But sometimes, between the middlebrow slosh, there is actual interesting stuff. So let's talk about The Danish Girl - a film about one of the first openly transgender European women.
The film stars the gorgeous (sadly heterosexual) Eddie Redmayne, who is trying to make up for Jupiter Ascending by once again delivering a powerful performance in a character-led biopic. Smart, since it earned him an Oscar for The Theory of Everything. Speaking of Oscars, the film's directed by Tom Hooper: the same guy who did The King's Speech and Les Miserables. I think at some point Tom Hooper said: "I'm just going to try and win Oscars for the rest of my life! Screw art! Filmmaking is one big egg and spoon race that I will triumph in! General Veers: prepare your men!"
It always breaks my heart when LGBT-themed works just aren't very good. Not only do I feel like some sort of traitor to my own people for not liking it, but I feel exactly the same way when I don't like a Islam-themed piece or a black-rights themed piece or something making a feminist statement. It's such a worthwhile and vital topic to delve into...and it's not doing it justice. Not to mention that I just like art and so bad art is always such a waste of potential.
Not that The Danish Girl is bad. Or not very good. Or excellent. In fact, I have no idea what the film is actually like because I haven't watched it. But I've seen the trailer. Here it is:
Viewed it? Good. Now you don't need to see the movie.The trailer gives it all away!
Don't get me wrong: it's a great trailer. It immediately establishes a status-quo, a problem that up-ends it, a development, a crisis point, and a resolution. Eddie Redmayne is asked to wear womens clothing, which makes him realise he's transgender. A single shot of him looking confused as he caresses the fabric shows how this feels right to him. No need for an inner monologue or debate.
Throughout the trailer, he and his wife play a 'game' where they continue to paint Eddie as a woman whilst dressing him up. Eventually they decide to take it public, whereupon Eddie accidentally outs himself as Lilie. The wife is understandably shocked, but eventually comes to understand. Lilie is forced to endure abuse from society as an openly trans woman (which is still a massive problem today) but she finally becomes one of the first to undergo gender re-assignment surgery. We presume from the last shot that her life is ultimately much better, as she can be who she truly is. The predjudice is by no means gone, but she's a happier person - and that's what matters ultimately.
There. That's the movie. From start to end, the trailer lays down each key plotpoint whilst also showing the dramatic moments in-between. The few shots and scenes shown are enough to tell us what's going on. The emotional weight behind them is obvious.
Compare this to the trailer for The Force Awakens. There were three trailers for the new Star Wars, and I still had no idea what the movie would be about until I finally saw it myself.All I know is that The Empire is back. It's forwarded by a new Sith Lord who worships Darth Vader and wishes to finish his quest. Meanwhile, there's a Stormtrooper who crash-lands on a desert planet and decides he want's to join the rebels. Leia and Han are still attached to the rebels. Han has the Millenium Falcon. The Stormtrooper gets a lightsaber.
That's it. I mean, I can kind of work out the basic plot: Stormtrooper quits Empire, meets Han, joins rebellion, fights bad guy. But Finn isn't even the central character. He holds dual-protagonist status with Rey; who we hardly see in the trailer. And how has The Empire returned? Why are the rebels still rebels? How does Finn get a lightsaber? Why does Han still have the Falcon? We have to watch the film to answer these questions.
Yes, I shouldn't compare Oscar-bait to Blockbusters,,,even though they both strive for cheaply-earned success. But I thought the whole point of a trailer is that it wants you to go see the film. It gives you a rough idea of what to expect, whilst pitching why you should go see it. It's supposed to be a visual version of a book blurb. Can you imagine if Romeo and Juliet started with a chorus that tells you they're going to kill themselves? Ohwait...
This is a bad habit many film's have got into. Remember the trailer for The Amazing Spiderman 2 where it spoilt that Peter's best friend would become The Green Goblin? I saw that and thought: "Thanks for saving me £7 - or however much it costs these bloody days..."
And I'd like to say the same thing here. I hugely appreciate the trailer, because I now don't need to see the film. I enjoyed the trailer, even if I thought it was perhaps simplifying issues a bit, but I have no reason to fork out for a full cinema ticket. Smart move.
No comments:
Post a Comment