I watch a lot of movies. Just this week, I blew at least two days screening old releases on On Demand cable and new releases in the theaters. I am critical, but not picky about the movies I choose to see. I can get into a brainless flick like “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” as much as I can appreciate a stirring film like “Hotel Rwanda.” But lately, I’ve been going through a periodic phase of boredom with the norm.
I was simultaneously shaken from and made aware of my ennui last Friday when I caught the new movie “Jarhead,” a true story about a Marine and his platoon’s experiences leading up to and during Operation Desert Storm. The movie, based on the best-selling 2003 memoir by Anthony Swofford, was artfully crafted and well-performed by a cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Jamie Foxx.
However, it was not the fantastic cinematography, editing or acting that struck me most about the film. It was the manner in which it approached the subject matter. Dripping with irony throughout, “Jarhead” was a war film that was paradoxically lacking in any actual battle footage. In fact, there was only a single scene in which the Marines found themselves showered in bombs and gunfire. Overall, the movie cast a comedic and poignant look at the Gulf War from a refreshingly new, subdued approach.
Essentially, “Jarhead” reinstated my appreciation of films that take things down a notch or at least attempt to inspect and present a concept or plot in a wholly unconventional way. We need more of this. I realize stereotypes and norms help us make sense of the world, but they also limit our understanding of it. So, while there may be a limit to how many different stories Hollywood can tell, there is a boundless number of ways they can and should approach these tales.
This opinion started to scratch at the inside of my mind this summer when I saw “Batman Begins,” the latest installment in the Batman series. Of course, we all loved “Batman” and “Batman Returns,” and some of us could even get into “Batman Forever,” despite the obvious move toward a bigger-budget version of Gotham City and the loss of director Tim Burton and lead Michael Keaton. But when “Batman and Robin” hit screens in 1997, with Arnold Schwarzenegger butchering the acting profession as Mr. Freeze and Gotham becoming little more than an overdone macabre version of Vegas, few fans could keep their popcorn down.
The beauty of the latest film in the series was that it took things down a notch. It moved away from the increasing prevalence in superhero flicks of computer-generated everything. And the characters were not overly superhuman as they’d become through the past few films. The action was real and pure and this new approach was invigorating.
Another movie I like to use as an example of approaching a genre in an unconventional way is the 2003 biopic “American Splendor,” which told the story of the infamous indie cartoonist Harvey Pekar. The film utilized distinctive cinematography that blended animation and live action to create surreal scenes. However, the most exceptional aspect of the movie was the juxtaposition of scenes featuring the real Harvey Pekar and other characters with those featuring the film’s actors and actresses. This approach allowed the audience to understand the characters even more deeply than the film had already permitted.
But don’t get me wrong. I am not attempting, through these examples, to say all big budget films with computer-generated features are bad. “Sin City” is a prime example of a film that used computers to create a far better, not to mention novel product. In addition, I am not trying to say that all indie flicks with atypical storylines are good. As much as I tried, I just couldn’t understand what so many critics found admirable about “Broken Flowers.”
A simultaneously exceptional and subversive film is undoubtedly a difficult craft to master, but when done right, it has the potential to hit harder than the typical romantic comedy or action film. Sure, every film we see doesn’t necessarily need to expand our horizons as “Jarhead” did mine this past weekend, but wouldn’t it be a lot cooler if they did?