Nietzsche

What is it about Nietzsche?

Often, I'm on the New York subway with a book in hand. No one ever so much as glanced at what I am carrying (at least none I noticed). I am the indiscreet idiot who steals repeated glances at the covers and spines of the books that people are holding. All that changed when I started the book, When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin Yalom. Combine the catchy title with the key word, "Nietzsche", and everyone was shamelessly staring at the cover. One evening, I handed out the book thrice saying, "here, take a look, it's a good book." And two of them, produced a pen and wrote down the title.

When Nietzsche Wept isn't a great book as literature goes. It's too linear, repetitive and has a warm fuzzy ending. But it's a fantastic introduction to Nietzsche, Breuer (the father of psychology and Freud's mentor) and Yalom (the author).

A friend of Nietzsche visits Dr. Breuer, the famous physician in Vienna. She tells him how her friend Nietzsche, who is destined to be a great philosopher, suffers from deadly migraines and suicidal depression. Nietzsche consults Breuer for his migraines but is too proud to admit his mental troubles, and he refuses to stay for treatment because he can't afford it. Not knowing how to make him stay, Breuer brings up his existential crisis. And the men come to an agreement – Breuer will work with Nietzsche's migraine, while Nietzsche helps Breuer overcome his crisis.

The two men play the therapist on one another. Only psychotherapy doesn't exist at that time. Dr. Breuer has worked with a couple of patients suffering from paranoia, that is it. Through their discussions and nightly thoughts, they struggle to counter each other's existential crisis. A young Freud, prudish but brilliant, appears at Breuer's dinner table – always full of ideas and optimism.

In real life, the two men never met. But they lived in the same time. The author, a psycho-therapist himself, has done extensive research into lives of Nietzsche and Breuer. What's in the book just might have happened if the two did meet. All the writings quoted in the book are verbatim, and the supporting characters, including Freud, are real and fairly accurate.

On a side note: You know how you go about repeating some phrase/sentence for years, and your tongue is so used to it that you assume the words are as old as the language itself. Then you learn who said it, and suddenly that phrasing has an origin, before which it never ever existed. Freaky. One such bizarre experience was when I learned, it was Nietzsche who said, "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger."

Woody Allen & Wes Anderson

Movies are a synergy of multiple art forms, and everyone of the pieces needs to be good for the movie to succeed. But in many cases, the splendor of a movie is achieved through one aspect of the movie – say the script or acting – while other components play secondary, supporting roles.

I tend to classify directors (and theirs films) into three groups. The screenplay driven (Woody Allen), acting driven (Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood) and editing driven (Stephen Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick). Every film needs a good story, period. When I say screenplay driven, I mean the precise layout of events and the dialogs. By editing driven I don't imply just the post-process of cutting the scenes but rather the whole presentation of the movie – environments, photography, pacing, sound, etc.

Naturally, this a crude definition that is easy to reject. Martin Scorsese created new milestones in editing and camera work. And Kubrick's films have some of the finest acting ever – Jack Nickelson in The Shining and Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove. Also where to put a movie like Shawshank Redemption or Being John Malkovich?

Yet the classification has some basis and usefulness to it. "Are you talking to me?" didn't become the most famous line in film history because of it profoundness but because of De Niro's acting. Shindler's List and Saving Private Ryan might have some killer acting but it's how Spielberg shot them – great pacing, lingering camera, silent moments - that made 'em classics.

An editing driven director – his specialty being far away from the screenplay – can, by picking scripts from different writers, create the most diverse body of work. Stanley Kubrick has every genre – drama, horror, war, sci-fi, comedy – in his repertoire. Where as the screenplay driven writer tends to write his own films and ends up with a narrow set.

Case in point, Woody Allen. His films are fantastic, but they are all just the same. That's mostly unavoidable, and the fact that he has been making these movies for four decades now is a testament to his genius.

Wes Anderson is also a screenplay driven filmmaker. But with one difference. He has a unique photography style and an uncanny talent for creating a musical montage through the soundtrack.

The two directors also have another thing in common, they suffer from what I like to call "The Curse of Resonance". They both just want to make fun movies with quirky and wonderful characters, and they have made a bunch of delightful films. But one of their movies, Annie Hall for Woody and Rushmore for Wes, went miles beyond that and resonated with the audience at a much deeper level.

And now, because of that, every movie they make is a tease. It's similar to their masterpiece but not as good. At the end of The Darjeeling Limited, I should have felt a cozy satisfaction. Instead, my only thought was, "it's good but not as good as Rushmore." The same feeling I am left with after every Woody Allen movie.

It's unfair on my part, but I can't help it. And I know a lot of people who feel this way. But the directors don't seem to care. And they don't make things easier for the audience by casting the same actors.

I wish, for just one film, they would break the mold. And for that, they have to reach out. If only Woody Allen would hand out his screenplay to an upcoming director, who could cast and direct it his way. Or Wes Anderson could pick up someone's novel/screenplay and give it his own interpretation. That would take things to a whole new level.

Just see what The Coen Borthers did to No Country For Old Men and Spike Lee did to 25th Hour. Phenomenal.