Yesterday, I watched Enola Holmes on Netflix and I thought the screenwriter and actress, Millie Bobbie Brown, did a wonderful job with their breakage.
I've broken the fourth wall in one of my comedies and it was good fun and this script won and placed at several festivals and contests.
What say you about that fourth wall?
Check out how adeptly Woody did it in Annie Hall.
https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/films-famously-break-fourth-w...
My opinion: Works better on a stage with live audience...not so much in a film.
It's always been my thought: If you have an audience - speak to 'em. Bring them into the story so that they participate. They are not 'just watchers'.
Agree that it works better on stage. William Shakespeare introduced the foundation of addressing the audience. It’s a thin line to walk, especially when a lot of companies these days tend to bank on nostalgia. Not realizing that culture references can fade out quickly. Personally think Deadpool was a great example of how to use it. Then again I’m a fan of comic books. What works with some won’t work with others.
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I love 4th wall breaks Mel Brooks being the original master of it a technique he learned on stage and successfully transferred to film..But less obvious 4th wall breaks work well on film also.For instance in Captain Blood the film that made Errol Flynn and Olivia De'Havilland stars in the 30's they had Errol say probably the hardest lines an actors ever said in a movie,something like "raise the sails and fill them with the wind,the wind of freedom" after he says those lines he looks directly at the camera with a cheeky grin saying nothing.But you get the feeling he's thinking "are you buying this bullshit" and it works really well.In many modern films/tv you'll see someone say climbing a mountainside a ladder etc looking exhausted they lookup directly into camera closeup with a fuck this look and continue climbing.To me although not a traditional 4th wall break it drags the audience into the character in the same way.Although this is more about directorial decisions you can suggest this in your action lines by being descriptive about the characters movement expressions etc.
it’s about filmmaking execution or lack of. There’s probably thousands of movies with terrible execution of 4th wall breaks, voice over narration, montages, bad everything. forgettable.
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Oliver Hardy - great "takes" directly to the camera and the audience.