Vintage Sand Episode 38: 2021 and the "End of Movies"

Vintage Sand

In a “New York Times” article published last month, Ross Douthat expounded on the provocative idea that the movies, as in studio films produced in Hollywood, were “over.” He was not arguing that Hollywood would ever stop producing movies for the big screen, nor that the notion of seeing a movie in a dark theater with strangers all around would ever completely disappear. Instead, he was saying that The Movies, the heart of American popular culture for over a century, has now become just another source of content in a world of seemingly endless content. He attributes this to the rise of streaming and the improved quality of what we can see on our screens at home, to a globalized market that rewards the exploitation of familiar properties over anything that might be truly innovative, and, to be fair, the expense and sheer unpleasantness of taking one’s family to see a movie in an actual theater. And since most of what was on offer in the big theaters was Marvel/DC multiverse epics, other tentpole/franchise films or anything with a Roman numeral on the end of the title, is this such a big loss? Viewed through this lens, Team Vintage Sand was kind of split on the legacy of 2021 in film. Michael thought the year was one of the best in recent memory, whereas John and I were a bit more ambivalent. Of course, it my not be coincidental that Mike, as a card-carrying member of the union, got to see nearly everything this year in a real theater at SAG screenings. John and I saw a handful of films on the big screen, but most via streaming. (If this is not a coincidence, it argues strongly in favor of the primacy of the theater experience). And as you’ll hear in the episode, we could not even agree on whether any 2021 films met our highest standard: that they will still be watched 25 or 50 years from now. The most likely possibility is “Drive My Car”, although John expressed some sensible reservations. What else? Spielberg’s shockingly good “West Side Story” update? Maybe “Power of the Dog”, although Michael pointed out what I’m sure many felt: that the film was beautiful and technically perfect, but was so cold that very few will feel compelled to watch it again. Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” has an outside shot, but I objected that, to paraphrase Mike’s oft-quoted mantra, I could not in the end love a film where I did not care about the central character (brilliant performance though it was). And “CODA”? A film that no one could dislike, with some tremendous performances, but an Afterschool Special script that, like “Green Book” or “Crash”, allowed Hollywood to pat itself on the back for being sensitive to the voices of an outsider group without really saying anything. As we did at this time last year, we frame the year in film in terms of the Oscar ceremony, which was well on its way to being one of the worst ever before you-know-what happened. We discuss the glaring omissions (Villeneuve not being nominated for “Dune”; “Passing”, which in some ways was the best film of the year, not getting nominated for anything; Hans Zimmer over Jonny Greenwood, etc.) and the occasions where they actually got it right (Hello, Ariana De Bose!). Not the greatest year, but to return to Douthat’s article, he concludes with an important plea: that it is more necessary than ever to teach the history and technique of classic film as an art form, as the chance that younger generations will be exposed to these works grows smaller and smaller. I felt a sense of validation personally, as I have been doing just that with high school students for a quarter of a century. But we also felt that this highlighted why we put together Vintage Sand in the first place: our mission to open some doors and some new perspectives for our listeners. So kick back, enjoy, and hope along with us that film in 2022 will be less of the proverbial slap in the face than in the year just passed.