best reading so far... by far

Just last night I finally watched a film that's been on my list (you know, the never -ending list of "must see" movies (my list is pretty long)), Amenabar's THE OTHERS with Nicole Kidman. Interesting. And what makes it interesting is the sound! Whispers, voices, silences. I'm not sure there's a single digital fx shot in the whole darn thing. Amenabar creates suspense and downright terror through his use of sound, and not only that, but he did the score himself. That is a rare feat.
The second thought that this reading spurred was in relation to dialog. I write daily, and always slave away over single lines, single words sometimes. Because I'm such a believer in the specificity of words, and consider their selection just as important as shot selection. Each word must be purposeful, each line deliberate. And I'm very classical in my approach. I want every line to accomplish the forward movement of my story, the revelation of my character, and the specificity of a unique voice. If I write a line and it doesn't accomplish at least two of those three elements, it has to go. But I digress. Why not think of dialog as music. That's what this article postulates and I love it. And it's interesting to consider how different filmmakers appraoch dialog. I just recently read the script for PULP FICTION, and can see why folks go nuts over Tarantino. He writes dialog like jazz. An improvisationsal element which is quite fun. Compared to say M. Night Shyamalan, who writes almost in haiku. He selects short bursts of phrases and what's not said is often just as important as what is. Fascinating.
The last thing I wanted to mention is a quote from the article, one that was highlighted in purple. It caught my attention too. "The ear listens in brief slices." Hmmmmm. Doesn't the eye see in brief slices? We view the world in cuts, no? Like when an optometrist holds up a finger and slides it in front of your face, and has your eyes follow it. When he watches your eyes, he's looking for them to click their way across. Our perception is of a smooth pan, but in actuality, our eyes are making a series of cuts, with our brain doing the rest. Persistence of vision? How about Persistence of hearing???