“Leaving things out” is sometimes one of cinema's greatest strengths. I’ll never forget a documentary I saw on martial arts film editors. They will deliberatel

“Leaving things out” is sometimes one of cinema's greatest strengths. I’ll never forget a documentary I saw on martial arts film editors. They will deliberately cut the very frame where a fist would touch an actor's face. And not at all because it was badly choreographed. Instead, they realized that the strongest punch is the one you never see. It’s the one you complete with your imagination. And there’s no competing with that. Likewise, leaving some of the plot to be inferred by the audience is a powerful narrative mechanism.