Spoilers below.
Robert Downey Jr. is the main character, Harry Lockhart, and he narrates most of the movie. But besides typical narration, the movie breaks the fourth wall. Harry addresses the audience, as if he's having a conversation with us. He pauses scenes to add comments and rewinds when he forgets to tell us something.
The one problem with narrated movies is that you know the character makes it through to the end. Not a problem for family dramas and comedies, but Harry is in constant danger. Hearing him tell the story in the past tense means he survives all the trouble he gets in to.
It's difficult to worry about the main character when you know he'll be okay, so Kiss Kiss Bang Bang forgets about the narration for the middle of the movie. Harry is still on the screen but he isn't talking to us anymore. We lose the certainty that he survives until the end because he's not cracking jokes about what's happening. Maybe he doesn't live to tell the rest of the story so we just have to watch and see.
It's an interesting move, to use narration to lure us into a comfortable zone and then take it away to let us question the character's safety.
Robert Downey Jr. is the main character, Harry Lockhart, and he narrates most of the movie. But besides typical narration, the movie breaks the fourth wall. Harry addresses the audience, as if he's having a conversation with us. He pauses scenes to add comments and rewinds when he forgets to tell us something.
The one problem with narrated movies is that you know the character makes it through to the end. Not a problem for family dramas and comedies, but Harry is in constant danger. Hearing him tell the story in the past tense means he survives all the trouble he gets in to.
It's difficult to worry about the main character when you know he'll be okay, so Kiss Kiss Bang Bang forgets about the narration for the middle of the movie. Harry is still on the screen but he isn't talking to us anymore. We lose the certainty that he survives until the end because he's not cracking jokes about what's happening. Maybe he doesn't live to tell the rest of the story so we just have to watch and see.
It's an interesting move, to use narration to lure us into a comfortable zone and then take it away to let us question the character's safety.
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