Comedy / Drama / Family Entertainment....
Living In Missouri continues to show up in more and more online stores. It is amusing to see the slight variations from one shop to the next. Some places seem to have the correct information and a few details about who directed the film and who's in it, as well as what category the film should be placed in. One store has us listed as "Comedies & Family Entertainment" which I must stress is only partly accurate. I certainly wouldn't classify it as fun for the whole family. It's a dark comedy, and there is some occasional profanity along with a few adult situations. More significantly, content aside, kids probably just wouldn't enjoy it-- the tone and humor of the situations isn't geared towards younger viewers.
Amazon, Buy Innovations, and Things From Another Wolrd all have us listed as a Drama. Video Universe wisely puts the film in two categories, Dramas and Comedies. Best Prices abstains, choosing not to categorize the film at this time. Barnes & Noble also has no category, but does go so far as to specify that the movie is in English. Tower Records, which previously had listed the DVD, now has forgotten all about it, saying "We do not know when this title will be available to order." They also refer to it as a Drama. Hopefully their memory will soon be restored with regards to our movie. Mr. Skin, Video American, and West Coast Video (which all have similar-looking store designs and would appear to be somehow affiliated with one another) all have us correctly listed as a Comedy, and get extra points for adding an additional (accurate) category, "Independent." Movie Gold Mine also gets a gold star, for listing us in what appears to be a single category called "Drama Comedy." I think this might be my favorite of the bunch, and I also like that they have listed more cast members than any other site. Of course, these distinctions are subject to change, and may already be different by the time I've posted all this. Such is the nature of commerce in the high speed world of the Internet.
I don't really have a problem with people categorizing it as a drama. It isn't an Airplane-style spoof or anything-- the film is rooted in human behavior and real emotion. When I was writing the script, I didn't give much thought to what "kind" of story it was, I just let it unfold the way I imagined it should. But I thought it was mostly funny, and when I would tell people what I was working on, I would always describe it as "a comedy about two best friends who have grown tired of one another."
When we were filming, we weren't generally concerned with playing scenes as "funny" or "serious", but tried to just approach the characters honestly and hope that the humor would come out naturally. I can think of a few instances where we really focused on emphasizing the comedy, and all of those scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, as they were simply played too broadly. By the time Shaun and Ford had edited it all into a rough cut, we weren't really sure if any of it was funny at all. To be honest, the first time we screened it in front of an audience, I had no idea if anyone would laugh at anything. I was convinced that we had filmed the most depressing movie of all time, and that people would sit there in stony silence watching this heavy, miserable drama unfold.
But the audience laughed. In a good way. And that was pretty much the case at every screening from then on-- the film played very well to a crowd, and there was always a generous amount of laughter in almost all the right places, which was very satisfying. After that, I finally felt comfortable calling it a Comedy again. A little while later, I was writing up a press release for the film and it suddenly occurred to me to describe the film as "a comedy of manners." Yeah, I thought, that sounds good. I then realized that perhaps I was misusing the phrase-- perhaps a "comedy of manners" had all sorts of specific rules which had to be followed in order for something to qualify as one. Maybe it had to take place in a Victorian sitting room with doilies and cups of tea. I decided to look up a proper definition:
Comedy Of Manners
witty, cerebral form of dramatic comedy that depicts and often satirizes the manners and affectations of a contemporary society. A comedy of manners is concerned with social usage and the question of whether or not characters meet certain social standards. Often the governing social standard is morally trivial but exacting. The plot of such a comedy, usually concerned with an illicit love affair or similarly scandalous matter, is subordinate to the play's brittle atmosphere, witty dialogue, and pungent commentary on human foibles.
I almost fell out of my chair-- it was a perfect description of Living In Missouri. I don't know if I can describe the film as "witty" and "cerebral" without sounding arrogant, but that's certainly what I was aiming for, and I believe that's what Shaun and the cast & crew managed to capture. It is certainly a "dramatic" comedy and its main focus is primarily on the customs and social mores of Ryan & Todd, the two central characters who find themselves in terribly unhappy lives as they reach their mid- to late-20s in Middle America. Everything that happens in the film is connected to the way these people aren't living up to the expectations of those around them, and to their own sense of where they should be in life. Furthermore, there is an "illicit love affair"! And it IS "subordinate" to the film's "brittle atmosphere" and all those other things. Especially the human foibles.
Anyway, I doubt there are any retailers out there with a separate category for "Comedy Of Manners", so this doesn't really help the present situation. I suppose it doesn't really matter. In a way, referring to it as a drama takes some pressure off, in that anything that might strike a viewer as amusing is considered a bonus. When people watch a comedy, they might be expecting a lot more hijinx and laff-a-minute shenanigans than we have on offer. In any case, it's just a little over a week now until the DVD is officially available, so you can decide for yourselves whether you think it's a comedy or a drama, or just make up your own categories and be done with it....
