Martha Marcy May Marlene Who? Or: Why One Of The Best Films Of The Year Has No Story

- Danny Wadeson

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a bona fide opinion splitter. Official ratings are high but from my own experience I’ve quickly found, to absolutely no surprise, that reactions and enjoyment of Sean Durkin’s psychological thriller and Elizabeth Olsen’s scintillating performance is already polarised. And like I said, with good reason, because the film essentially has no story whatsoever.

Ok, so that might be a little deliberately inflammatory, but hear me out. There are key events in the film, touchstones that massively progress your understanding of where and how the action is situated, and essential markers for getting under the skin of the protagonists/antagonists; although that dichotomy in itself is suitably blurry. In short, this is an incredibly complex film where motivations and cause-and-effect weave ethereally around one another, an ouroboros of a narrative that also cuts between past and present consistently throughout. The result is a gripping, powerfully tense character drama in which narrative a-b is purposefully obscured and which, most crucially, is definitively in media res.

And that, for me, is the crux of why I will remember this film for a long time and why, no doubt, it will continue to be discussed amongst a variety of circles as an important dialectic; that is, the story must exist outside of the narrative, but you really can only guess at what that story is. How did the eponymous doe-eyed young adult get here, and where does she end up? We’re provided with zero answer on those fronts, and despite the powerful, powerful urge to cite the ending as proof of my point, I cannot in goodwill do so without the following HUGE SPOILER TAGS

The film ostensibly sets up a ‘final’ conflict of sorts that most directors would rely on for the film’s climax and sense of closure; Patrick finally having tracked Martha down again just as she is not only on the very cusp of a somewhat arbitrary re-hab, but at her most conflicted about whether she indeed wants to be rehabilitated, only to cut you off, leave you hanging, leave you almost tangibly hurting to see and therefore tangibly know the outcome of Martha and Patrick’s story. Similar then to another of 2012’s most thought-provoking films, Shame, only with one crucial difference: we’re not left guessing at how the next chapter of the over-arching story begins, but how our ‘current’ chapter ends. And that’s a brave move.

END MASSIVE SPOILER

So Martha Marcy May Marlene pointedly has no story. Indeed, whilst cliff-hangers aren’t exactly a recent narrative development, I’d still say this beautifully shot, impeccably paced and exquisitely acted film puts a new spin on things.

Or: The Philosophy Of Gaming

Sometimes you read a book that changes your life - if only in a subtle way. Sometimes you read a book that illuminates a niche school of thought you’d always been interested in exploring; both for your own passion and for the edification of others. Sometimes that niche, somewhat ironically, happens to be connected to the biggest entertainment industry in the world.

‘Reality is Broken’, by think-tanker, game designer and psychologist Jane McGonigal is one such book. If you have even the remotest interest in gaming, or its attendant psychology, you need to read it. As I was doing so, the first couple of chapters inspired in me an idea that made me think ‘Ah-ha! Jane! Bet (or hope) you haven’t written about this particular connection before’.

The excerpt is as follows:

To clarify: McGonigal argues that computer games = enjoyable hard work = why playing them can actually make your life better, and that got me wondering what games Voltaire (and other great thinkers) would have enjoyed. The results, I impulsively concluded before writing this article, could lead to an anachronistic cultural epiphany on an earth shattering scale.

If you’ve never read ‘Candide’ by Voltaire, don’t fret; whilst it’s undoubtedly a great literary classic, the narrative can also very easily be summated: a series of unfortunate events and tragic coincidences befall our ever-optimistic, slightly naive protagonist Candide, as his fate propels him around the world (via El Dorado.) The novella concludes with Candide and a small retinue of friends, including his mentor Pangloss, occupying a small farm on the ‘Ottoman coast’, tending to their small farm and trying not to concern themselves with rationalizing all the injustice and evil to which they’ve hitherto been exposed. The moral of the story? Hard, practical work is pretty much the answer to everything, including happiness.

