THE HUMANS Film starring Richard Jenkins, Jayne Houdyshell, Amy Schumer, Beanie Feldstein — Page 2

perfectliar said: "I don't understand all the hand wringing over this being set entirely in one location. Have you all really never seen a movie with a single set piece? They're really not that uncommon."



Any time a piece of storytelling is adapted to another medium, there should be an artistic reason for it - otherwise what's the point? Otherwise, why not just stage it again? Or if you want to reach a wider audience, why not just film it onstage? So, the biggest advantages that film has over stage is that it can effortlessly take you to many locations, flesh out the physical world of the story, and show a wider range of events that are difficult to stage. This material doesn't call for any of those things. There are other advantages that a camera can provide, like having facial close-ups, and making the audience feel like they're in the middle of the action. But those could also be achieved by filming a stage production. So yeah, they certainly CAN adapt this for film. And sure, I'll bet Karam will some adjustments that will make it feel a bit more organic on film. But they have to work a lot harder to prove that there was actually a meaningful reason to adapt it.

And again, I'm not just saying this because I dislike the play. I even felt the same way about Fences - a play that I love dearly. Sure, it was well-acted, but it didn't take advantage of the new medium - except in showing a few scenes of Troy at work, which I liked. But otherwise, I kept thinking how much I would have rather just seen these actors do it onstage.

Updated On: 3/13/19 at 08:25 PM

kdogg36 said: "As a side note, I don’t care for the “emperor’s new clothes” take on differing opinions. It suggests that fans of a particular show are fools who can’t think for themselves, with the naysayers being the only ones brave enough to tell the objective truth. I doubt that’s what is intended, but it’s certainly the message of the tale being alluded to."



I actually agree with you entirely on that point. It's basically like saying "I can't possibly have the minority opinion, so everyone else must be lying to seem cool." Which is akin to "I'm not the problem, everyone else is the problem" but it's even more ridiculous than that because this is art so there is no "problem" - it's just subjective. It's textbook self-delusion born out of insecurity.

Vespertine, I'm all there with you when it comes to being utterly baffled by the popularity of The Humans. But using the "Emperor's New Clothes" argument is inherently a means of invalidating other people's opinions in order to give more validation to your own. The whole point of the story is that the king's subjects LIE because nobody wants to be the one to say he's naked. By applying the argument to art, you're literally saying that people are lying, or at best, convincing themselves that they like something that they truly don't. But either way that's an attempt to invalidate others' opinions with no basis. And as far as I can figure, the only thing that can possibly accomplish is to make oneself feel better about being the odd one out.

Since I'm guilty of using the Emperor's New Clothes metaphor myself in this thread, I should qualify that it isn't an objective statement of fact about the play, it's simply how the play made me feel-- that to me, there was no there there.

That said, maybe Impossible2 can lay out explicitly the subtle thing that's happening in the final scenes that they so appreciated. It might not make me love the play more, but it would go a long way toward my understanding the vast majority of theatergoers for whom this play was transportive.

I do have to point out one observation:

We're two pages into the thread and nobody has complained that Stephen Karam (who has never even directed a play before) is directing his own script. Yet for Sunset Boulevard, when Rob Ashford was announced, you would have thought Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey were co-directing!

Totally. It was more of a comment on the fact that there was so much hatred towards Ashford, who, though he hasn't directed a film, has directed a lot of stage productions, filmed events, Associate Directed a big studio movie, etc.

Someone in a Tree2 said: "^Though I'm sure you'll concede that directing essentially a one-set film with 6 characters (which Karam knows better than anyone possibly could) is a world of difference than directing a giant period musical with a cast in the 100's."

I have just pm'd you x

I know he directs many of his plays, but John Patrick Shanley's filming of Doubt was only the second film he directed, and his first effort in 18 years. Not only is it a faithful adaptation of the play, it's beautifully shot, and it's able to expand beyond the set of the Catholic School while retaining its intimate atmosphere. Having read all three of Karam's major plays that he has in print, his stage directions obviously show a knack for affecting imagery. If he's paired with a good cinematographer and editor, I think this film could be something.

desperateAndee said: "Stephen Karam posted wrap photos and it appears that June Squibb will be playing Momo."

Wow, I didn’t even realize this had started filming already. I was just thinking a few weeks ago when it would start production. Excited for this!

This looks like an excellent cast but I also wonder about translating this into a movie. I was one of those who didn't "get" the play - it was well acted and the single set was fascinating, but I never had a sense of a dramatic arc, of any dramatic progression. But my expectations may also have been too high, because of all the excitement about it.

Part of the effectiveness of the play for me was the audience reaction, too. Something live theater does that movies can't seem to recreate, for obvious reasons.