The greatest event to grace us in this wretched November month, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo to those of us in the biz), is hitting the home stretch… and if you’re participating this year, your patience probably is as well. Starting to hit every stage of grief about your novel? It’s time to take an inspiration break. Maybe get some cocoa. Watch some movies, question your life and your motives, get yourself back in the game, eh?
Picking a good film about writing or writers is a little tricky, because film in general seems to feel some type of way about writers. You could start out watching something totally motivational and have it end in a totally demotivating pity-fest. And that’s not including the merciless satires. But I have a few movies that get me at every mood and push me towards the finish line of any writing project.
Finding Forrester (2000, dir. Gus Van Sant)
The “how the heck do I go about this?” movie. I love this movie, end of. It gave the internet one of the greatest memes of all time before some of y’all even knew what a meme was. But far more importantly than any of that, it’s the story of a young black athlete coming into his own as an author. It also emphasizes how critical mentorship is to marginalized writers. Probably best described as fanciful and we can say what we want about Sean Connery’s white mentor role, I still have no problem admitting I will cry occasionally during this movie… and that sometimes it helps get me back on track during a stalled project. Watch it year round for best effect.
The Player (1992, dir. Robert Altman)
Did I say something about satires? Okay, they’re not all bad. The Player is something that would be downright uncomfortable in 2018, but I won’t lie: it’s so absurd and surreal that it still elicits a dark guffaw or two. Maybe a stress relief laugh. The “what people probably think writing is” movie, specific to my screenwriters out there. Surely not everything is all murder and paranoia and rejections out there in Tinseltown. But there’s a little wish fulfillment in there, too, for anyone that has ever been turned down by a Big Name Powerhouse. Am I right? Don’t out yourselves all at once.
Nocturnal Animals (2016, dir. Tom Ford)
As a young tyke, I used to think of writing as changing the world and paving the way for others to do the same. As an adult, I realized the truth: writing is revenge on paper! Yeah, there’s the jokes about writers killing off their enemies in terrible ways behind the safe confines of rearranged names and behind the bindings of a book. Some of those jokes are probably a little too real for comfort. But Nocturnal Animals takes that fantasy to new levels by letting a novel play out in real time, tearing apart fiction and reality and stitching them back together in some sort of dream-like Frankenstein fashion. And ends in grand petty fashion that will leave you thinking for days. You know, the very thing we all want to do when we’re staring at blank pages. You can be jealous, or you can take a little inspiration from Tom Ford’s aesthetic-heavy opus.
The Dark Half (1993, dir. George Romero)
At the end of your road, it’s time to look back on, “why am I doing this?” In addition to being a very underrated part of Stephen King’s canon, The Dark Half hits home at what writing really is as only an author can: hard. Difficult. Stressful as all heck. Maybe even a little dangerous. It’s a moody horror movie, sure, but also a surprisingly good one to stop and meditate on why you started this journey in the first place. To tell a good story? Excise some demons and give voice to those who have no voice? Kill your murderous evil twin? No matter the motivation and no matter the month, you’ve come this far! Nothing is stopping you except supernatural forces (doubly so if you live anywhere near Castle Rock)!