Opinion Sur Joven

I’ve decided to go see a movie. Cinema is the most appealing art for me, because it has the ability to show certain human complexities, some beauty and a lot of tension.

I haven’t decided which movie I’m going to see yet. I approach the box office.

-What can you recommend me to see?
-Mmm... There are two options –the woman says-, “The lives of others”, a very intense German drama, or “Music and Lyrics”, a comedy to pass the time.

I’m surprised. Can a movie possibly alter the laws of space and time? If “Music and Lyrics” makes time pass, does that mean “The lives of others” makes it stop?

I’m standing still with my mouth open and staring at nothing.

-Over here, please. Theater 5, seat number 11-S, for “Music and Lyrics”. Thank you.

I make my way towards the theater just like a zombie/movie-goer (which is sometimes the same). I enter the room and sprawl on the red-velour seat. While watching the trailers I come up with the idea of writing this article… It should be fun, I say to myself, an article to pass the time.

“Little changes”

During the fifties, Visconti’s movies had two types of grading (the enhancement of colors and tonalities). There was one for the U.S. and another one for the rest of the world. What was the difference? The copy for the U.S. was brighter and had more contrast. A little change. That’s how it started.

And it goes on: in his last movie, Carlos Reygadas had to modify the press images of the film because the leading actress’s breasts could be seen. Another little change.

Here’s a personal situation serving as an example: A girl friend of mine meets a guy; he’s good-looking and he likes jazz, strong perfumes and long raincoats. My friend is bedazzled by him. “I’ve never met someone like him –she tells me-, he’s ONE OF A KIND”. The relationship grows. After some time she feels a little disturbed, uncomfortable. She finds out it’s her sweetheart’s perfume. “No big deal”, she says to herself, and she gives her (now) boyfriend the most delightful, spring-like perfume she can find. After some time she finds out the raincoat is a little bit “old-fashioned” and jazz is kind of sad. “Cotton sweaters and electro-jazz”. Little changes, just little changes to improve coexistence.

Asian horror movies have turned into a boom over the last years: remakes of these films are released in English, with American actors. “Little changes”: the role of an Asian was taken by “Buffy the vampire slayer”; Tokyo is now Detroit.

Oh! Ok... An analogy between my friend and her demands and the demands of US film industry. Just “little differences”, nothing more. In the previous example, the position is very clear: in USA they don’t wanna see Asians or hear other languages, they want the same story, though led and told by them.

The Great Dilemma

Filmmaking is an art (although some people want us to believe the opposite with their inabilities or cruel intentions). And, as such, it talks about the world from the world.

Cinema is an expensive and industrial art (a person I know, some guy called Walter Benjamin, has written some things on the subject). It takes a lot of money to produce it, and it’s necessary to earn more money or as much as it was invested.

We’re facing a dilemma. Showcasing, distributing and broadcasting depend on American companies, which have the power and the elements to decide the kind of movies they want me, you, him and her to see; and they also have the power to stop production, distribution and showcasing of other types of films, always under the strict logic of the market. In other words, more precisely in TV words: Why produce good fiction at such high costs when we can lock 15 people up in a house and film them 24-7 with no additional costs?

But let’s go back to cinema: What’s that “other type of films” distributors won’t broadcast? It’s a very wide question, therefore the answer will be so too. In general, it’s a type of cinema distributors aren’t interested in. It doesn’t include: spider-men fighting crime around the city, giant furry monkeys in love with blonde women, great explosions, car chases in little town streets or cities, political refugees with perfect makeup, black-race thieves or great speeches by simple people.

Fiddling around

In formal terms, it’s clear that there’s more than an ocean of difference between one type of cinema and the other. From time immemorial, American and European industries have taken different paths; with opposite labels, American cinema has been tagged as “popular" (low culture) and the French one as “elite cinema” (high culture).

Every label is a false name or, maybe, a simplifying name. Cinema is made by people and they’re the ones who day by day decide through their work and their desires what path they’ll take to express their realities.

Let’s see: my first reaction towards certain American movies is surprise, misunderstanding and a sort of rejection. Why? Because what they show me is a portrait of a totally different world from the one I come from. Therefore, is filmmaking supposed to be an art to depict the spectator’s world? And if it doesn’t, is it a failure? Of course not.

I don’t find belongingness in those movies because the universe they portrait doesn’t create the tensions that make me involve (as a person) in the world. There’s a type of cinema that takes me away from the world, or at least it weakens it, sweetens it, spares it from the unbearable density sometimes things are made of. Standard US movies make my reality more surreal, less tense.

Maybe that’s what people mean when they say “it’s a movie to pass the time”. American films are unlikely to be singular, i.e., extraordinary. But it’s not due to lack of talent, though perhaps because the culture where said cinema comes from –where all those who produce such cinema come from- is characterized by mass production, assembly lines, the World Trade Center, September 11, “The American Friend” and “The whole nine yards” with Bruce Willis, which is just like many other movies and it’ll be just like many others still to come.

But wait. Is European cinema a movement of ever-complex and profound tension? Not at all. Europe has produced and will probably produce major fiascos. So where’s the difference?

We must say everything’s different: the silences, the shots, the different camera setups, the different types of faces, the famous actors.

There are and there will be many types of films and people in Europe, USA and Argentina as well. The only big difference lies in the way of interpreting cinema. Is it a way of expression, a way of reflection and a way of going through our busy lives? Or is it merely a place to go before dinner or to take the kids on winter holidays?

There’s no such thing as American cinema or European cinema. There’s American culture, there’s European people and culture. There are objects and people who offer themselves and are offered only as consumer products; it’s no wonder that films have fallen into that trap. Europe has other attributes: a few more centuries of history, Renaissance, the Sistine Chapel, Caravaggio. And also some of the most dreadful and boring films.

What are we, the spectators, to do if we never know what to expect? Well, our dear Forrest’s mom used to say “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Welcome to the celluloid jungle.