality is what the insomniac is facing even in his own little world, seemingly effortless portraying the stress and uncertainty that mirrors the Narrator's own. And Norton's role as the Narrator/insomniac felt all too convincing to be written off as an act. In fact, both Carter and Norton made Brad Pitt's wonderful performance as the soap maker Tyler look like a little kid mimicking Mickey Mouse. And then, of all things, there's pop rock musician Meat Loaf playing a former bodybuilder coping with testicular cancer, on who appears on and off in the movie. That was a great role, too.
But one thing I notice about Fight Club is the same thing I noticed in Se7en: the need to make an adult movie without resorted to countless moments of sex, blood and language. I think Fincher has a habit of providing social, maybe political and psychological commentary in almost brutally honest ways, taking these adult topics we mistake for maturity into consideration and turning them into either examples of the horrors we face in this world, or turning our habit to mistake these things for real adulthood into mental extremes. Fight Club is an example of how we lust for the things that are considered adult, but are in truth terrible for us. When Tyler wants the Narrator to ease up and let go of a need to control everything, he himself is controlling things more than the Narrator realizes.
Fight Club is my favorite movie of the 90's. The twists, the characters, and the analysis of our modern interpretations of the modern world are all put to their limit without being overdone, and skillfully filmed and directed in an almost surrealist manner. This movie stood out more than sore thumbs, more like shiners and scars on a man's face after entering the Fight Club.