Netflix's John Cassavetes Kick Is Pure Irony - Paste

On a dark night in November 1958, John Cassavetes arrived at the famous Paris Theater in New York and premiered his first feature film.

. The independent director announced three free midnight screenings on the radio, hoping to support his premiere. There are 600 open seats in the single-screen display, although people think that the free tickets attract the audience of Hee Hee audience.

Just over 100. The situation got worse: crowds of spectators trapped the theater in the theater before the movie was well received. More than 90% of the audience was dissatisfied with the film, and the sound had major problems. The director himself also believed that the film needed more editing. Although he had no money, Casa Vitus reproduced the film for re-release in 1959, which marked the director's roots in a completely independent filmmaking career.

More than 60 years later, the Paris Theater is about to close permanently. The shoddy midnight screening of Cassavetes will be an ancient relic left over from history and will no longer reverberate on the walls of the Cinema Palace. People mourned the loss of this special landmark until Netflix quickly moved to save it. Please save... After only a few months after closing, the ribbon brought the theater back to life in 2019, providing screening space for its main award competitors. E.g:

, Noah Baumbach (Noah Baumbach) harrowing divorce story, a young famous couple. This year, there are a few other Netflix award competitors who have

: Young couples have conflicts. Realism is a lot of controversy. Movies that feel like independent dramas are actually backed by a company that surpassed Disney and AT&T's market value last summer. Film works not inspired by Kasawitz.

Netflix released a series of potential competitors this year, but apart from the history of David Fincher

The sweep with Spike Lee

, There are three independent Netflix movies for consideration this year, and they have one main commonality: Cassavetes. The two are similar to the director’s iconic independent filmmaking style, while the other tends to rely on a blatant name change.

,

with

All references and inspirations from movies and creators; however, since the release of Kaufman's road trip winding machine last September, Cassavetes have been recurring streamers. Just search for "Cassavetes" in Google News, and you can browse a series of comments and quote the director's words for summary and comparison. Why is Netflix this year attracted to Cassaveter-style movies, and how do these movies compare to the pioneers of independent films?

Casa Vitus once said: "For me, movies are not important." "But people are important." This is the core of the director's film creation philosophy written in simple language. In addition to style and linear narrative, Cassavetes also surpassed any film conventions at the time, hoping to write sincere roles and guide actors to perform conscientiously. Of course, the deadlock between men and women seems to be common in his films, but these dilemmas give way to realistic, affectionate performances. At the end of the film "Cassavetes", the audience is destined to be familiar with the protagonist's twitches, walking patterns, voice changes and emotions. Every intimate detail. Most importantly, Cassavetes is the master of handheld cameras, tracking actors when they smoke, wave their fists, or hide their children in bed. Although these are not true stories, he still hopes that moviegoers can fly against the wall like a fly in a movie theater.

These Netflix movies taken from the style of Cassavetes all depict a man and woman in a romantic relationship, both quarreling, young and irritable, but do they accept this kind of character-related story? There is not much to do in the movie, so there is a chance to pair up with the protagonist to maintain an intimate relationship. Each movie presents a common dilemma, that is, a couple's argument, miscarriage, two car trips full of arguments, and they are honed in their reactions. At first glance, the filmmaking style used might look like a modern version of Casavet. But the "style" of Cassavetes is authenticity, layered performance, wealth of complex stories, not just movies of angry young couples.

Example: KornélMundruzcó

I would rather remove the influence of Cassavetes' performers so that the movie looks like Cassavetes Lite. Sean (Shia LaBeouf) is a young man who just had a miscarriage with his partner. He browsed the movie with anger and cruelty, which made the movie become hypocritical.

Its performance lasted for a long time, pulling emotions from each character, as if it was tearing a book apart, so much that it forgot to pursue a plot worth watching. When Cassavetes’s films run out of movies to watch, this may be a consideration for fans-of course, it has amazing performances and irritating young couples, but instead

For the original Cassavetes, it's like replacing the steaming hot cherry pie and buttery crust with uncooked dough. The shell is there. But from the inside, it’s clear that there are no luxurious innards left in the photos that make the pie a pie or a film.

