What Happened To Originality?
I borrowed the first three words of this post's title from a book with that name.
It was written by the late Roger Ebert. In 'Your Movie Sucks', Ebert collected reviews of some of the worst movies he has ever seen and rated.
The posts I found on here about the movie IT - whether it is a good or bad film - were the last drop for me. They made me decide to write this little rant on the current state of the movie industry, especially Hollywood.
Let's Play it Safe
I know, it isn't called the movie industry for nothing. People are working in it,
making a living. And the more people there are working on a movie, the bigger the budgets
and the more money the movie needs to bring in to earn back its cost.
Unfortunately, as an effect, film studios are taking less and less risks. Instead of going for original stories, they usually play it safe. This leads to the second part of this post's title:
Let's remake this movie
We can always go for a spin-off to that movie.
Why not make a reboot of that film for a new generation.
Don't forget to give this film an open ending, so we can shoot a Part 5, 6, 7, 8 and so on...
Yeah, I know, some movies are franchises because there are actually a lot of fans. And some of these are decent to good. But, often times, it's the other way around:
Movies are marketed in such a way that the mass audience is attracted to the next part as a junkie to his next shot. People are lured into seeing the next title in the franchise as if they are hypnotized.
And it just saddens me that - in order to see some kind of original work - I either need to make movies myself or just visit film festivals. What plays in cinemas these days does hardly pique my interest. And believe me, I love cinema. I just don't like what has happened to it over the years.
Should I just watch movies at home?
Even on Netflix, where there is indeed a lot of choice, so much of the supply is actually some kind of clone of something else. And because there is so much choice, it is hard to see the forest for the trees. This makes me often pick some kind of recommendation. Some movie or series that everyone is watching, instead of seeing something (more) original. That way I actually end up seeing what I rather would not like to see. Does that sound familiar?
How can we help each other?
Inspired by people like @themovieplace , who started a channel on Discord
( movies_and_tv_shows ), I decided to write this post not just to rant, but also for you.
For those of you who are as tired as I am of the majority of the movies that the film industry spews out these days.
My intention on here is to remind you of other movies that stand out from the mainstream for different reasons. Those that don't get the attention that they deserve, because the big fish (pun intended) are sucking up all the attention.
As I stopped being a filmmaker a while ago, sorry about that, I won't be able to change the output of the film industry. What I can do though - and you can help me with that - is point people to the real gems. Films that are actually worth watching and not just because other people tell you to.
What about you? Are you as tired as me? Do you want to help me out? Hit me up in the reply and let's start a discussion.
Header Image: This is an 'original' picture, taken by me with a Go Pro Hero 5 Black,
in February 2017 on El Hierro, Canary Islands. This photo was taken during a rehearsal for my now cancelled feature film 'Los Ojos Rojos' (The Red Eyes).