(urth) Mechanisms for Soldier films (was The Soundtrack)

[Matthew King]

On Apr 10, 2007, at 7:04 AM, Recursive Loop wrote:

> When I first heard about "Memento", I didn't think it would work.  
> But it turned out to be a darn
> good film. Using a similar mechanism might work for the memory  
> lapse in the Latro tales.

The backwards trick would pose very different problems if used with  
the Latro stories, but I can imagine it used to great effect with  
some plot threads.

The Pharetra story could be effectively handled this way:  we see  
Latro with pseudo-Pharetra first.  Then we see a red-haired Amazon  
die, and we find out she was the real Pharetra.  The depiction of  
Drakaina's back-transformation into Eurykles would be eerie.  Some of  
the revelations would be just plain fun:  this man who has been  
accompanying Latro for a few scenes turns out to be Sisyphus.

For my part, I would wish to see a different mechanism used, one that  
tells the story in the same general temporal direction as Wolfe.

It would be very easy to make excessive use of voice-overs, if  
Latro's diary were made a plot device.  The scrolls are necessary for  
Wolfe to present Latro's story to us, but they are not necessary in  
film, and I think they would be a distraction.

What if the physician at the beginning of Mist teaches Latro how to  
use a memory palace instead of giving him a scroll and stylus?  The  
entire film could take place in the memory palace (shades of  
Prospero's Books). Superego Latro walks the palace, touching objects  
and retrieving memories.  Occasionally, new objects appear onscreen,  
but Latro may or may not touch them.  Then in the middle of Sidon,  
Osiris and the gang all show up live in the memory palace with the 4 
(?) other Latros.