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FALLING IN LOVE
When I was around six or seven years old, I went to see Disney’s Aladdin in theaters. It is the first time I can remember of going to a movie theater. What I experienced was nothing I had ever felt before- the screen was huge to my little eyes and I had never seen a film like that before. To this day, there is an uncanny excitement to just walking into a theater for me that I suspect most earnest movie lovers feel also. Loving cinema is not just about loving the films, but about getting swept away into that mingling of passion and excitement and maybe fear and anticipation that comes with simply sitting with your fellow man in the dark. Aladdin is definitely a flawed movie but, to this day, it brings back waves of memories of one hour and twenty minutes of heaven. After the screening, I pestered my father to take me to buy the movie (such is this age of materialism) and, when I discovered, to my horror, that videos were not released while the actual films were fresh in theaters, I waited in intense longing for months for the thing to be released on video. I still pull the tape out sometimes and swim in the pure joy of the Disney movie.
Art does this to me- I become obsessed with a piece that connects with me. When I was a very young child, I was passionate about my dad’s records and played them over and over again, singing every word incoherently, until the LP’s broke. I still have that indefinable passion for music today because I can connect with works of that art form more than I can with paintings or ballet or even literature. Truly great art brings one closer to God in a way, or at least to the core of humanity. Music and movies are the two most accessible art forms I know of, and they are certainly the most manipulative and commercial.
The commercial aspects of these two mediums are what I find quite appalling. While dishonest movies made for the buck rake in much cash for Hollywood studios, other, more sincere works by people who have things to say are underpublicized and make millions less. I don’t think this is unfair, realistically- money has always dominated this industrial world that seems more rooted in economy than in appreciation of beautiful fruits of labor. I think brilliant works will always have a place to shine for the people who seek them out. One of the reasons I love the movies is that it is not an elitist art form. It’s not specifically for VIPs. Some people look upon cinema as undignified and for the ignorant man and would question my labeling it an art form. I feel movies have a different force acting within them than theater (I have never, to my dismay, seen a theatrical production) and the novel. Film is not pure in the way theater is- live performance always has a thing about it that cannot be sold or bottled up- and it is not as free of tricks as the realm of literature. However, when a movie just clicks with its audience, it is pure magic. Though some movie critics and the like have smothered cinema with theories, textbook pontificating, and whatnot, I think the very essence of the movies is entertainment, which cannot be said for many other art forms. In that way, it is more open and is a good breeding ground for realism and life lessons.
A real turning point in my movie viewing was the broadcast of Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries on the cable network Turner Classic Movies, and later of his Persona, which is one of my favorite movies. Prior to my seeing these Swedish films, I looked at movies purely as entertainment. I had never seen a foreign film in my life and I was nearly driven away by the appearance of subtitles. This is a funny thing to recollect because I watch imported movies more than ever now. The two Bergman films are like poems; both are so real and human, yet they are based in dreams (which I think makes them all the more potent because dreaming is one of the things people cannot escape and they are moments of self-realization). I was truly moved by the former film. It starred Victor Sjostrom as an old man who travels down memory lane and remembers with jubilance and regret and sees a sort of reflection of his younger self in some young adults he takes with him on his way to receiving an award at some college. I don’t think I had ever seen a film that delved so deeply into human psychology; now, I feel the film is a tad forced, but the wondrous memory remains.
The latter movie was one of the most frightening experiences I’ve had watching a movie. Little did I know how explicit the film was prior to my watching it and, even today, my parents would not allow me to see it if they knew of its content. I would have shut the T.V. off had I not been so spellbound by the evocative images Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nykvist painted. The whole film was surrealistic and explored the relationship between an actress who was mute by choice and her talkative nurse. The film was provocative because it explored topics like the merging of identity, elements of self, and the horrors of the world. To this day, I am confounded by the film’s style, which I suppose the French would call avant-garde. Persona, I think, is essentially about the very essence of acting. One woman puts on a silent facade, trying to shield herself from reality and the lies that come with communication. The other woman is seemingly incapable of fronts and cannot help but divulge her secrets to her patient. I feel the film explores the two realities of one woman, one character, not two, and touches on the conflicting forces within ourselves- the actor part of our subconscious and the uninhibited part. It is one of the most discussed films in history, and I love it for its daring.
The Seventh Seal, also by Bergman, was a film I didn’t care for upon my first seeing it. Actually, I hated it on the initial viewing. On subsequent viewings, its beauty became apparent to me, and I learned so much about mankind’s struggle with God. At that time, I was struggling with my thoughts on the Creator, but, because Seal was not about God’s existence but about our questioning of it, the film did not deter me from believing. It strengthened my faith.
The three Bergman films taught me more than any book of psychology or philosophy ever did because they were entertaining or (in Persona’s case) captivating; I could not help but allow the films to penetrate my heart and soul. I think I would not be the person I am today without those movies and others. I would certainly not think so much and would definitely not be as caught up in the art aspect of cinema as I am today. Films, for better or worse, have shaped me. On the positive side, I think they have made me more sensitive and more understanding. Bergman’s movies showed me that film could be used to communicate deep thoughts and emotions. I have since discovered the gems of Vittorio DeSica, Orson Welles, Federico Fellini, Frank Capra, Francois Truffaut, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Erich von Stroheim, Buster Keaton, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Lumet, Jane Campion, and many other directors. I used to watch movies for the stars. Now I watch them for the directors and writers and costume designers and editors and DPs, too.