Amazon, Buy Innovations, and Things From Another Wolrd all have us listed as a Drama. Video Universe wisely puts the film in two categories, Dramas and Comedies. Best Prices abstains, choosing not to categorize the film at this time. Barnes & Noble also has no category, but does go so far as to specify that the movie is in English. Tower Records, which previously had listed the DVD, now has forgotten all about it, saying "We do not know when this title will be available to order." They also refer to it as a Drama. Hopefully their memory will soon be restored with regards to our movie. Mr. Skin, Video American, and West Coast Video (which all have similar-looking store designs and would appear to be somehow affiliated with one another) all have us correctly listed as a Comedy, and get extra points for adding an additional (accurate) category, "Independent." Movie Gold Mine also gets a gold star, for listing us in what appears to be a single category called "Drama Comedy." I think this might be my favorite of the bunch, and I also like that they have listed more cast members than any other site. Of course, these distinctions are subject to change, and may already be different by the time I've posted all this. Such is the nature of commerce in the high speed world of the Internet.
I don't really have a problem with people categorizing it as a drama. It isn't an Airplane-style spoof or anything-- the film is rooted in human behavior and real emotion. When I was writing the script, I didn't give much thought to what "kind" of story it was, I just let it unfold the way I imagined it should. But I thought it was mostly funny, and when I would tell people what I was working on, I would always describe it as "a comedy about two best friends who have grown tired of one another."
When we were filming, we weren't generally concerned with playing scenes as "funny" or "serious", but tried to just approach the characters honestly and hope that the humor would come out naturally. I can think of a few instances where we really focused on emphasizing the comedy, and all of those scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, as they were simply played too broadly. By the time Shaun and Ford had edited it all into a rough cut, we weren't really sure if any of it was funny at all. To be honest, the first time we screened it in front of an audience, I had no idea if anyone would laugh at anything. I was convinced that we had filmed the most depressing movie of all time, and that people would sit there in stony silence watching this heavy, miserable drama unfold.
But the audience laughed. In a good way. And that was pretty much the case at every screening from then on-- the film played very well to a crowd, and there was always a generous amount of laughter in almost all the right places, which was very satisfying. After that, I finally felt comfortable calling it a Comedy again. A little while later, I was writing up a press release for the film and it suddenly occurred to me to describe the film as "a comedy of manners." Yeah, I thought, that sounds good. I then realized that perhaps I was misusing the phrase-- perhaps a "comedy of manners" had all sorts of specific rules which had to be followed in order for something to qualify as one. Maybe it had to take place in a Victorian sitting room with doilies and cups of tea. I decided to look up a proper definition:
Comedy Of Manners
witty, cerebral form of dramatic comedy that depicts and often satirizes the manners and affectations of a contemporary society. A comedy of manners is concerned with social usage and the question of whether or not characters meet certain social standards. Often the governing social standard is morally trivial but exacting. The plot of such a comedy, usually concerned with an illicit love affair or similarly scandalous matter, is subordinate to the play's brittle atmosphere, witty dialogue, and pungent commentary on human foibles.
I almost fell out of my chair-- it was a perfect description of Living In Missouri. I don't know if I can describe the film as "witty" and "cerebral" without sounding arrogant, but that's certainly what I was aiming for, and I believe that's what Shaun and the cast & crew managed to capture. It is certainly a "dramatic" comedy and its main focus is primarily on the customs and social mores of Ryan & Todd, the two central characters who find themselves in terribly unhappy lives as they reach their mid- to late-20s in Middle America. Everything that happens in the film is connected to the way these people aren't living up to the expectations of those around them, and to their own sense of where they should be in life. Furthermore, there is an "illicit love affair"! And it IS "subordinate" to the film's "brittle atmosphere" and all those other things. Especially the human foibles.
Anyway, I doubt there are any retailers out there with a separate category for "Comedy Of Manners", so this doesn't really help the present situation. I suppose it doesn't really matter. In a way, referring to it as a drama takes some pressure off, in that anything that might strike a viewer as amusing is considered a bonus. When people watch a comedy, they might be expecting a lot more hijinx and laff-a-minute shenanigans than we have on offer. In any case, it's just a little over a week now until the DVD is officially available, so you can decide for yourselves whether you think it's a comedy or a drama, or just make up your own categories and be done with it....
posted by C. RATLIFF at 4:57 PM
1 Comments:
There is a feature commentary, several behind-the-scenes featurettes, a short film, radio interviews, outtakes and a deleted scene. I will post the full list of extras soon, with details.
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