I like big movies as much as the next guy. This past week I had the pleasure of seeing Thor: The Dark World – an enjoyable superhero film that was incredibly lighthearted and fun. However, I’ve noticed that with the rise of these big tent-pole films there has been a surprising lack of smaller films seeing larger release.
Let me take you back to a magic time called the 1990s. It was a time when larger studios were buying up small independent movies and the people who benefited were audiences around the world.
This is the time when filmmakers like Spike Lee (writer/director of Do the Right Thing, She’s Gotta Have It & Jungle Fever), Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction & Jackie Brown) and Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mall Rats & Chasing Amy) as well as many other future auteurs came to be.
This year, I can only think of two independent films to have come out and both were from relatively well-established directors in the independent community. Furthermore, of these two films, only one of them was any good.
The first, and worst, of the two was Harmony Korine’s Springbreakers, which starred James Franco as a cornrowed, gold-toothed rapper who takes in a group of college girls/bandits.
The other was a brilliantly scripted The Bling Ring, written and directed by Sophia Coppola – a damning look at the celebrity and wealth obsessed teenagers who decided to target and rob celebrities that they found on Facebook.
Despite the fact that this was a truly brilliant film and actually had a wide release, I’ve only met a hand-full of people who have even heard of this movie.
This brings me to the issue of brand recognition. The reason that superhero movies/sequels to any film in general are becoming more popular now than they ever have been is because they sell.
You’ll see a movie with Superman in it because you know who Superman is and you know what to expect. It’s a safe way to spend your money. Yet, what truly disturbs me is that audiences are not challenging themselves when they go see these safe choices.
I ask you now to think of a movie like Do the Right Thing. It’s a masterful exploration of race relations in America. It was widely contested at the time of being both anti-black and anti-white.
Many white people were offended when the film came out as most of the white characters in the film came off as sounding like racist and many blacks were offended that (here there be spoilers) at the end, in response to an injustice (I won’t spoil that bit), the black characters of the film riot and violently attack the first thing that they see.
Despite what you may think of Spike Lee’s film or the outspoken director himself, what cannot be denied is that Do the Right Thing challenges it audiences.
The same could be said of Quentin Tarantino’s ode to crime movies Reservoir Dogs.
While the film’s non-linear plot is the story of a heist gone awry, what can’t be denied is Tarantino’s ability to push the way audiences think about protagonists, narrative and violence in the films that they see.
When was the last time you saw a film that dared you to think differently about a social issue or entertainment…without the filmmaker spoon-feeding the message to you? For this filmgoer it has been a while since I saw a movie that genuinely challenged me to think while watching the film and left me with a lasting impression after the film had ended.
This of course, is a result of what we talked about earlier. Most major film productions are meant to appeal to as many people as possible.
They don’t want to offend any viewers. The more viewers you offend, the less money your film makes. And that can rob a director or writer of any real teeth or meaning.
Lately, it’s just robbed the filmmakers of their chances to make films that can be a true agent of change.
I just wish that we could that smaller films could live in peace with the big blockbusters. They used to. I would love to see them get reunited at the multiplex.
Brian Laughran
Seniors News Editor