Film Dialogue

[IdleRich]

Yesterday Three Billboards Outside Ebbing was on telly and I was enjoying it (actually got a bit wearing towards the end) and I was thinking that really the only thing that made it good was the dialogue. Although sometimes it kinda tipped over to being too good or too neat at least and thus unrealistic. It made me think that with so many films the dialogue is an afterthought pasted on to a narrative which is really the story the director or writer wanted to tell. Obvious (recentish) exceptions to this are Tarantino and Coen Brothers I guess, and I suppose it's no surprise that I liked McDonaugh's dialogue in TBOEM cos it's very clear he's been influenced by both of the above.
Who else writes good dialogue these days? Consistently? In the past there are maybe a few - I'm thinking about Shadows which we watched last week which was very naturalistic and claimed (I think dishonestly) to be improvised. But yeah, what else?

 

[catalog]

i hated 3 billboards. but good dialogue you say... i think peckinpah films are consistently good for this, in fact, was gonna recc him to you as one to go thru, as an auteur. i think particularly some of the older less flashy ones, like 'ride the high country' are very good. and bring me the head of alfredo garcia.

more recently, i think kevin smith writes good dialogue, esp the first 3 (clerks, mallrats, chasing amy, i stopped being interested in him after that). jim jarmusch also, esp that first one, whats it called now? the one where the russian cousin turns up. the dilaogue in that is mad. lynch obvs - i love the dialogue in lost highway ('you'll never have me...').

who else? safdies natch. also mike leigh, but hes also done nowt good for ages, but eg naked, that has some really good quotable lines.

i'll scratch my head some more, these are off the top.

 

[Corpsey]

The two most distinctive writers of dialogue are definitely not for everybody - Tarantino and Sorkin. I'm a fan of Sorkin but I can understand why his dialogue drives some people up the wall. Tarantino's dialogue is always entertaining IMO — definitely not where his films fall short.

 

[catalog]

ive never heard of sorkin

 

[version]

more recently, i think kevin smith writes good dialogue, esp the first 3 (clerks, mallrats, chasing amy, i stopped being interested in him after that).

I like those films, but I sometimes find the dialogue a bit too knowingly witty - everyone feels a bit too quick.

 

[version]

ive never heard of sorkin

He wrote The West Wing and The Social Network.

 

[catalog]

I like those films, but I sometimes find the dialogue a bit too knowingly witty - everyone feels a bit too quick.

yeah its ridiculous over the top dialogue, but somehow works. but gets worse with each film. clerks is the only proper classic, but ive got a soft spot for the others. used to love mallrats.

 

[catalog]

if we're gonna go TV, then you gotta say thr dialogue in the wire is superb. spike lee does some good dialogue, like 'do the right thing' is pretty good, all the raheem lines and buggin out.

 

[IdleRich]

Yeah I alluded to that when I said Too Good- like you laugh, but then think hang on a sec. Maybe I'm churlish to complain but it's sort of like a cheap laugh.

 

[version]

King of the Hill.

 

[version]

Mamet's supposed to be good, isn't he?

 

[luka]

Mamet's supposed to be good, isn't he?

Didn't he do that film Corpsey likes that I watched a while back. About salesmen.

 

[version]

Yeah, Glengarry Glen Ross.

 

[luka]

It's very 'writerly' dialogue that. 'Naturalistic' in a writerly way, ie not naturalistic

 

[catalog]

Good film that. Might rewatch

 

[IdleRich]

I do like Glengarry Glen Ross a lot... yeah it is like that. Writerly dialogue with lots of big name actors really acting. But it works, it's what is needed for the play to work. I guess cos it's basically a play that you kind of expect more from the dialogue.