This denouement evokes a significant tenet of Zen, or Taoism, that of the path to inner calm being usually reached through working hard and not over-reaching. Hell, maybe Confucius would have loved the ceremony of Shogun: Total War or the possibilities for reflection offered by the morality systems of modern games like Bioshock or the Mass Effect series. And while we’re at it, would Wittgenstein and Sartre have identified with Wario’s inevitable existential dilemma?

And so Voltaire and Confucius would probably have agreed with McGonical on many of her points, not least of which being that the simple, soul-nurturing thrill of hard work is fundamentally important to being happy, or at the very least, inuring yourself against sadness.

In much the same way as ‘The Continuum Concept’ by Jean Liedloff introduces readers to an Amazonian tribe who make no distinction, in language or otherwise, between ‘work’ and ‘play’, McGonigal suggests that in setting ourselves and overcoming unnecessary obstacles do we actually enjoy ourselves the most. It’s not that alien a concept to some people; think of work-a-holics, or professional athletes whose training regimes and diets could hardly be considered fun, natural, or necessary - and of course, gaming hobbyists.

Candide (and by extension, Voltaire himself) discovers that working towards a simple, earthy goal in a small community is his true calling. McGonigal argues that the precepts underpinning good game design can be applied to all walks of life. So imagine if Voltaire had be able to play Tetris; the game you can never win, but which represents for so many the perfect game. Would he have decried games such as Tetris, as detractors such as Roger Ebert do, as a mindless time-killer, obstructing people from making the best use of their time? Or would he have amalgamated its gameplay structure into his philosophy that the greatest joy in life isn’t untold riches (Candide gets booted out of El Dorado) or youthful beauty (his lover Cunégonde becomes ravished and disfigured) but the simple application of oneself to a task?

I think the latter, although I do worry he’d never have written ‘Candide’ for trying to beat his high score one last time.

Some screen shots of the layout of my latest film article for RIBBED MAGAZINE.  Read it here!

A fair old while ago now I wrote a news-roundup column for a games blog, for a short time. Quite funny, and strange, looking back on it now…

Danny Digest: 2010 Week 9 

Welcome to Danny’s Digest, a weekly quick fire wrap up of the best, worst, and most bizarre news the gaming industry has to offer.  Disclosure: Danny’s own personal observations may well creep in.

Infinity Ward Founders Flounder

Earlier this week Infinity Ward, the studio responsible for the behemoth that is Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (and therefore responsible for the fucking dual wielding shotguns debacle) was rumoured to have suffered a little upheaval.  Sources claimed a closed meeting between the studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella ended in two bouncer-types storming in and, presumably, gruffly taking out some ‘Tangos’ (by the scruffs of their necks that is…)

  Now, after much faffing about, the inevitable lawsuit (gotta love American litigation culture) claims unfair dismissal (for undisclosed ‘insubordination’) and unpaid royalties to the tune of £36million (like those guys didn’t earn enough from bonuses and kick backs anyway!?) that Activision claims is utterly meritless. No shit.  Unofficial word from the in-game community is that shotgun spammers are more concerned with the (fictional) fix for their shotguns not insta-gibbing people from forty foot away.   

Playstation 2 turns 10! 

Yep, everyone’s favourite (original) black box celebrated its TENTH birthday on March 4th.   Sobering thought isn’t it? That little 32bit console has been around for longer than I’ve known my oldest friend. Well, it’s more reliable, cheaper, takes up less space and doesn’t complain when I shout at it so maybe it is my oldest friend.  

  You should probably celebrate by digging out your trusty companion (that NEW games are still being released for) and play some Persona 4 or Okami or Katamari Damarcy on it to let it know it’s still appreciated. Oh wait, you don’t own Persona 4 or Okami or Katamari Damarcy do you? Now you’ve made Amaterasu sad.  

