Alternative to What: "Se7en" (1995)

Left to right: Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt

Welcome to Alternative to What: a weekly column that tries to find a great alternative to driving to the multiplexes. Based on releases of that week, the selections will either be thematically related or feature recurring cast and crew. The goal is to help you better understand the diversity of cinema and hopefully find you some favorites while saving a few bucks. At worse, this column will save you money. Expect each installment to come out on Fridays, unless specified. 

THIS WEEK:
Se7en (1995)
- Alternative To -
Gone Girl (2014)

There are few directors who are as reliably grim as David Fincher. His unapologetic nature has created some of the grittiest, violent films of the past 20 years. His style may be cold, but there's a nuanced charm to it that allows every shot to feel eerie and the drive of the film to be perverse. He is one of the most distinguished and enjoyable directors currently working and whenever he comes out with a film, it is usually one of high caliber and amazing payoff. This week marks his latest Gone Girl, which has already captured audiences with conversation and surprise performances along the way.

However, for this week's recommendation, I would like to take everyone back to 1995 when he was still the music video director who made the reviled Alien 3. It was a time before he was known as a trustworthy director. Then along came his second feature Se7en which in a film lead by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt delved into a murderer whose kills all reflected some form of the seven deadly sins. Where it could be mistaken as a procedural, it is actually, on a deeper level, about humanity and what depravity people will go to for attention. There's a discussion of morals and the introduction of an auteur filmmaker in Fincher, whose camera shots were so intricate that some of them are still being discovered.

It is true that Fincher probably makes more crime films than any genre. With exception to Gone Girl and Se7en, he has also made Zodiac and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. They're all violent and unnerving. Most of all, they are ravishing. He challenges the audience to care, and the payoff is always worth it. However, in Se7en, it still feels fresh because of the direction. It is an angry young voice who wants to make a film that may look excessively bleak, but has deeper context. It was the start of his turn to making humanity into a complicated subject matter where we're not all safe. Everyone has faults, and they have to be resolved in some way.

While the film was gruesome, it also was just clever writing. For its time, the shocking conclusion was its biggest sell. Who was the killer and what did he want? Much like the conversation around Gone Girl, these are tactics used to persuade and keep us on the edge of our seat. It may be repulsive, but there's a deeper sense that humanity is being explored in new and provoking ways. Se7en is notorious for its final act, which featured an actor who refused to be billed in favor of keeping the surprise. While I cannot yet contribute to the Gone Girl discussion, it does seem like it is more of a direct, more mature update on the motivations behind Se7en with probably less gore.

By the end of this weekend, Gone Girl will be probably spoiled for a lot of people thanks to the internet much like Se7en was ruined for those who waited too long. Even if crime procedural is not your style, these films have more going on. They are about the performances and the camera technique. They draw us in to something that wouldn't normally be seen. It may make us uncomfortable, but they also allow us to deal with these complicated issues. Fincher is a master of unrepentant cinema that is thankfully mainstream enough to get a wider audience. Gone Girl feels dangerous in the way that Se7en did. It is exciting because there's nothing else like it out there. And that's a great thing.