Missed a day yesterday, but I’m back posting!
So Kathy and I have fully taken advantage of the summer blockbuster season and made a tradition of walking dowtown every friday to catch the first show. Starting with Star Trek, we’ve gone on to see Angels and Demons, Terminator, and UP. We’ve enjoyed them all to varying degrees, but Trek and Up most definitely stand tall over everything else we’ve seen in theatres this year (I’m including Wolverine and Watchmen in this too.)
And it was during UP that my thoughts turned to another item making recent news in the entertainment world: Brillante Mendoza’s Cannes win.
Yeah, strange, but not as distant a leap as you might think.
First of all, congratulations to Mendoza for winning. Whatever anyone may think of the film or Cannes in general, a win is a win and recognition of talent is something every filmmaker desires, regardless of who is doing the recognizing.
Second of all, I have no intentions whatsoever of watching his winning film Kinatay in the near future unless it is forced upon me (or I am paid to).
From all accounts, it is a disgusting affair, filled with brutality and violence and emphasizing hardship, poverty, and corruption without a hint of hope or the possibility of any of the characters having any growth whatsoever. It is, I gather, meant to point an incisive and pointed light on how terrible the Philippines is both physically and spiritually; Physically, by showing locations of squalor and degradation exactly how you’d see in the depths of Manila’s squatter areas and spiritually by showing the pure evil lurking in the hearts of every single character populating the very loose “narrative”.
As a filmmaker, |I cannot judge Mendoza’s skill as a director without seeing his shot selection, framing, etc, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that his is probably a good director.
But as a storyteller, as a writer, as a film critic, as a development executive, as a fan of stories, as a goddamn human being, all I have to say is I am sick of this. Enough is enough.
Why is it that so many people seem to think that in order to make a film about “ideas”, in order to make a film meaningful, they have to make a film that celebrates the darkness prevalent in humanity? Do we really need sledgehammer after sledgehammer of independent “artsy” films smashing us in the face with their heavy handed messages of “Oh, pain is real. Happiness is false!” to realize that the world is fucked up?
We live in an economic crunch where people are laid off every day and babies are crushed by careless buses and dogs are senselessly killed in fighting rings and people rob from each other and people…
You get the point.
The world is terrible.
And we don’t really want to watch films that remind us of that.
Which brings me to “Up” (and Star Trek).
Up is a fantastic movie CRAMMED with messages. I won’t go into it too much because I want to avoid spoilers, but the major things one gets from it are the need to get over a painful loss, the need to form connections with each other, and that is is the small stuff in life that are important.
It is a film of hope and passion, it is a film that celebrates life and dreams and adventure and love. It is a film that shares much with Star Trek, offering a brighter vision of what the world is, and what it can be.
In today’s world, these are the films I want to watch.
Maybe someday I’ll want to watch films like Serbis and Kinatay. Maybe. Maybe when I’m older and filthy fucking rich where I have everything I need in the world, all the modern conveniences, and a golden fucking spoon… maybe then I’ll need something to make me say “Oh! Dear Lord! The world is terrible! Dear me! Those poor Filipino people! Maybe I should throw some money at them? Oh well, time for my golf game. Tee Time’s at one!”
Heaven forbid.
Live long and Prosper.