Blind Gamer Beats Ocarina of Time (N64)

Just watch this:http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2010/03/03/dnt.blind.gamer.beats.zelda.wis). Jordan Venner is blind, and now he’s completed Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time with the help of three seriously hardcore gamers. I don’t know whether to feel warm and fuzzy, appalled at the sheer mind-numbing banality of typing out EVERY SINGLE KEYSTROKE needed to beat the game, or just plain confused as to what exactly Jordan was trying to prove.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a massive ‘fuck you’ to his sight impairment but isn’t having it all read out to you kind of like cheating? 

Nintendo DSiXL Out This Week

And you’ll probably buy one won’t you? According to the press release, ‘the screens of the Nintendo DSi XL are 93 percent larger than those of the Nintendo DS Lite model and the wider viewing angled screen enables you to share your game play with friends and family.

The new Nintendo handheld is launching in two colours – wine red and dark brown, with a glossy sheen on top and matt finish on the underside that provides excellent grip when resting on a table or other surface during gameplay.’

I don’t know about you but I find that paragraph fucking hilarious.  Why are you resting your PORTABLE games system on a table?  Or OTHER SURFACE (hands up if you like to rest your DS on the couch, or fridge or pet or something…)

UFragTV To Stream NAMCO BANDAI Games’ TEKKEN® 6 Global Championship Final Live

Frankly, I am genuinely psyched for this.  I was fortunate to attend the European finals held at Proud Galleries in Camden a few months ago and man, that shit was off the hook.   When I wasn’t ogling the two very lovely agency hostesses dressed in Tekken-esque oriental gowns, I was feasting my eyes on combos and final-minute comebacks the likes of which you honestly never see outside of the pro tournaments. The game looks seriously swish in motion, so I recommend you tune in for sure.

The TEKKEN® 6 Global Championship Final will be held in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, March 7, 2010. 

From 10 p.m. - 3 a.m. PST on Saturday March 6 (3 p.m. - 8 p.m. Japan local time, Sunday, March 7) the challengers will play down a 16-player bracket, in full 1080i HD Resolution. UFragTV’s broadcast crew and on-air hosts will be there to catch all the action, streaming live to their web site, available across the globe at www.ufrag.tv/.

Let’s just hope no-one plays fucking Gunjack or whatever.  

EDGE Magazine’s redesign has got me thinking.  Or, to be more accurate, it’s nudged my satellite mind ever so slightly out of its comfortable, lazy orbit of planet video-games into an increasingly elliptical trajectory.  Put simply, the redesign (have you seen it? Quite drastic - looks much more grown up and graphically designed) made me start wondering what we, as video game lovers, and consumers, and consumers of video game media, 

actually want.  What do we want to play, to read, hell; what we want to think about?  And more; what thinking went into what EDGE obviously thinks we now want to read about?  And does it matter?    

The answer, of course, is nebulous. We read what gets written, and what is the agenda behind what gets written? For the most part, ultimately, it’s profit.  However, I’m increasingly optimistic about the trust certain publications have in their readership, although it’s always important that we future writers continue to push the boundaries of editorial style and subject, whilst we’re not under the thumb of an actual employer, someone whose benevolence we rely upon to fund our pixel passions in the first place.   

It’s a sobering thought that, to some extent, the perception of the video-game industry and its culture is dependent on the media that reports it; be it mainstream newspapers or lifestyle magazines, with their borderline ignorant reportage and at times almost embarrassingly generic reviews and previews (which often amount to little more than a regurgitated press release) for titles most serious gamers know full well to avoid, or titles like EDGE and GAMES.   

WIth blogs like Joystiq and Kotaku that have the knee-jerk reportage down to a T, and the slew of official and independent console-specific magazines churning out the usual reportage but lacking the properly tactile, coffee-table appeal of the aforementioned multi-format titles, it falls within the remit of a select few to really write about the philosophy, the impact, and in the cold light of day, the flaws and injustices, of the video game industry. 

So it’s a positive step, I suppose, that EDGE has leveled up their design philosophy, it shows respect for their readers and more than a slight nod to the pinnacle of magazine design that is Little White Lies (a film quarterly published by creative design agency Church Of London).  In growing up it just might well remind us that substance is just as important as style after all, even though it’s nice to have a mature aesthetic accompanying our game editorial. Let’s just hope that the small stable of genuinely great writers out there (be they in print and/or online, gainfully employed or just writing their own little blog) keep getting read, and never give you what you want; but what you…what we need.

