Tuesday

The other great thing about I, Robot is that there is no love story. Or there is but it is unfulfilled. The relationship between Will Smith and Brdiget Moynahan is interesting - it appears to follow conventional lines with them disliking each other to begin with - and there is some chemistry there, but somehow no hint of romance. They're both roughly the same age, yet it would seem wrong for them to get involved. Some viewers were maybe disappointed, but I liked it a lot. I think all the best films avoid romance, or only suggest it, rather than have the couple kissing as the credits roll. My favourite example comes from The Thirty-Nine Steps. Throughout, the man and woman have been getting closer. At the end you expect some sort of union, the camera pulls away at waist level, but all we see is them tentatively hold hands. Brilliantly subtle, I thought. Sometimes a love interest is forced into the narrative to make it more palatable. This especially happens with adaptations of books, or even real-life stories - which is patently absurd. As I said, a lot of the time a story will work much better without it, or with it unfulfilled. It gives you a sense that all is not finished, that the story will continue.