Ridley Scott's "American Gangster"

I saw this movie for the first time the other day. I have no idea what delayed my having seen this film. It's a masterpiece in every sense of the word. One thing that immediately stood out to me was the use communicating without dialogue. It is a tricky thing to manage, but it was very effective in "American Gangster". I began thinking about how difficult a challenge this can be for a writer to factor in. There are times when I feel pushed to come up with exactly the right words to use, because I know how important a scene is. It is a careful line to walk, but "American Gangster" puts such care into shaping the persona of Frank Lucas, played by Denzel Washington, that those moments of total silence are easily filled by the Frank's own thoughts. Scott places the audience into the main character's head, so that the audience has a clear picture of what goes on in Frank's mind.

This, I think, is the single greatest challenge of any filmmaker or narrative artist. The goal, of course, is to engage and inform the audience of what is happening, but film becomes true art when the creator can immerse the audience and imply subtle details to guide them through a story. Very few audiences enjoy being clobbered over the head with large puzzles that they have to decipher. Showing them all the pieces, then allowing them to watch as they fall into place, is theoretically all you really need. The challenge that lies in this is controlling how much they get to see before the conclusion is revealed.