By Noah Forrest Forrest@moviecitynews.com
Back-seat cricketing
I have a feeling of ennui and loneliness around this time of year because all of my compatriots are in places like Telluride, Toronto, and Venice, seeing films that most of us won’t see for many more months. Oh sure, there’s jealousy involved too – I want to see these films, damn it! – but more than that, I feel deeply saddened because the critics walk out of these films and judge them (via Twitter or blog) immediately. Part of me is anxious to hear how the film is playing and I dutifully check the Twitter feeds of all the folks that are doing the dirty work of actually seeing the movies; the majority of me, however, is almost always disappointed by the quickness with which my fellow movie writers dismiss movies or applaud them. That is not to say that these movies do not deserve dismissal or applause, but the narrative is just shaped too quickly for my liking.
Take a film like Never Let Me Go, for example. In a matter of days, the narrative has turned into this: the film is not for everyone and it will be fairly polarizing. Okay, that seems reasonable enough; after all, the same can be said for the deluge of reviews that accompany a film’s opening. However, writing a full review gives the viewer time to pore over their prose, which gives the writer a chance to re-think their stance. I’m not saying someone who writes that review will have a drastically different opinion, but it’s possible that they will either soften their stance slightly (from “I hated it” to “I didn’t enjoy it”).
It always goes back to my long-standing argument: most films are neither masterpieces or disasters, they are somewhere in between. I’m really getting sick and tired of every critic declaring films as one or the other just because they had a strong reaction to it; both declarations do the films themselves a disservice because they set up unreasonable expectations. But more than the expectations, it shapes a narrative (if you have a loud and respected voice, especially). It’s quite possible that Never Let Me Go is a masterpiece or a disaster and I’ll find out next week, but I’ve got a hunch that it’s neither. Know why I have that hunch? Because I’m right about that 99% of the time. (But, oh that other 1% of the time…)
Good hunch…”never let me go” has come out with a very mixed reaction….then again “The Town” has exceeded the (moderately positive) festival buzz to the point where it has a legit shot at a Best Pic nom. “Gone Baby Gone” had comparable reviews (94 for Baby to 90 at Tomatoes so far [Town would be the 3rd wide release to hit 90 this year if reviews hold, behind Toy Story 3 & How to Train Your Dragon] but 76 for Town to 72 for Baby at Metacritic with neither film getting a perfect score there) and could have grabbed a slot with 10 nominees though this fall feels stronger than 2007…but “Town” is also opening in 40% more theatres than “Baby” & tracking to open to triple what “Baby” did….so it possibly has better stature as well.