Seven Pounds of Plot

Is it ever right to make the wrong decision?

Seven Pounds is a movie that slipped by my notice when it first came out, but caught my eye when I had my chance at it at the local sticky foot theater over the weekend. Here was a movie that was provocative, disturbing, and yes brought me to tears more than once. I love Will Smith in serious roles.

But the most fascinating aspect of this movie isn’t something most people would notice.

In the last few weeks I’ve been going through Jeff Gerke’s ebook, How to Find Your Story, very thoroughly in an attempt to really study plot. What I expected to help me with my own novels (and YES it did….) turned out to have added benefits. It gave me eyes to see the marvelous intricacies of plot that are not normally seen in a movie.


Seven Pounds didn’t attempt to quite follow the usual Hollywood formula. While I don’t want to give away the ending let's just say when the moment of truth comes the decision that’s made is opposite what has been accepted standard of plot writing. Not that this hasn’t been tried before (anyone remember Mosquito Coast?) but it rarely WORKS. What follows is absolutely heartwrenching, yet, amazingly, there is still a feeling of rightness to it.

Don’t get me started on the moral issues this movie raises. I’m not talking about that. What I’m saying is that, for this storyline, for this PLOT, the right decision was made. To go the accepted route would have required the viewer suspend disbelief to the point where the movie would have been corny and lost all its forward momentum. This was plotting at it’s best. Plain and simple.

What movies do you think exemplify plotting in way that stands out?