In a laughable case of preposterous theories, Francois Truffaut, who was both a celebrated critic and, of course, a wonderful director, came up with the auteur theory, which was later polished and waved about by Andrew Sarris, one of America's most important critics. I think it is ridiculous. It states that since all art must be the work of only one artist, film, which is art, must have only one author. Therefore, that author is always the director. This was a theory supported by everyone from Capra to Welles to the distinguished critics André Bazin and Andrew Sarris. I don’t think it is at all fair to the other participants of a motion picture. What about the screenwriter, who actually pens the movie? What about the actors who are integral to the reality of the characters? What about the cinematographer who creates the visual qualities of a movie? I think critics feel a responsibility to make movies seem more stately and formal than they really are or need to be, to defend the art form against its detractors, and I may be guilty of this for calling movies an art form. I don’t think movie criticism is an art, as some reviewers say, but I think it is still relevant. A critic’s job is not to make art seem elite, but to point out how it connects with society today (or, in the case of a bad film, how it doesn’t connect). What I love about movies is that they are a melting pot of ideas and strengths- everyone throws in their philosophies of life and it is all stirred to become a vision of all the cast and crew. One weak link can affect the outcome of a movie tremendously. This is one of the reasons I want to be a part of cinema- I want to be a part of a vision and a chemistry. The auteur theory is presumptuous and cancels out much of what is fascinating about the film process.
I think all films are based in a kind of reality: stark honesty or the fantasies we wish reality were like. A film is either about how life is (or was) or how it’s supposed to be. Schindler’s List is a supreme example of reality on celluloid. I list it as one of my favorite films, but that suggests that I enjoy watching it. I don’t. I admire it a great deal because it is so real and it is so painful and unrelenting. I think it is one of the great moments in cinematic realism. Singin’ in the Rain is the most delicious piece of cinematic candy I’ve ever tasted and the first time I saw it, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was such a dream- an utterly hilarious piece of affectionate parody and musical numbers to die for. Singin’ in the Rain is a liquefaction of the reality that studios faced during the transition from silents to talking pictures and the absolutely pretentious scenes of people dancing and singing on the streets. Musicals are fantasies, but they are rooted in our silent desires to be as innocent and naïve as those characters who have the gumption to express their divine emotions through song right in the plain sight of everyone. In today’s cinema, directors embrace realism, but I think there is plenty of room for silliness and pure fun on screen. Recently, I saw Toy Story 2 in theaters. 1999 was a year in which lots of true-to-life stories were told by filmmakers, but the Disney movie reminded of my desire to just have a good ol’ time at the movies.
Sadly, so much of film is exploitative. This is true for any art that is experienced by a mass audience. Violence is bounced around on screen with shocking indifference- it is the clueless artists’ tool for audience stimulation. I think this is why so many people, especially older audiences, shy away from theaters. For me, it is depressing that violence and nudity are utilized by filmmakers without moral purpose. Also, so many films lie. The King and I, an absolutely marvelous movie, has racial stereotypes floating beneath its glossy Rodgers and Hammerstein surface. Thelma and Louise, which feels empowering and is great fun to watch, lies about ‘feminism’ and waves it around, saying that if men can do crime, so should women. Dead Poets Society, a film that inspired a lot of people, especially teachers (although I cannot say it did anything for me except make me feel like puking), lies about conformity in an appallingly conventional way. Film biographies lie and twist truth to make it a new truth that fits today’s silly criteria for dramatic effect. It is as if the makers of films based on true stories feel real life is not as interesting as the concocted confections that are run-of-the-mill Hollywood histrionics. Recent cases are The Insider and The Hurricane.
Every year, there is always that treasure of a film, though. It is always thrilling for me when I hear of a movie that I might enjoy and connect with. I rush to see it and if I feel something and am inspired, I get an emotional jolt that is incomparable, and I am compelled to write about it. I think films are so important today because we humans tend to understand only what we know for fact and have experienced and felt in our own lives. Movies, truthful films, can introduce us to people and experiences we might not accept, know of, or comprehend otherwise.
Movies are a way of communicating and a movie theater, when packed, surges with the emotions of its audience. A movie screening goes beyond the conventions of time and space and carves its own place and moment. A film does not run on hours or minutes- it exists on how absorbing its material is to a particular viewer. The very idea that people I don’t know are sitting next to me in a theater and may be connecting with a film as I am is reason enough for me to go to the movies, even if today’s products are a tad unpromising. The very act of being in a movie theater with strangers is a way of feeling less alone in the world. A scene in the silent masterpiece The Crowd is very telling of the fact that so many different lives and experiences and human conflicts are brought into a theater and people can bask in anonymity for two hours and escape into the reality of the characters’ on screen. It is said that movies and novels are a form of voyeurism. That is the negative, cynical viewpoint. I think they open up worlds to us that are inaccessible. The best films unearth human truths and linger on in our minds. Martin Scorsese, a great filmmaker as well as an avid moviegoer (his documentary A Personal Journey Through American Movies overflows with wonderful subjectivity and passion for film and I was proud of Scorsese for being so personal while much of movie criticism and appreciation is forced and attempting to be objective), stated that movies quench the human desire to share a common memory. There is always an electricity that runs through me whenever I find a film that will lodge in my mind as a wonderful memory to be savored and that will change my life.
Ten Favorite Films (So Far...)
Bringing Up Baby
The Godfather Part II
Greed
It's a Wonderful Life
Persona
Schindler's List
Singin' in the Rain
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
Vertigo
By Andrew Chan
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