The Lost Beauty Of Film

Stick with me here,we all watch movies,but I’m beginning to think we’ve crossed a line when it comes to the films we watch.film making was and still is an art form. films create entire worlds and stories we as an audience can get lost in for a couple of hours. they will make you laugh and make you cry,they can make you mourn the loss of a character you felt a deep connection with,make you cheer when the protagonist wins the day or feel an intense hatred towards an antagonist when he gets the best of our hero/heroine.whatever the genre.plot line or even just the casting,movies have the ability to send you on a whole rollercoaster ride of emotions.But I fear in today’s movie culture a lot of great film pieces have fallen into the shadows of big movie franchises,I’m not saying these franchises are a bad thing, I myself am guilty of binge watching the MCU releases and I couldn’t tell you the amount of times I’ve rewatched Harry Potter series. These big name films do everything I’ve just described however I long for days of finding that new cult classic and cherish those moment when I do.

Do you remember the first time you watched The Shawshank Redemption and remember how you felt when Andy Dufresne escapes And Kneels down in the rain savouring his freedom? Or the first time you watched the Green Mile? How about cult classics such as Train-spotting? nowadays a lot of what I see being hyped up and most in demand are sequel, Trilogies or sagas even if storyline quality is the casualty (If you need examples:5 Ice ages,I’ve lost count of the Saw franchise film count,Resident Evil,and Underworld to name but a few).

In the box office race it’s very rare to find an independent film these days that stands a chance up against big budget movies even though sometimes they are of much better quality. I’ll give you an example when Tom Hardys Legend was released did you know there was another film about the Kray twins released at exactly the same time? The Rise of the Krays (Followed by the Fall of the Krays) now Hardys film was fantastic don’t get me wrong but the Rise of the Krays was equally amazing yet barely got any exposure,why? Because a ‘small‘ budget film of equal substance would never stand up against a film of the same subject staring the likes of Tom Hardy (I mean come in he crashed Cebeebies with his Bedtime Stories)

I guess what I’m asking is next time you look for something to watch,and thumbing through streaming service options,give that low budget,stand alone,Independent film a try before you head straight to the last great blockbuster you’ve seen a dozen times before, you might be surprised. there’s something Raw about a film thats limited to story telling and not bolstered by big budgets and grand special effects