Tonal Shifts Ruined It For Me
You know how sometimes you find yourself really getting into a piece of music (let's say, some Classical piece), where it's soothingly melodic and you're thinking "this is so beautiful"...and then, out of nowhere, it just explodes into a big noisy section that totally doesn't fit with the earlier parts, and it rips you out of your reverie, leaving you thinking "why'd they ruin such a beautiful thing?"
We'll, that's how I feel about Brave New Jersey. I was thinking as I watched the opening twenty minutes or so "this is just what I needed tonight": a nice quiet character study, woven around the 1938 Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre Halloween eve radio broadcast of H. G. Well's "War of the Worlds", one of the most famous "fake news" examples of the 20th century.
But the abrupt changes of tone that several of the key characters underwent throughout the course of the film jarred me out of the nostalgic bubble the earlier dialogue had created, and left me once again thinking "why'd they do that?"
I'm still glad I finally got around to seeing it; there are some fine performances by some actors who deserved a better script, and "the look" of the film was really quite beautiful overall, but those tonal shifts will ruin a good story every time - and unfortunately, this was one of those times.
In closing, if you've never yet had the true joy of listening to the original radio broadcast that reportedly really did manage to scare the daylights out of a great many people (remember, this was a time when radio was the main news and information source in the country, the looming war in Europe had everyone on edge, and the effects of the Great Depression were still very much evident), there are still available today excellent, clear as a bell copies to listen to all over the internet, and I'd urge you to find one, turn out the lights, and imagine yourself back in that time...you may just want to go hide somewhere, too!
Peace! MFF/Honolulu 8-14-22.
We'll, that's how I feel about Brave New Jersey. I was thinking as I watched the opening twenty minutes or so "this is just what I needed tonight": a nice quiet character study, woven around the 1938 Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre Halloween eve radio broadcast of H. G. Well's "War of the Worlds", one of the most famous "fake news" examples of the 20th century.
But the abrupt changes of tone that several of the key characters underwent throughout the course of the film jarred me out of the nostalgic bubble the earlier dialogue had created, and left me once again thinking "why'd they do that?"
I'm still glad I finally got around to seeing it; there are some fine performances by some actors who deserved a better script, and "the look" of the film was really quite beautiful overall, but those tonal shifts will ruin a good story every time - and unfortunately, this was one of those times.
In closing, if you've never yet had the true joy of listening to the original radio broadcast that reportedly really did manage to scare the daylights out of a great many people (remember, this was a time when radio was the main news and information source in the country, the looming war in Europe had everyone on edge, and the effects of the Great Depression were still very much evident), there are still available today excellent, clear as a bell copies to listen to all over the internet, and I'd urge you to find one, turn out the lights, and imagine yourself back in that time...you may just want to go hide somewhere, too!
Peace! MFF/Honolulu 8-14-22.
- mikeferguson
- Aug 13, 2022