I know the formatting of this is pretty awkward but I couldn’t think of an easier way…unless, of course, you just want the link!

Welcome to my Make Me A: …Game series, in which I shout from the rooftops about some awesome, neglected genre that would make for an incredible game.  Probably.

There are woeful few truly well-known and/or loved examples of seafaring for consoles that really evoke a sense of scale.  The first that springs jauntily to mind is Wind Waker; the expressive cel-shaded graphics (don’t say cartoony) gave the wisps of wind and the endless, tranquil, cerulean sea an utterly disproportionately epic feel - but it was just Link and the King of Red Lions against the world, and your great, watery playground often felt bereft of meaningful life.

The next game that hoists its mizzenmast in my turbulent memory is Skies Of Arcadia (the Gamecube version, natch), which, by dint of actually letting you recruit ship-mates and engage in proper, tactical, turn-based ship-to-ship battles made you feel like a sturdy swashbuckler in charge of his own destiny; but, ultimately, it’s a JRPG and all that entails.

So why are there not more? It’s a powerful, unique sensation to be given responsibility in a game; be it an army in an RTS, a powerful sports-car in a racing sim, or even a game development studio in the fiendishly addictive and hilariously self-reflexive Game Dev Story.  So, why not a ship, a crew, a voyage, a greater undertaking?

And, on that note; why do so few games embrace a real sense of journey, of scale, and of the passage of time? Imagine a game in which your first conflict isn’t with a goblin or a hair-pin corner; but with a crew manifest, customs, or even your own naysayers? Be it in a historical, fantasy, hell, even a sci-fi context, imagine the thrill of choosing the best men and women for the job, the right boat/ship/cruiser, the safest/most lucrative sea-lane?

Gameplay could be a mixture of realtime or turn based combat with RPG elements; do you outfit your crew with cutlasses and pistols so they have a good chance of capturing other ships and so you leave room for plenty of high-value cargo, at the risk of being extremely vulnerable to archers? Or do you outfit your space-frigate with plenty of ram-resistant armour at the expense of manoeuvrability and cruising speed, making your voyage, in a proportion of real time, take longer?

More minute-to-minute gameplay could be micro-management; of your crew’s duties, combating the elements, and sending missives to your other fleets around the world - with careful management and astute judgements (not sending all your ships off unprotected to different ports in the hope of a fast buck perhaps) having a meaningful impact on your current situation? 

Well, however it’s done (OH! Imagine you actually have a casting scenario where you have to judge the merits of your applicants; are they genuinely as skilled with their compass as they are their musket, or are they desperately looking to abscond their conscription and lying through their teeth?) I’d welcome it with open arms and a jaunty smile.  

Every pillar of culture or science has its commentators, critics, lovers and haters; and out of every cross-section of the four there will rise a scion, a mystic, someone whose voice seems directed only at you, but can be heard by the world at large.  And for every great, zeitgeist riding Ying, there must always be a shadow, a flipside, a great nemesis; the Yang.

Darwin and Lamarck.  Lao Tsu and Confucius.  Freud and Jung.

And now, Charlie Brooker and Roger Ebert. 

The latter; the older statesman of film criticism, vehemently opposed to the ‘Video-games as Art’ claim, and the former, a geek’s hero, spokesperson, and himself a film critic who very recently chose Rockstar’s L.A. Noire to illustrate his claim that intelligent new forms of entertainment are not being envisioned by film; but by the games industry.

Personally, I’m a massive Brookerite, and pretty much diametrically opposed to every theory and opinion Ebert has written down on his pedestrian blog - but we’re not here to sling invectives against the guy.  More, in fact, to appreciate the irony inherent in Ebert’s criticism of the industry and efforts made by certain quarters of it to push the boundaries of entertainment into the domain of Art; for in so doing he invites the kind of dialogue (that Brooker has so eloquently enjoined) which characterises a burgeoning cultural movement; or you could say, Art exists to make you talk, and there we go.

