Rarely do I see a movie so bad that it inspires me to do anything but walk out of it. But last night I saw The Place Beyond the Pines and was so mesmerized at how terrible it is that I actually had to sit all the way through it.
I don’t have time to review it, but all you need to know is that Ryan Gosling has a face tattoo and robs a bunch of banks on a motorcycle even though he is the only guy in town who rides a motorcycle and is apparently a celebrity on the carnival circuit because of his motorcycle skills. Then Bradley Cooper kills him and it just drags on in pathetically cartoonish melodrama.
I think this movie knows it is terrible. It is doing it on purpose.
I’ve had this dilemma with art for some time. If the artist is aware that what they’re doing is terrible, does it make them better? Like, we all know that the band Nickelback is complete garbage. But, if following a show, the members of Nickelback congregate in their dressing room, drop character, and look at themselves in the mirror and laugh their asses off, then they aren’t really so bad in my book.
But I’m starting to second guess that sentiment. My best guess, after watching Pines is that the director wanted to make a referential tribute to some long foregone genre of film. Referencing bad movies in your movie is such a bullshit copout. I like Tarantino, but when he does this it gets on my nerves. I hate having to watch him on the DVD extras all coked up and talking about some obscure karate film from the late 50’s and how he wanted to pay homage. Glad you’re entertaining yourself there guy. Incorporating shitty movies into you movie doesn’t make your movie good. It makes your movie worse.
This is why hipsters as a group are sad losers. You want to own a rotary phone? Great. Embracing things that aren’t good doesn’t make you cooler. It makes you less cool. Because you’re an idiot with a shitty rotary phone regardless of your kitschy reasons.
By consciously dumbing down your movie, you’re accomplishing two things:
1) Dumb people will like your movie, because they fall for things that are obvious and easy to grasp.
2) Your more sophisticated viewers will find the movie hilarious, because they get to feel superior to the dumb people by making snarky comments and laughing at the movies failings scene by scene.
You’re throwing bait to people like myself who think they’re better than everyone else. And ironically, this is low hanging fruit.
If you don’t believe the extent to which this is happening, take a look at the films currently airing on HBO, which supposedly holds itself to a very high standard. On their rotation: Sister Act, Flubber, Anaconda, Anaconda II, and Showgirls.
All of these are movies that allow the elitist asshole the chance to build themselves up by feeling superior to the art in front of them.
But I think its just empty calories we’re consuming. Dumb people are watching these movies and getting dumber. And the rest of us aren’t getting any smarter because of it.
If you’re a filmmaker, and you think you’re really clever, try making a movie that is actually good. It would be more impressive.
If you aren’t in the filmmaking business, and aren’t an idiot, don’t fall into the trap of watching shitty movies so you can mock them and feel better about yourself. It would reflect more highly on you if you could actually make it through a good movie.
So shut the fuck up, turn off Roadhouse and watch Michael Clayton or something. Everyone will be better off.
Don’t encourage these hipster assholes.