the (red) set*

With so much online activity this month on the state of film criticism, combined with the fact that Margaret Pomeranz (At The Movies, ABC TV) will be taking to the stage this week for Friday on My Mind to discuss the future and relevance of film criticism in Australia, the last days of September seem to be an apt time to for the (red) set to delve into the topic….

The flurry of activity seems to have been prompted by a panel discussion, running as part of the New York Film Festival (that took place on Saturday September 26): Film Criticism in Crisis?

“At the turn of the millennium, the burning topic in film culture circles was the oft-proclaimed “Death of Cinema.” Nearly ten years later movies continue to thrive and mutate-but for cinephiles now, as serious writing and movie reviewing are becoming seemingly endangered species, a new question looms: Are we now facing the Death of Film Criticism-or its rebirth?

Hitting a raw nerve the cross commentary that the panel topic ignited, across a wide number of blogs dedicated to film, is interesting reading – with posts and opinions canvassing issues like; the rise of the internet as a key influencer on filmgoers, the spate of downsizing by print media (as they move from a model of dedicated critics creating original reviews for specific newspapers & magazines to syndication), the quality and relevance of online film commentary through to reflection on the practice of film criticism itself.

Scrolling through posts on sites like Cineaste.com and clicking though the hyperlinks one common theme emerges: the Internet has changed everything.

Criticism as we have known it now plays a subordinate role to communication which in a wireless world happens in real time at a global level – any day of the week, at any time and now thanks to the i-phone and 3G virtually anywhere.

However questions do emerge, how much of this mass ‘communication’ is worthwhile and is it about the number of clicks or the quality of the information?

Over at Film Essent in the US in a piece called Why it Matters, Kim Voynar recently wrote,

” … it’s very difficult to reach the traffic levels of a site like Cinematical while only writing intelligently about film. And when you’re owned by a corporation that cares mainly about the numbers, that makes it very difficult to balance writing for the reader who wants to read intelligent, thoughtful, well-written content versus writing for the masses who want to be entertained with light reading and pictures of boobs. ”
(Sep 16)

The point being argued in the Film Essent post reveals the discrepancy between what film critics think and write and how the public behaves as well as some of the realities underpinning the movie industry such as: viewing tastes, economics and entertainment.

For example:
Rottentomatoes.com, a site that quantifies movie reviews on a 100-point scale, came up with an aggregate score of 54 for “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” in 2006, while over at boxofficemojo.com, where ‘scores’ are generated based on box office receipts, the same movie was measured as a box office busting hit.

Is this because films are more than just art?

As a creative activity filmmaking is subjected to a curious mix of objectives that include making something that vast numbers of will enjoy alongside ensuring production values are first class as are the performances of the cast and the screenplay to nominate to just a few.

Tricky when so many ‘hands’ are involved in the making of a film – and each ‘hand’s’ output is co-dependent.

In a post on the New York Times blog: Critic’s Notebook, back in 2006, A.O.Scott wrote on this particular conundrum:

“The modern blockbuster – the movie that millions of people line up to see more or less simultaneously, on the first convenient showing on the opening weekend – can be seen as the fulfilment of the democratic ideal the movies were born to fulfil. To stand outside that happy communal experience and, worse, to regard it with scepticism or with scorn, is to be a crank, a malcontent, a snob.”

Is this the reason that filmgoers now prefer to get their movie referral advice online and from peers?
High revenues at the box office indicate that the tastes of the film going public are being met as they respond to buzz as opposed to critical reflection. Pirates of the Caribbean again as a case study was supported by significant online activity including an advertising campaign on MSN in the UK, which allowed potential viewers to get into the ‘pirate spirit and fighting on the high seas’ before the film came out.

In a post in June this year called Where Have All the Film Critics Gone? at Brooklyn Rail, Vincent Rossmeier spoke to Michael Atkinson, a film critic whose work has appeared in The Boston Phoenix, The Guardian, and The Village Voice about this new approach,

“…….filmgoers most likely to deride criticism are also those least likely to pay it any attention. “The people who say [that criticism is worthless], they’re only interested in going to see Iron Man anyway,” said Atkinson. “They don’t give a shit if one critic liked it and one critic didn’t, they’re going to go anyway. They’ve been trained from the cradle to obey the marketing instincts, the Pavlovian bell of the commercials. Criticism isn’t for people like that. Criticism is for people who like to read, because it’s reading.” Though the “popcorn crowd” demographic might be the majority of today’s filmgoers, critics will only debase themselves and their profession by flattering the tastes of these viewers. These filmgoers are going to ignore criticism no matter what critics write, so there is no point in trying to curry their favour.”

So where to from here for thoughtful well written reflections on filmmaking at a time when the old ways of finding out about a film through a trailer at the cinema or the listings in the local paper are well and truly gone?

+ Collegiality
It is already occurring online with like-minded blogs and sites banding together and sharing recommendations of movies worth watching and articles worth reading.

Bill Holsinger-Robinson, Spout’s chief operating officer is on record saying, “we found that people are fairly jaded about the traditional critical mechanism, but 52 percent said they have more success turning to family and friends.”

Some local blogs, in addition to the (red) set, focused on growing a healthy and smart online film community that spreads and shares good stuff:

Syms Covington

Melbourne Film Blog

Stale Popcorn

Last Night Riviera

Eyes wired Open

At the Movies

pic: Margaret & David on the set of ABC TV’s, At the Movies