It’s been a while since I posted anything. Apologies. Sometimes life seems to get the better of you. That’s okay, though, as long as you don’t let it go on for too long!
Recently, I read an article about two high-school girls who decided to watch all of the Academy’s Best Picture winners, and their conclusion was quite interesting, and pertained to the importance of story. I always wonder how teenagers react to cinema, as I myself didn’t really have the grasp of what it was and how it worked until I went to college (call me a late bloomer, I guess). Anyway, it wasn’t intentional, but I suppose I unconsciously wanted to take on this challenge, and in one week, watched three Best Picture winners in the following order: MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004), FORREST GUMP (1994), and GLADIATOR (2000), all terrific pictures (and all on Netflix, so check them out!)
MILLION DOLLAR BABY was my favorite, though. To play with the audience’s expectations, and turn a sports film into something so much deeper and revealing about the fragility of life and success was wonderful. Clint Eastwood was superb, both as Coach Frankie and as director, and Hilary Swank as well, which is why they both won individual Oscars for their achievements. FORREST GUMP was a bit less to my liking in that, yeah it had so many particles of history etched into it, and Forrest overcomes hardships in his life, but I also wondered how someone like him could be so successful while I sit at home and write this blog post and ponder about my chances of making a decent living at one point in my life. I also thought the whole sitting-on-a-bench-and-telling-strangers-about-my-life was quite clichéd. It’s clearly a way of showering us with exposition, and okay, we can justify it by saying Forrest doesn’t have a high IQ so he would tell strangers about his life for lack of filter or intellect, but still. I don’t know. It felt cheap at certain points. I enjoyed the film overall, just not as much as MILLION DOLLAR BABY. And finally, GLADIATOR. There was lots of blood and slaying all around, as the name of the film and the actual occupation both suggest, but there was something about Russell Crowe’s portrayal of a man who simply cannot give up even when everything is taken from him was very powerful to watch, and inspiring even. It allowed me to remember that I’m doing pretty well in life compared with other people. And while a friend once told me there is no way to compare one life to another, one kind of suffering with another, I was still left with a hopeful aftertaste from watching GLADIATOR. That one individual can make a difference is an important lesson to remember. That evil will always prevail in the world, and yet we cannot turn a blind eye to it, too. And finally, that there is a future we must look to, a glimpse of hope we ought to carry in our pocket, when we’re at our worst.
What I took from those three best-picture winners is not exactly what those two high-school girls learned, but I also wasn’t looking to analyze anything. Despite my training as a screenwriter, sometimes I just want to enjoy the cinematic experience for what it is: entertainment, and a way of reflecting on our personal life through juxtaposition with the lives of others.
On another note, I watched three films in theaters this past week in the following order: SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE, THE INTERN, and THE MARTIAN.
(notice how these newer films all have taglines on their poster?)
Well, the first two were fun, but THE MARTIAN was of course, by far, the best. Ridley Scott is really surprising me, and I ought to check out more of his [epic] films (GLADIATOR was also directed by Ridley Scott, fyi). I absolutely loved the constant challenges with which Matt Damon’s character was faced, and yet how even when he gave up, it was only for a brief moment. This is the kind of drive and character trait I expected Chiwetel Ejioforin’s character Solomon Northup would possess in TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE (2013)— someone who always rises up to the occasion instead of hiding in the shadows and letting others pay the price for his eventual freedom. I don’t know that THE MARTIAN would win Best Picture as I haven’t seen most of the other possible contenders yet, but it has a very good shot. A cinematic experience well-done, and totally worth two and a half hours of your life.
Until next time,
Cine Nomadic
PS if you have recs for good scripts to read, please send them my way! Thanks!
Cine Nomadic 