So, Ebert, sir, despite your protestations that “no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form”, I like to think that your stubborn refusal to acknowledge the fact that ‘art’ is almost entirely a subjective definition and reality advances ‘our’ cause more than your own.  And Charlie Brooker, you satirical mastermind you, surely yours is the name that will be attributed to the great quotes and treatises on video-game culture; history is written by the victor after all.

Much has been made recently about the uncertain future of video-game retail.  Whatever your personal shopping preference, it’s an irrefutable fact that the ways in which games find their way into our consoles is changing drastically, and rapidly, with the onset of digital distribution.  

‘Digital distribution’ is a cipher for the wider issue.  Streaming services such as OnLive; independent, online-only retailers such as the brilliant ShopTo; the considerable convenience of XBLA, PSN and Steam; all now hungrily vie for your gaming budget whereas, ten years ago, you really only had a physical till in which to deposit your cash in exchange for hours of on-screen magic.

Despite the respective merits and increasingly significant chunks of industry revenue these non-traditional means of distribution are attracting, physical retail seems to be doing very little to combat it; hell, it seems that the GAME group have only grudgingly begun to even acknowledge the problem.  A problem it certainly is though.  In the not too distant future it would indeed be a shame to have no option to walk into a game, or indeed GAME shop for a browse and to pick up a physical product, many are becoming more and more drawn to the independent or ‘in-house’ online retail space.

It could all change.  Before I audaciously suggest how, let’s first remind ourselves of the typical sortie into the frankly nauseating purple, black and grey space most GAME stores inhabit.  Upon entering, one is traditionally left to gape at the myriad shelves, capped by the logos of the various platforms, until an attendant/sales assistant asks disinterestedly, albeit politely, if you need any help.  Perhaps you’ll ask if they have stock of a certain title, although most likely you’ll be self-sufficient enough to browse the used section, check out the new releases, grab what you came in for, and to get out before all the ambling teenagers and whining children, or worse; that dreaded middle-aged woman on the verge of buying their ignorant offspring something rotten like the latest movie tie-in or ‘Imagine: Ponies’ utterly does your head in.

Now, what’s wrong with that picture? GAME and such-like could get away with that kind of milieu when we were a captive audience, but it just doesn’t cut the mustard these days.  Especially for media-savvy 20-somethings like myself who have grown up loving computer games and the attendant culture but hate dawdling in stores that pay apparently minimum heed to design, atmosphere or staff development; stores that essentially make you feel less an integral part of the biggest entertainment industry going right now and more an old nerd, inappropriately mingling with pre-pubescents in pursuit of a closeted past-time.  

In this regard GAME/station  (along with any number of high-street tech/hobby shops/brands) could learn an awful lot from Apple Retail.  I understand that not everybody wants accusations of being a hipster levelled at them, or minimalist, chrome-alumninium surroundings when shopping, but look at the customer service, the interactivity, the space and the sheer professionalism of Apple stores world over and you’ll see what I’m getting at.  Again, and of course, many of GAME’s customers are younger adults and children, but there is no reason to cater solely to the lowest common denominator; only by treating future owners and their own staff and stores with respect, professionalism and genuine warmth will game retailers make the experience more of a premium.

Say an inexperienced 10-yeard old, or their casual, wooed-by-Wii parent wonders in for a recommendation; would a GAME employee feel qualified, or indeed comfortable, to probe that customer to find out their needs, their likes, to present to them the complete solution whilst actually letting them do most of the talking? It’s possible I suppose, but it’s certainly not the norm.  Likewise, where is the community feeling?

