The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Moonlight Mile

written by Brad Silberling

(based on a single theater viewing)


Moonlight Mile is a family drama about a young man who by trying to do the right thing ends up taking the path of least resistance and makes a tragic situation even more tragic ... until he sets everything right.

Structural Analysis

  1. Hook
    • The morning of a funeral. A young woman was accidentally murdered.
  2. Complication
    • The protagonist is a young man, the victim's fiance, staying in the home of her parents shortly before the scheduled wedding.
  3. Call to Action
    • A passive call, the young man goes along with the father-in-law making him a partner in his real estate business, the plan when the young woman was alive. We learn of an active call later, that the young man has decided to keep from the parents that there was going to be no wedding, they had broken up.
  4. Act One Plot Point
    • The young man is in the world of the "father-in-law," trying to please him. He meets a woman who interests him.
  5. Midpoint Plot Point
    • He sleeps with the woman -- and the mother figures out that there was going to be no wedding. However, the young man must continue the charade by attending the trial of the fiance's murderer. He remains for appearances but stops seeing the woman who interests him.
  6. Act Two Plot Point
    • He has to testify to save the case and paint a rosy picture of his life and future with the victim. He tries but can't go through with it. Everything looks over with the woman.
  7. Climax and Resolution
    • He tells the truth on the stand -- and forces the parents to live in the present. He woos the woman back, and they leave town together.

Notes

Directed a bit too artily for my tastes, full of visual moods. The story is a good one, the acting excellent, and the structure solid if more subtle than in most movies.


MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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10/02