Currently, this is an incomplete thought, but it’s something I’ve observed in films whose screenplays I’ve read then watched. Right now I’m noticing it in Christos Nikou’s Fingernails.
It’s the moment where something that’s going to inevitably happen almost happens.
I know from the screenplay for Fingernails that Anna and Amir get together at the end. I know that happens in Amir’s apartment after an unexpected visit from Anna.
I just watched the scene where Anna suggests they go to Amir’s apartment to allow him to change and her to wash off some mud. At the end of that scene, Amir seems to want to say something to Anna, but doesn’t.
Perhaps if he did—if he would have asked a question or confessed that he’s not actually in a relationship—maybe something would have happened that day. It’s an almost moment where things are not quite right for the inevitable.
We see what’s going to ultimately happen, almost happen.
It also feels like it happens in the middle of the story. In fact, I’m just past the middle of the Fingernails. It’s a kind of ‘false victory’ time in the life of these characters when everything seems fine. Good even. Maybe so good that the almost moment is there because a character (Amir in this case) doesn’t want to mess things up.
I don’t know. I’ll keep watching for this tactic.