7. The 'Ooh. Look, it's HIM / HER from years ago!'
Singular plot contrivances are not enough so subplot contrivances will be added in the form of casting some character actor from decades ago, who used to be quite well acclaimed early in his career, in some mentor role for either Boy or Girl character. Think Alan Alda/Elliott Gould/Donald Sutherland etc. They'll be on screen for the same amount of time that translates to no more then a day or two in front of the camera. They'll look utterly bored and lifeless but occasionally offer some line-reading that plays as an almost wink to the more cinematically-versed audience member that says "You should check out my stuff from the 70s. I was soooooo good then!"
Gareth Howie
Contributor
I'm a part-time writer, part-time stand-up comedian, full time movie geek who strongly believes Martin Brest's MIDNIGHT RUN is one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, movie ever made!
(... This is the bit where you mutter "You must be some sort of friggin' comedian if you think Midnight Run is the greatest movie ever made!")
I'm a massive junkie for 'revenge' and 'conspiracy' movies and I'm an even bigger fan of all things John Carpenter, Albert Brooks, Coen Brothers, Sidney Lumet, Paul Thomas Anderson, Tony Scott, Christopher Nolan, Michael Mann, Oliver Stone, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, David Fincher, Wes Anderson and Shane Meadows.
I'm on Twitter at @gazzhowie if you'd like to validate my existence by following me - and my movie review archive can be found at www.gazzhowie.tumblr.com!
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Gareth