Charlie Kaufman's

Balancing the issue, but after two buzzing road trips, it constitutes an interesting story. Jack (Jesse Plemance) and his unidentified girlfriend (Jesse Barkley) experienced a winter storm and met with the former's parents, although the real storm brewed the couple's argument. Here, the influence of Casa Vitus is more obvious: the character has left his name and reference

In their quarrel. Buckley's character quoted the entire passage of Pauline Kael's negative comments, attacking Jake's adoration of the movie. However, the riding feeling of a car is reminiscent of the endless quarrels of Cassavetes, keeping the emotional response of the clues in our minds, thus providing a true portrait of interpersonal relationships. Although it was not hand-held, and it didn’t feel like a movie theater script,

Carry the character dilemma in a way commensurate with the style of Cassavetes.

Then Sam Levinson’s

, Was produced in a quarantine area under strict COVID restrictions and two dedicated conversions. The tone sounds like Cassavetes style, like

meet

: The director (John David Washington) forgot to thank his girlfriend for turning the two of them into a black and white fight in a speech about his new film. There is no interference from other characters. Only two people wrestle with art, romance, muse and criticism intimately and privately. Hand-held shooting, this film brings a cinematic intimacy to these two performers.

It sounds the closest to the style of Cassavetes. but

Pointing out that the film relies too much on its own solipsism and cannot have any noteworthy discussions, while ignoring Cassavetes' key idea that people are more important than films. After all, film is also about the experience and tribulations of becoming a filmmaker.

Nonetheless, these films won the victory of one of Cassavetes' best and cutest trademarks: they were all nominated as first-class actresses. Without his wife and Gena Rowlands in the showbiz, Casavert is nothing. She starred in almost every movie he starred in, from the tired housewife Mabel Longhetti to the exhausted actress Myrtle Gordon. Vanessa Kirby soars

, To express grief and loss of motherhood in a more real way than the rest of the story. Zendaya's hot show

Similarly burst into

. As for

Barkley’s harsh, piercing sound reverberates in those exciting car scenes, even though Plemons looks just as interesting. Where these films may lack the substance of Casavert, they have at least attracted the performance of the heroine-depending on your opinion of Casavert, this may be the most important factor.

Before Cassavetes attended the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York, he had no connection with the film industry. Since the budget is incredibly low, it is usually self-funded movies

(The budget is less than US$20,000),

, Cassavetes is known as the pioneer of independent film. even

It is the most popular movie by Casa Vitus, which cost only about 1 million US dollars and was jointly raised by Casa Vitus and his two stars Rowlands and Peter Falk. Netflix has $19

2021 production budget

Now, the hands of Netflix making these movies shouldn't save the movies from everything in Cassavetes. (In fact​​,

It was produced before Netflix went live, with a production budget of US$2 million and COVID safety restrictions. However, there is an industry connection: Levinson is the son of the famous film producer Barry Levinson. . Just like the inspirations of Casavert, because they are funded or purchased by giant companies, they can never become "independent" movies like Casavert's films are independent films. They may look like an independent person, feel like an independent person, performing at festivals and award shows like in an independent film, but this is not just something false. It's like

It’s like “independent movies make a lot of money” despite being controlled by two studios Sony and Disney

.

This kind of false behavior is especially true when it comes to awards season, which seems to be the main reason Netflix is ​​interested in these movies. With success

Last year-despite the couple/arguing model, compared to the new movie, Cassavetes' films weren't as many as Cassavetes' films-the streamers seemed to understand that they could win big prizes with cheap movies. There are countless magnificent epics, such as

, Directed by the award-winning director and almost guaranteed nominations. However, due to the proper performance, proper and subtle performance, the arguments of a couple are equally valid among the winning voters.

All this is not to say that filmmakers should not cite Cassavetes or draw inspiration from his sparkling work. In fact, to check the Cassavetes mentioned in the comments or

in

It was fascinating at first-almost pleasant. But then, the sense of vigilance began to penetrate. Many directors raise money to make movies may be a pure good thing, after all, Scorsese created an excellent

On Netflix, even if he doesn't like the online-only mode-but this is not consistent with the greatest independent influence of some of the directors. Casa Vitus often complains about man-made films made by studios that spit out the same formula film-he wants fresh, true stories. Therefore, when three Netflix movies inspired by Cassavetes are released in a year, one might start to assume that the streaming routine is cut and dried. Even the ape Cassavetes can be the exact formula to repel him.

decision maker

Jezebel

Film school refused

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