Tension & Suspense

Recently I was going through that rolodex of movie scenes in my head just for the heck of it and one of my favorites is a scene from the 1997 film BOOGIE NIGHTS, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

In this scene, a trio of mentally unstable and desparate friends, Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg), Reed Rothschild, (John C. Reilly) and Todd Parker (Thomas Jane) visit the home of Rahad (Alfred Molina) to make a drug deal. Clearly these guys are overmatched and way over their head. But times are tough and their own personal addictions have not only created a need for money but it has clearly clouded their judgement. By this time, Dirk has gone way down the deep end and at the end of his rope. A far cry from his days as the top male performer in adult films.

In a filmmaking sense, this is a study in creating and staging tension. Notice how this scene slowly escalates and builds to a nerve busting climax.

(WARNING: Viewer discretion advised due to language, violence and drug use)


This scene is not only uncomfortable for the three characters in the film, but P.T. Anderson does an amazing job of making us in the audience feel uncomfortable as well. The other brilliant elements he used are the loud music and the exploding firecrackers which heightened the tension and made you really feel jumpy. At around 05:27 mark, notice how the camera stays on Dirk for an uncomfortable 28 seconds. This not only added more suspense and tension, but you could almost see what Dirk is thinking here as he takes stock of the situation, and perhaps his life.

It's just another perfect example of how staging, editing and effective use of camera can make or break a scene. It's also a good demonstration on how to incorporate details without making them dominate the scene.

.... oh and I loved Rahad's prophetic vision of something we now know as iTunes.....