Happy Deja Vu Day!

The movie Groundhog Day is famous, and it always gets referenced on February 2nd (at least here in the US, where it’s one of the weirder holidays ever dreamed up before pot was legal). Of course, the movie Edge of Tomorrow is a lot more recent, and has more guns, so maybe that little trend is on the downslide.

Well, here’s something for your relive-each-day enjoyment: two martial arts short films with the same concept.

Rope-A-Dope: Wake, Fight, Repeat

And the sequel: Rope A Dope 2: Return of the Martial Arts Mafia

This is pretty good stuff from a storytelling perspective as well. No one ever says a word in either film. A lot can get communicated with body language, facial expressions, and the choices each character makes. While it might not seem like it at first glance, this is easily translated to prose storytelling. It’s just another version of the adage show, don’t tell, but with a focus on nonverbal communication. What do you put in, and what do you leave out? What is truly necessary to tell a story?

This is a vital skill to learn if you want to write short stories, where you have to keep the action fast-paced and leave out anything that doesn’t directly drive the story forward or keep the audience engaged.