David Fincher has worked his way up from the first rung to become one of Hollywood's leading directors. Starting as a film loader he progressed to ILM and then into the world of commercials followed by a stint creating music videos for some of the world's biggest names.
These videos and adverts showcased a strong talent for evocative framing and a vein of often dark and edgy imagery and humour. L.A. took notice and in 1992 Fincher was bought on board to lens the third in the Alien franchise.
Alien3
To say Fincher's first film was a smooth ride without complication would be a lie. Coming onboard a project that was already a distance down the line he fought almost constantly with the studio at Fox; both over budgetary considerations and the shape the story of the film was taking.
After Cameron's wham bang military actioner Fincher's Alien film moves back to much darker territory; literally as well as thematically.
Set on a penal colony the film is a dark and brooding one, it looks at the nature of redemption, the darkness inside of us all and pitches Ripley up against her greatest fear and pulls no punches when we realise what exactly is growing inside.
Hampered by poorly implemented effects the film (like Scott's first instalment) works much better when the titular Alien is just the a presence lurking in the background as the stranded human characters battle to keep their faith and control their darker instincts. It perhaps receives a colder reception than it deserves overall, but the signs are here. From the dark wit of inter-cutting a funeral with the birth of the Alien to the audacious closing sequence.
Fincher still feels he was not supported on the project (even after release in the US the studio was trying to market the film as something almost totally different in other parts of the globe) and the antagonism caused him to go back to his work in music videos for a few years. But when he returned, it was quite the return…
Se7en
Fincher's signature film, Se7en is a police procedural thriller built upon the concept of a killer recreating the seven deadly sins. As we start out we appear to have all the clichés in place; the detective on one last case before retirement is asked to look after the new guy in town who's just moved to the big city and a race for time as they try to stop the killer before he complete his set.
What could have been something as bland as Kiss The Girls becomes something of a twisted fairy tale under Fincher's hand. We are thrown into world where it is always dark or raining (or both), where the killer outwits the heroes until he turns himself in, where the city becomes a gothic hinterland and where we are allowed to realise the true nature of events just the detectives piece it together themselves.
The crime scenes are inventive pieces of both design and staging (still a thousand times more effective than the likes of Saw), who can forget the sudden waking of 'Sloth'?
Crucially Morgan Freeman's Det Somerset and Brad Pitt's Det Mills are allowed to breath as characters and are fleshed out as people rather than just as badges of the law. So when that gut wrenching end comes we feel it as much as they do, even if by this point at least part of us is rooting for the mysterious John Doe.
Sight & Sound proclaimed "Seven has the scariest ending since George Sluizer's original The Vanishing...and stands as the most complex and disturbing entry in the serial killer genre since Manhunter".
The Game
Se7en was followed two years later by the game and with Michael Douglas amongst the cast Fincher was playing with the big boys now. Taking the thriller genre and pushing it to explore the comfortable capitalist lives we can fall into and what it takes to make us feel alive again Fincher uses a tortuous narrative packed with twists and turns to keep the audience on it's it toes.
Once again we are taken along the darker side of life as Douglas' Van Orton is driven to despair and suicide by a series of events that he can't understand and at the end can't be sure if they are even real. Fincher here's tackles much of the ground as Cronenberg's eXistenz but without the need for sci-fi loop holes and in much more satisfying manner. It's the trickery of Loki brought to modern America.
The Game remains Fincher's least recognised film but his next effort would go far from unnoticed…
Fight Club
A blistering examination of modern masculinity and searing assault on consumerism, coming from the 'unfilmable' novel by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club was a divider of audiences. Today it is increasingly scene as one of the most daring films to ever come out of the Hollywood studio's but at the time it was reviled by many critics as being a pro-fascism propaganda piece dressed up in ultra violence. To say these people missed the message is understatement. Much of the film comments on how many men in modern society have found dissatisfaction with the state of masculinity as it currently exists. The characters of the novel lament the fact that many of them were raised by their mothers because their fathers either abandoned their family or divorced their mothers. As a result, they see themselves as being "a generation of men raised by women," being without a male role model in their lives to help shape their masculinity. This ties in with the anti-consumer culture theme, as the men in the film see their "IKEA nesting instinct" as resulting from the feminization of men in a matriarchal culture.
Fight Club mixes and matches from the get go, mixed films stokes, exposures, speeds, tones and graphics to intoxicating effect and then just as you thing you've got the hang of it the film drops its false bottom and the world falls away.
All along the director's dark humour and eye for a shot shine through, it is no mistake Tyler 'appears' several times before he actually appears. Once again working with Pitt, Fincher mould his screen persona to perfectly match him to the idealised version of a man we all wish we were; stylish, cool, witty, unafraid, smart and good in a fight.
It is unlikely a film of this type will ever escape unaltered out of the studios again.
Panic Room
Fincher followed up with the technically outstanding Panic Room, whilst the story and themes of the film are not as developed as his previous work (it revolves around one night inside a New York brownstone as a mother and daughter fight off intruders and seek refuge in the titular panic room) the film is something of a technical playground for the director.
This is best illustrated in the unbroken shot that takes us from outside the house, inside and through the rooms and out the other side, passing through a kettle handle and the way. Pushing his camera set-ups to new heights throughout the purposefully constructed full house set.
Thematically what we do have returning is the idea of those abandoned by or without father figure and a struggle to unleash and control our darker instincts to protect what we hold dear and those around us. The film may be relatively straight forward and lightweight but the skills learned here allowed Fincher to dive deeply into the subject of his next film and retain that striking ability to use images to haunt, unsettle and inspire.
Zodiac
For me Zodiac is (to this date) Fincher's biggest achievement. It is a detailed look into one of America's most discussed criminal cases, the Zodiac killer. Tracking the investigation and it's effects on the men around it (form the police detectives working the case to the newspaper writer and journalist who become fascinated by the case) the film is a study in the power of obsession and the drive to solve the mysteries in front of us. It is not about the case, it is about who the case swallows up and spits out the other side. (The Zodiac killer has never been caught).
A meticulous recreation of the period the films draws together a trio of strong performances to let us into the world of the detectives, the reporters and what it is to be frustrated, intrigued and led along. Meanwhile we occasionally get first hand views of the killer at work and one sequence by the lakeside in particular makes for uncomfortable watching fat more unsettling than many outright horror films. Empire's Kim Newman sums it up well "You'll need patience with the film's approach, which follows its main characters by poring over details, and be prepared to put up with a couple of rote family arguments and weary cop conversations, but this gripping character study becomes more agonisingly suspenseful as it gets closer to an answer that can't be confirmed"
If you have the patience to let it draw you in Zodiac is the best crime thriller of a generation.
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
After all the dark and death, Fincher finally goes all out to retell a modern fairytale. Benjamin Button ages backwards and we follow him through a life of adventure, love and loss.
Fincher's photography here gives the film an otherworldly glow as we follow Ben through his life so it always feels just across the line from reality and after a few minutes we no longer question the strangeness of his condition.
Flowing like a typical bio-pic albeit with the occasional stop for broad humour and a meditation on the nature of fate the film rolls along from one stage of life to the next through a leisurely running time. Once again issues of father figures rears head but the first time we have Fincher musing on relationships, those that fit the moment and time in which they exist and those which stay with us forever.
Note : This was originally written before the release of The Social Network, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo & Gone Girl. I'm working a piece covering them which I'll put up soon. For now I'll leave you with the awesome trailer for Fincher's first part of the Millennium trilogy.
