Now there’s an unlikely pair. But if you think about it, both are involved in convoluted plots that keep us riveted. Kudos to the writers. These plots have lessons to be learned by those of us striving to be great writers.
When asked about Söze, Verbal Kint (excellently played by Kevin Spacey) says: “Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Söze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone.”
Harry Angel is a private detective in William Hjortsberg's novella Falling Angel, later made into the movie Angel Heart starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, and Lisa Bonet. Yep, that was the role that got Lisa kicked off The Cosby Show. Angel Heart hit theaters in 1987, but when I watch it today, I still find symbolism I’ve missed. Can you do that in a book? Yes. Although Falling Angel is a compelling book, the movie takes the plot and goes farther, deeper.
The plot centers around private detective Harry Angel who is hired by a mysterious client to find a pre-World War II crooner named Johnny Favorite. In the book Angel's search for Johnny Favorite takes him to seedy of locales in mid 1950s New York. In the film Angel follows the trail to New Orleans, where we aren’t surprised to find witchcraft, voodoo, and unspeakable rituals. So much symbolism! You can spend days reading about it on the internet. Rotating fans appear in virtually every room Harry enters. We see one going forward, slowing, stopping, going backward. Time stopping and then reversing? A hint that something evil has been (or will be) done? Rumor has it, the fans represent one never shown scene where a character is killed by decapitation by an industrial fan.
Even minor characters in both films had great depth, something that’s missing in many books, movies and TV shows.
Angel Heart’s Louis Cyphre has some of the most breathtaking lines:
“Alas... how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise, Johnny?”
“They say there's enough religion in the world to make men hate each other, but not enough to make them love.”
“No matter how cleverly you sneak up on a mirror, your reflection always looks you straight in the eye.”
“You know, some religions think that the egg is the symbol of the soul, did you know that?”
So as we write our great masterpieces, it behooves us to really get into our characters. Make the most of them. Like Louis Cyphre and Keyser Söze, let them frolic on the page. Let them “stir the pot” and take the plot down paths most characters are afraid to travel.
