Open Forum question from Peter Dwight:
I just wanted ask a question about Flashbacks twists. I went over previous posts on GITS, and found several posts involving them. The reoccurring idea is that it’s looked down upon, especially by readers. The type I’m interested in is the ‘revealing flashback’, one that shows what actually happened and the mystery is revealed. In my current script it feels better to show how it happened than to just have it discussed.So do you have any personal experience with these kind of flashbacks in your own work? And how to you feel about Flashback Montages?
Movie examples like Gothika, Ghost Ship, sort of Usual Suspects (but not really the same).
Using flashbacks as a device to reveal a mystery is something that’s been around for a while. A couple pop to mind:
* In the movie Ordinary People (1980), the Protagonist Conrad (Timothy Hutton), a suicidal youth hides a dark secret about his brother’s death by drowning that is eventually revealed after numerous sessions in therapy with a shrink Berger (Judd Hirsch) – in a flashback.
* In Nuts (1987), Claudia Draper (Barbara Streisand) is a high-priced call girl who has been charged with murdering one of her johns and in the climactic moment in her court case, there is a flashback montage revealing that she was abused for years by her father.
You mention The Usual Suspects, where Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) suddenly pieces together all the B.S. that Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint (Kevin Spacey) has fed him during the interview. There’s also a flashback montage in The Sixth Sense when Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) puts together all the clues to make him realize that he is, in fact, dead.
You note — accurately — that for whatever reason, there is a prejudice against flashbacks in Hwood development circles, mostly, as I’ve argued on this blog in the past, due to (A) flashbacks being badly handled by screenwriters and (B) the presupposition that they somehow reflect weak writing, basically a cheap way of telling the narrative.
But then, as I’ve also noted many times before, some of the best movies of all time feature flashbacks: Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Rashomon, It’s a Wonderful Life, Forrest Gump, Slumdog Millionaire to name a few.
Given that background, before you commit to using a flashback in a script, I would advise that you ask yourself two things:
* Is using a flashback the only way I can convey what I need to show?
* Does the use of this flashback enhance the narrative?
Peter, you mention in your question: “In my current script it feels better to show how it happened than to just have it discussed.”
Absolutely! Remember the mantra, “Show it, don’t say it,” which is true in most cases. So it would appear that it is at least worth exploring the use of a flashback to reveal the mystery.
And here I have this advice: Watch every single revelation flashback in movies you can find. Nuts. Ordinary People. GITS readers, can you help out Peter with this? What other movies have a revelation flashback? In particular, what are some good uses and what are some bad uses? You can learn what not to do from the latter and what to do with the former.
By the way, “show it, don’t say it” is not universally true. If any of you has seen the movie Manon of the Spring, the ending is absolutely gut-wrenching — and it is a long story recounted by an old lady to Cesar (the great Yves Montand). A flashback reveal there would have been a travesty because by staying in the present, the movie keeps the focus where it should be — on Cesar’s face as he slowly realizes one truth after another, and how so many of the choices he made in his life have resulted in a series of tragedies, all from one tiny event in the past. It is achingly sad — and stunningly beautiful.
Okay, GITS readers: What about movies with flashback reveals?
There's the big reveal at the end of Soderbergh's Ocean's 11.
Tangentially, that was the first script that I turned to as an aide in structuring a story of my own, a union-organizing feature with the beats of a caper. Unfortunately, it's a 145-pp script that services 11 (or more) characters, so maybe not the best intro to screenwriting.
Thanks Scott. I'll have to give Ordinary People, Nuts and Manon of the Spring a watch. Still finding the best fit for the flashback reveal. But other examples will help immensely.
I think my main issue arises from LOST. All the flash-backs, flash-forwards, flash-sideways. When I'm writing/picturing a flashback in my head it involves the sound effect from LOST.
In my story I think the narrative is definitely enhanced with the flashback, but like most stories, they can be told more ways than one.
Thanks again.
Just food for thought –
The compelling device of LOST is the flashback (includes flash forward, sideways).
The events on the island is the intrigue. The flashbacks are why we care that it's happening to these specific people.
Flashback is just a storytelling tool. It has no inherent value (good or bad). What gives it value is the writing.
Flashbacks are used in the Bourne films.
I thought the flashback at the end of Shutter Island was handled beautifully. It sent me reeling back into earlier scenes to dissect every piece of dialogue, every facial expression… and I love when a movie does that to me. I suddenly understood the characters for who they were, that there were no good men or bad men in this story, and that I could see every side of the situation. I didn't feel cheated, I felt enlightened! It was one of those moments when you feel like you're peeking in on something intimate. And that last line was a delightful punch in the gut…wrapped up the entire story and character arc.
I have to admit, during the first act, I thought the movie was falling into a familiar trap. It stumbled through exposition, and my sister walked out and never looked back (She's young, though, and her type of movie is more action than psychological. But you can see how taking too long to get to the point can wear on some people's patience). The difference between this script's use of backstory to set up a later flashback and the scripts that use backstory poorly boils down to these few points:
- Throughout the movie, we learn about the protagonist's dead wife (using a dead lover or relative for motivation is already a dangerously common device)… BUT we see her in the way that he sees her. When we eventually get bits of conflicting information from other characters, we're not sure how it all fits together or who to trust and we're intrigued.
- We find out that there is not just one event that has affected the protagonist, but three equally horrible ones that resulted from a domino effect. And the protagonist is the one who knocked over that first domino.
- Everything has been there from the beginning. Outwardly, the characters appear to change, but they still have the same roles in relation to the protagonist – a friend is still a friend; albeit in a roundabout way, those who offered help before are still trying to assist him. There are even clues in the dialogue, in the way the characters address one another. Trying to avoid spoilers here, but I thought that was a clever little technique. (Make him feel like he's in charge…)
- The script appears to be moving one way, then, as expected, turns on its head during the second act…but then does it AGAIN right before the third act in a way that a lesser script might have stuck with (an explanation to the story that is just 'okay'), and when the truth is revealed, it pokes fun at you for thinking it was actually going with that. Now, the reason I believe that fake explanation was so disappointing is because it's so easy to tear the protagonist out of that story and stick somebody, anybody else in there, as long as they have the same skills the protagonist had. Strive to make it so that your protagonist is stuck deep – he does not just affect others, he is affected by them in return, no matter how much he may want to deny it.
I'm sure there are more points to be discovered here, but those are what come to mind right now.
(P.S. I fully expect that I have used 'effect' or 'affect' incorrectly at least once in this post. They simply show up too many times. If I haven't… phew!)