celluloidnotes

At this years Cannes festival it seemed as though there were a few films that really grabbed the attention of the fest-goers, but received little press. Films such as Steven Soderbergh’s Che or Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York seemed to be the fest favorites yet neither of those, or James Gray’s Two Lovers, received an offer for American distribution, despite Kaufman’s huge indie appeal, and Benicio Del Toro winning Best Actor honors for his performance as Che (part of the studio’s problem with Soderbergh’s two part Che opus is that it is nearly six hours long - but if it’s good…I still watch Once Upon A Time in America regularly).

It seems that the milieu of folding specialty distribution companies is really having an impact on the American independent cinema.  It is rare that films which are receiving as much buzz as these, with premiere names involved, aren’t getting picked up and it is a reflection of the state of the industry. Production companies don’t want to purchase interesting films any longer, they want comic book films (which we constantly appear to have reached the saturation point with, but people keep flooding the cinemas for them, and with production begun on over 20 more there will be comic book films coming out well into the summer of 2012). Yet, it seems that people are constantly complaining about the lack of interesting films and interesting directors in the theaters - not that there aren’t any, by any means, the American independent cinema has been having something of resurgence in the past five years - but if we continue to go to the theaters to see films of mediocre quality, like The Incredible Hulk we will continue to be fed them. The resurgence of American independent cinema could fade over the course of the next two years and put us back in an auteurless American cinema like we had in the early-mid eighties.

Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with summer blockbusters, or popcorn flicks, they can be done intelligently. However, the people in the board rooms deciding what you will and will not see are not interested in quality, they are interested in what you will pay for. The Dark Knight is an interesting example of how audiences can change the tone of the blockbuster, character actors - good actors - and a fairly independently minded director (though, let’s not kid ourselves, Nolan has gotten way more street credit than he deserves as an indie filmmaker) are a rare commodity in the summer season. People are going to this, and the studios are taking note. Now, it’s certianly not independent are all that deep of a film, but it does dig a little deeper than most blockbusters. When, with the The Incredible Hulk, we saw the battle between the studio and Norton, where the studio was sure the audience wasn’t concerned about character development or story, they wanted a big green action movie. But it was really crap. Even in this instance - which is outside of the discussion of independent cinema - you can see that the tickets you purchase will have an effect on what you have the opportunity to see. The studios are taking note that a dark film, with lots of character development, and relatively few action sequences (for an action film) is breaking all of the box office records.

It’s just like any other economy. How you spend your money will affect what you are offered to spend your money on, and what products can afford to improve the quality of the product they offer. It’s simple supply and demand (well, maybe not that simple). Nonetheless, guilty as I may be as well, it’s important, especially during an economic crisis where more and more independent productions are being cut, that you are mindful what you are watching. If you care about independent cinema than you should be aware that every time you buy a ticket or popcorn, you are telling the studio where to put their money for future projects. If you go and see Sex & the City you will get more Sex & the City - and maybe that’s what you want, and there is nothing wrong with that - but if you’d rather see the second part of the Mongol trilogy, than maybe you should go see Frozen River or The Wackness this weekend instead of The Mummy 3.

The trailer for part one of Soderbergh’s Che films, The Argentine: 

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