Of course, developers/publishers/distributors are largely to blame as well.  I don’t pretend to fully understand the logistics of varying production runs, but if buying something in-store was accompanied by premium content of some kind, unique artwork or even a more promotional item, then as consumers we’d have one more reason to walk in, instead of log in.  Bioware and EA have indirectly tried to address the used-sales issue by offering new-only online passes or DLC, but it’s approaching the problem in a flawed manner; it’s combative to the retailer (attempting to deny them favourable used-sales, and fair enough, developers gotta make money too…) as opposed to collaborative, and absolutely doesn’t discriminate between online and in-store, as well it wouldn’t, as it presumably makes no difference to the developer in the long run - or so they think.

Perhaps what is needed is a two-pronged attack then?  Retailers, even independent ones, need to step up to the plate and offer better, more engaging service to their customers, be they hardcore hobbyist or noob, ‘safer’ and more unique shopping environments whilst the back-end of the industry needs to remember that, in many ways, physical retail is still at the heart of their sales, and to respond by making it worth our time to go to GAME (etc) instead of just absent-mindedly dropping ‘Brink’ in with the groceries at Sainsbury’s, or adding the Ultimate/Enhanced/Monolithic version of some obscure Atlus import to their shopping basket alongside invisible socks and a few albums on Amazon.  

We can but hope.  Otherwise a truly essential human element and potential place of connection and engagement with fellow gamers; a place where the enthusiasm of owners and staff can carry over to the first-time-buyer or young consumer; one of the key spaces where the future growth of the industry we so love will be decided, will be lost.   

If you chucked Master Chief’s armour, Marcus Fenix’s attitude and a pinch of Mass Effect’s Geth into a blender, you might end up with something close to Vanquish. Shinji Mikami’s latest creation centers on DARPA operative Sam Gideon as he power-slides around a space colony turned death ray recently occupied by Russians and their robots.

The beating heart of the game is Japanese re-imagining of an old-school shooter where the emphasis is on having fun with a gruff protagonist, and where the learning curve and narrative arc is almost non-existent. If you’re looking for a game that doesn’t even give you a chance to scratch your itchy trigger finger then Vanquish delivers, joyously.

Speaking of triggers, you will technically only be pulling one; though your Battlefield Logic Adaptable Electronic Weapons System (or BLADE, if you will) cannily transforms into any of three weapons at a time, with pickups throughout the missions giving you the opportunity to customise and upgrade your layout. The ordinance is a wonderful mix of rapid-fire machine guns, multi-homing lasers and disk launchers, and there’s a pleasingly varied selection of gleaming robotic death-dealers to try them out on. And try them out you will. Whether it’s vaulting over cover in slow-motion to blast the head off a charging mech or hijacking a walking gun platform, Vanquish has been built from the ground up to make looking like a hardcore pro a cinch. Thankfully it’s intuitive, so that your brain can attempt to register all that’s happening on screen; if you really struggle there’s always ‘casual-auto’ mode.

Thanks to the linear mission structure you’ll never be out of the action long. The missions are straightforward jaunts from A to B, but the on-rails sections and occasional branching routes are a nice change of pace.

The best part of these brief respites is the chance to admire your surroundings. The vibrant reds of your cannon fodder, the ring-world via Citadel design of the colony and even, more latterly, the lush green of a forest, all make Vanquish visually striking. Even better; despite robot ex-limbs flying past your head as you weave through a hailstorm of bullets and explosions, Vanquish doesn’t drop a frame. The HUD is non-intrusive and the overall effect is of a quicksilver moving tapestry of chaos.

Vanquish might feel too clinical however, were not for Platinum Games’ offbeat humour. The repartee between Lt. Col. Robert Burns and Sam for example, or the robots dancing to a giant boom-box that transforms into a mini-gun. It’s self-reflexive and it works; Gideon’s frequent wry smile likely to be mirrored by your own.

Hyper-kinetic and hyper-explosive, Vanquish is that rare beast; a genuine new look at the third person shooter. The narrative is almost completely ridiculous and it’s not going to last you longer than 10 hours (including the tactical challenges) but at times the action is breathtaking. Even next to Bayonetta, Vanquish might well be Platinum games’ best yet.