A Good Movie is Hard to Find....
I was sitting in my hot tub the other day contemplating life as I sipped from my 1962 Pinot Noir, a rare trinket that I picked up in Tuscany on a recent business trip. (TRANSLATION: I was on the toilet drinking, Sam's Choice soda from Wal-Mart, that had been sitting out for 2 days.) And this age old question popped into my head.
What is the purpose of cinema? If you asked the Average Joe, he'd say "I just wanna relax while; I watch something blow up or laugh at some dumb Tom Green movie". So there's something valid with the "Average Joe's" line of thought, its entertainment. Some would argue (I'd be one of them) that a film should strive for something greater than entertainment; it should educate, challenge, or reveal something to the audience. In short, you should leave the theatre different, (not necessarily profoundly different) than when you came in. A movie should challenge you to be a better human, or to call a friend you've lost touch with, or even make you cry. I'd even go as far as to say, that if a movie can make you think of it hours/days/weeks after you've finished watching it, it's done its job... Thus, the logical conclusion can be made; a good movie should be both educational (moving) and entertaining.
That being said, I do not like the current trend of films that try so hard to make their point about social injustice or whatever, that they take the entertainment factor out of the movie. I have three examples of this right off the top of my head; A) Hotel Rwanda- a very good, well acted, well made movie, which was not pleasurable at all to watch. I didn't enjoy watching this movie in any way. It leaves you gut wrenchingly sad, to the point that you question why you even watched the movie in the first place. (Though Don Cheadel's performance is worth the price of admission) However, Hotel Rwanda did not go overboard in trying to preach a certain "gospel"; it was merely historical in scope. Its purpose was historical education, and it accomplished its goal, however it didn't do it through entertainment, it was successful because of its brutality and lack of entertainment. I can appreciate that mindset, to some degree, "let’s make a movie so historically compelling (like Schindler's List) that it still holds up as a movie with no entertainment value whatsoever." It's a worthy attempt, but I can't call it successful because it the movie made me want to smash my head into a wall, not because I felt sad for the Rwandan people but because I was watching the movie in horror, it's like a train wreck, there's nothing entertaining about it, just the fact that it happened that makes people watch it or the aftermath. But what's fun about watchin a train wreck?
B) Munich- was much the same way, except I feel it was a bit more intentional in its lack of entertainment, the movie flirted with being entertaining, it got perilously close, and then rejected the entertaining path, and it was a tease the whole time. The other thing that bothered me was it had an agenda and every single scene was written and directed with that in mind, so I felt preached at during every scene of the whole movie. Again, it was a worthy project, just not one that I loved watching (though it might be my favorite of the three.)
C) Crash- actually was the best example of trying to make a socio-political statement while giving the audience more to grasp hold of than plot driven characters. (That is characters that exist primarily to drive the plot (with its socio-political statements) home. So these last two movies are my examples of movies that are good, but clearly trying to make a point, and bashing you over the head is THE tactic they use to make their point. (Hotel Rwanda does the same thing but from a purely historical standpoint.)
Million Dollar Baby is the perfect balance of an entertaining and "educational" movie. It's a beautiful movie, it's well acted and well written, plus, it's just a brilliantly shot and put together film (as were the other three). This movie though, doesn't beat you over the head; it lets the story unfold naturally. It lets you into the hearts and minds of the characters, but for a deeper purpose than moving the plot forward. The characters ARE the purpose; they are more than tools used to push some agenda or social dilemma. I think that's what draws me to this type of movie a little more than the other three, I can relate to a drama involving vulnerable, weak, frail, humans, I cannot relate as easily to an Israeli spy murdering other terrorists.
Now all we need to do is figure out how to make a movie like Million Dollar Baby with Tom Green. Then we'd watch with glea as Hollywood became a train wreck.
Dre :)
What is the purpose of cinema? If you asked the Average Joe, he'd say "I just wanna relax while; I watch something blow up or laugh at some dumb Tom Green movie". So there's something valid with the "Average Joe's" line of thought, its entertainment. Some would argue (I'd be one of them) that a film should strive for something greater than entertainment; it should educate, challenge, or reveal something to the audience. In short, you should leave the theatre different, (not necessarily profoundly different) than when you came in. A movie should challenge you to be a better human, or to call a friend you've lost touch with, or even make you cry. I'd even go as far as to say, that if a movie can make you think of it hours/days/weeks after you've finished watching it, it's done its job... Thus, the logical conclusion can be made; a good movie should be both educational (moving) and entertaining.
That being said, I do not like the current trend of films that try so hard to make their point about social injustice or whatever, that they take the entertainment factor out of the movie. I have three examples of this right off the top of my head; A) Hotel Rwanda- a very good, well acted, well made movie, which was not pleasurable at all to watch. I didn't enjoy watching this movie in any way. It leaves you gut wrenchingly sad, to the point that you question why you even watched the movie in the first place. (Though Don Cheadel's performance is worth the price of admission) However, Hotel Rwanda did not go overboard in trying to preach a certain "gospel"; it was merely historical in scope. Its purpose was historical education, and it accomplished its goal, however it didn't do it through entertainment, it was successful because of its brutality and lack of entertainment. I can appreciate that mindset, to some degree, "let’s make a movie so historically compelling (like Schindler's List) that it still holds up as a movie with no entertainment value whatsoever." It's a worthy attempt, but I can't call it successful because it the movie made me want to smash my head into a wall, not because I felt sad for the Rwandan people but because I was watching the movie in horror, it's like a train wreck, there's nothing entertaining about it, just the fact that it happened that makes people watch it or the aftermath. But what's fun about watchin a train wreck?
B) Munich- was much the same way, except I feel it was a bit more intentional in its lack of entertainment, the movie flirted with being entertaining, it got perilously close, and then rejected the entertaining path, and it was a tease the whole time. The other thing that bothered me was it had an agenda and every single scene was written and directed with that in mind, so I felt preached at during every scene of the whole movie. Again, it was a worthy project, just not one that I loved watching (though it might be my favorite of the three.)
C) Crash- actually was the best example of trying to make a socio-political statement while giving the audience more to grasp hold of than plot driven characters. (That is characters that exist primarily to drive the plot (with its socio-political statements) home. So these last two movies are my examples of movies that are good, but clearly trying to make a point, and bashing you over the head is THE tactic they use to make their point. (Hotel Rwanda does the same thing but from a purely historical standpoint.)
Million Dollar Baby is the perfect balance of an entertaining and "educational" movie. It's a beautiful movie, it's well acted and well written, plus, it's just a brilliantly shot and put together film (as were the other three). This movie though, doesn't beat you over the head; it lets the story unfold naturally. It lets you into the hearts and minds of the characters, but for a deeper purpose than moving the plot forward. The characters ARE the purpose; they are more than tools used to push some agenda or social dilemma. I think that's what draws me to this type of movie a little more than the other three, I can relate to a drama involving vulnerable, weak, frail, humans, I cannot relate as easily to an Israeli spy murdering other terrorists.
Now all we need to do is figure out how to make a movie like Million Dollar Baby with Tom Green. Then we'd watch with glea as Hollywood became a train wreck.
Dre :)
posted by The Dre | 2:00 AM
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