In 1994, the genius director Tim Burton made a movie "Edwood" to commemorate the king of Hollywood's bad movies of the last century. This movie starring Captain Jack Johnny Depp tells the story of a director who had little talent but insisted on his movie dream in the 1950s in Hollywood. (Ed Wood, a famous American Z-movie director, is known for making bad films. His masterpiece "Project Nine from Outer Space" has been rated as the worst science fiction film of all time by many film critics.) One is basically nothing The talented director, because of his paranoid pursuit of his dreams, has become famous. But what Xiaobai wants to talk about today is not Tim Burton's "Edwood", but "The Disaster Artist", which has swept 9 film festivals so far.
There are two ways to become famous since ancient times. Especially in this era of entertainment to the death, how high the artistic accomplishment of the works may not be so important to the general public for the time being. If it doesn't attract a certain amount of attention, then a good work will inevitably go to waste. The Disaster Artist, directed and starred by James Franco (the little Green Goblin from the first version of Spider-Man), tells the story of Tommy Wiseau and his good friend Greg Mark. The process of making the worst movie "The Room" (2003). After the film was released, director and film prototype Tommy Wessou appeared on "The Jimmy Feather Show". When the host asked Tommy how much James Franco had restored his character and accent in the film, Tommy said 99.9%. It has to be mentioned that with this film, James Franco has been nominated for six best actor nominations at film festivals around the world this year, and won the 27th Gotham Independent Film Best Actor. Xiaobai believes that he will also be nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars this year. Like "Edwood," the film is based on a true story. But the difference is that the protagonist in this film, Tommy Wiseau, is in reality a man with long hair and a shawl, who is neurotic and doesn't even know what a PD (Photographer of Director) is on the set. Before Edwood became a director, he had basically done film-related positions, from running the show to screenwriting.
But it was this nerdy, Michael Jackson-dressed pseudo-director who spent three years (somehow) writing more than 500 pages of script, with a huge sum of money in his bank card, calling himself an artist, and spent six Millions of dollars produced the first film in his life, which is called "The Room", which is called the worst teaching material in film history and the negative of filmmaking. Unfortunately, times are different. When Edwood's "Project Nine in Outer Space" premiered, the theater was full of scolding, and some angry audience members even took off their shoes and threw them away in the theater. In the end, the director and the main creators fled the scene in embarrassment. In the premiere of "Room", the audience was embarrassed at first, but then they started laughing because of the embarrassing acting and poor technique in the film, and they laughed until the end of the movie, and the audience stood up and applauded. .
Xiaobai was fortunate enough to have watched this film in the cinema before. The experience of watching the movie at that time was really hard to describe. It is a great blessing to be able to walk out of the cinema alive. Interested readers can click the following link to read what Xiaobai wrote: "Room" Cinema life-saving concept Shadow Guide. Just ask, how many bad films in the history of film can make the audience have such an enthusiastic response. Nowadays, in this era of bad domestic films, many film and television works that make the audience explode, are like freshly baked excrement soaked in the toilet, and they are forgotten as soon as the water is flushed. However, this film, which can be called an American version of a small era, has been shown in the United States for 14 years (many small art theaters still have occasional re-screenings). This inevitably makes Xiaobai ask a question, what kind of bad film can be so famous and sensational in the film industry? After all, on the road of art, what is most afraid of is not that your work will be slammed, but that people will not talk about your work at all, or even forget it. Because the greatest murder of art is not criticism, but neglect. Many young people with artistic dreams have spent a lot of time writing stories, engaging in photography, making short films, etc., only to find that people don't want to appreciate their works at all. The reason may be that he has no talent, or that his works are the same. But in the final analysis, it is because it does not have the flash point required for the value dissemination contained in the art circle.
We can't say that both Edwood and Tommy Wessel have a high artistic accomplishment, or a high cinematic aesthetic. All they have is the ultimate pursuit of what they are passionate about. But their success lies not only in their reckless pursuit of film careers, but also in their own deviating and even contradicting aesthetics of life (Edwood is a transvestite in real life). It is this kind of charismatic person who lives his life as a movie and finally achieves his own artistic path, and even their life becomes the work of art of others. After all, you can't live without being crazy. (Schopenhauer said) No ordinary, calm person can become a genius. In addition, the pursuit of artistic dreams is no longer just a matter of insisting on this path without hesitation. Most people have begun to choose the path of saving the country through curves. The male protagonist in "La La Land" opened his dream jazz fried chicken restaurant after he became famous after joining a band he once hated; Xu Haofeng started making movies after being a Nortel teacher for many years ; even in "The Disaster Artist," Tommy Wiseau didn't make his first movie until he had (no one knows how) huge sums of money in his bank account. The movie took $6 million in and out. It can be seen that the reason why the ugly duckling can become a swan is because it is a swan itself, and most ducklings will only become roast ducks in the end.
Finally, I highly recommend everyone with artistic dreams to see "Edwood" and "The Disaster Artist". Different from the black and white pictures of "Edwood" with the weird style, "The Disaster Artist" is humorous, funny and true, especially the restoration of the original movie at the end of the credits. The intention of the director and the creator can be seen. (For those watching in theaters, remember that there will be Easter eggs after the subtitles, Easter eggs after the subtitles, Easter eggs after the subtitles, and important things to say three times.) We always want to leave something to this world, so that we can After your mind has rotted away and your body rotted away, there are still some things worth remembering in this world, and some people who remember that you once lived. But the fact is that most of us are destined to become all living beings after being busy, and then disappear into this world, like, like never existed. In the end, I would like to dedicate a word to everyone by Schopenhauer - "People are either lonely or vulgar." Friends who like movies can also use the audience's own public account to make friends.
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I haven't written many movie reviews in recent years, especially after I became a screenwriter. On the contrary, starting last year, I began to try to be my own independent film review podcast. Slowly I found that, compared with cold words, using voice to express opinions can make opinions more warm and personal.
The purpose of this podcast is also very simple and pure. It is not for profit. It uses love to generate electricity. I simply hope that through this podcast, I can get to know more friends who like movies and creation.
Especially in the days when we can't make our favorite movie works, chatting about movies together may be the greatest comfort to ordinary life.
Anyway, this is a podcast of "talking about movies from the creator's point of view". At the end of each episode, we will open our minds together and magically change the story of the movie. Friends who are interested in movies or in creation can pay attention.
——2022.2.26
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