3x3: movies that break the fourth wall

One of my all-time favorites:

Dang. That is so weird. I do have to agree with Tom that it is more about Ridley Scott being a goofball than it is breaking the fourth wall, but I love it. And I love that you’ve brought something to my attention that I never noticed before.

Speaking of never noticing before…

Baba Yaga is looking right at us. I’m almost certain of it. And I love the idea of that whole construction of the Boogeyman…or rather, the one you send to kill the fucking Boogeyman…looking right at us as we’ve just watched him take a shower. It’s like he’s coming for us.

I’m watching John Wick since I just watched another movie that brought it to mind. Something I’ll talk about on the next movie podcast. But I just have to say…fucking hell I love John Wick.

I think two of my Top Ten movies for 2017 have moments of breaking the fourth wall at the end.

-xtien

-Catch and release?
-Catch and release.

A few times in Tommy, Roger Daltrey stares into the camera. Does this count as breaking the fourth wall considering Tommy is blind?

‘I definitely don’t remember this happening.’

I just rewatched this clip. I believe Ash is looking over at the little swinging mobile. The look is motivated by a tinkling sound coming from that.

Now, it’s possible that they added the sound effect later in order to justify the look, but you can quite clearly see the mobile swinging in the same take, so I think Holm was legit reacting to it even if the sound was later sweetened (notice how his eyes narrow) - whether he was just being ‘in the moment’ or that was anticipated as part of the scene choreography. For all I know they had a PA offscreen to push the mobile at the right time. (He could have been hiding behind the bulkhead on the left.) Camera tracks backward past the mobile as Holm grabs Sigourney, so it looks like it was pretty well blocked out beforehand, though again, the thing with the mobile could have been a happy accident, I suppose.

Anyway, I (somewhat sadly) conclude that this cannot be parsed as breaking the fourth wall, intentional or otherwise. It’s all diegetic. It’s wonderful detail, though - the sort of thing that sets peak Ridley above most directors.

Well, yeah, but the argument in the video is that the tinkling sound is (and can only be) caused by the camera/operator hitting it.

Ah, I didn’t see the video, was just going off the discussion in here. Insofar as the idea being discussed was that Ash was actually looking at the camera for a moment, hence breaking the fourth wall, I would say it doesn’t qualify, even if Holm was reacting in-character to a crew goof. It is perhaps an interesting intersection of the diegetic and the non-diegetic in that case. Anyway, kudos to Holm for staying in the moment throughout it all.

Personally, I believe the mobile’s tinkling was caused by “micro changes in air density.”

Well, they have AC vents right? So someone placed the mobile near one to take advantage of the air flow?

Yes, I’m resurrecting this thread because I just rewatched Funny Games. Man, this movie holds up so dang well. It’s unforgiving and brutal. It’s the purest, most honest version of the script blaming the audience for the violence happening because we’re there to be entertained. Other movies have come along and tried the idea, but Funny Games is the one that really pushes your face into it and makes you feel bad.