I’m fairly certain the definition of Hollywood is: The death of creativity (at least that’s it’s definition now).
Aren’t you a twisted thread starter. How about Fritz Lang? Apart from the wonderful You Only Live Once, Hollywood pretty much killed him off (Although i must admit i’ve heard good things about The Big Heat, but never seen it.
On the flip side Ang Lee has fared much better although admittedly the results are mixed.
One undoubted success story though is Sergio Leone. Once Upon a Time in America and Once Upon a Time in the West are two of the greatest films in American cinema. Not bad for someone who started out in Italian B movies.
Hollywood doesn’t kill things if the filmmaker can stand up for themselves and not cave in when it comes to compromising. There are great films made in Hollywood and there’s a lot of shit made so it all comes down to the creative people involved. But I disagree about John Woo, I think “Face/Off” was an action classic and was one of the last great movies that Nicolas Cage did. I think sometimes the language barrier affects them negatively (such as the Pang brothers)
Let me explain myself:
I’m not trying to say Hollywood is a place where creativity dies; Hollywood has created some of the greatest films ever (The 70s alone they produce some of the finest films in cinema history), nor am I saying a foreign director cant make it in Hollywood or that Hollywood wouldn’t let a foreign director creative freedom (Alfred Hitchcock did make some of his greatest films in America). I merely wanted start some minds thinking and expressing their thoughts about the subject.
@Ross
on the flip side…
every other german filmmaker besides lang.
and what about polanski?
Herzog does pretty well with american financing
I think this argument only holds water if you are pre-disposed to dislike American movies for some dumb reason.
Hollywood is a cancer for creativity. Very difficult for a director who is used to the artistic appreciation of Europe to come over into a land were money is the only measurement of success.
And stop saying America makes great films in general due to its success in the 70’s and before. America is making trash 95% of the time and the past is no excuse for such horrible output today. We can’t keep bringing up past achievements as proof of a successful art form while we are in the process of producing more and more unacceptable films.
Look at Wong Kar Wai. Came to Hollywood and made that turd My Blueberry Nights. He needs to stay where he is and continue to deliver the magic.
Ross, its also worth mentioning that Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America was horribly butchered when released in America. The uncut Cannes version took a while to reach America and actually be recognized as the masterpiece that you and I look it as.
And Rich Uncle Skeleton, Herzog is great example of a film director who is still as prolific as he ever was and anyone who’s seen Grizzly Man or Wild Blue Wonder (a more obscure piece, but in my opinion just as wonderful) will agree.
Argin, your post is ridiculous. It might be right that most Hollywood films are not art, but so are most of the films produced in other countries. The only difference is that those films are rarely distributed outside their home country, resulting in most people not being aware of the crap that is produced in say Germany, Russia or France. I am really shaking my head seeing so much ignorance.
It is very true that we only get a sample of the films from these countries and that it would be wrong to judge their entire output with only these films. But I have lived in Germany and France and from experience I can tell you that America doesn’t even come close. You could ask an average person in Germany and they know who Fassbinder and Herzog are. But good luck getting that far when asking an ordinary citizen of the US who John Cassavetes and Stanley Kubrick are. That alone was enough to solidify in my mind the gap between Americans and Europeans. Unfortunately, all these countries we speak of are heavily saturated with Hollywood films and Hollywood studios nowadays.
For god’s sake, the Academy Awards is the benchmark for cinema in this country!
I truly hope you aren’t defending Hollywood in your post because I would feel foolish after recognizing your post with a reply.
Fuck it, at least we have There Will Be Blood.
Billy Wilder
Well, I am German and I live in Germany, and your claim that the average person knows Fassbinder or Herzog made me laugh. Nothing could be farther from the truth. And if you think that “films” such as Keinohrhasen, Der Schuh des Manitu or Traumschiff Surprise are better than the crappiest films made in Hollywood you should watch these “films”. You are seriously confusing a small segement of the population and the film industry in Europe with the average person and the average film in the US.
Well, the box office figures worldwide show the dominance of Hollywood and hardly support the idea of superior taste or even knowledge outside the US. And Godard’s film on French cinema for the centenary of cinema showed how ignorant the general population are of classic films even in their own country. Of course other countries are undoubtedly much more aware of US cinema than vice-versa.
I would say that Hollywood remakes of good international films have often been much weaker and there have certainly been cases of well-known international directors who’ve disappointed in Hollywood, though in recent years there have still been some decent, well-known films and Oscar winners directed by Brits for example. But compare with an earlier golden age when European directors made many of the greatest American films: Night of the Hunter, Vertigo, Sunrise, Casablanca, Some Like it Hot, To Be or Not to Be, North by Northwest, The Scarlet Empress, Letter from an Unknown Woman, Sunset Boulevard, The Gold Rush……Hitch, Murnau, Lang, Lubitsch, Ophuls, Chaplin and many others.
I think it’s less about the evils of Hollywood than simply the fact that not all filmmakers can adapt to working within a different system of making films. Hollywood isn’t exactly a bastion of utom unbridled creativity, but John Woo’s Face/Off is actually a pretty good genre film, even if it isn’t up to the standard of Woo’s best HK films. Tom Tykwer’s The International came from Hollywood . . . Alfonso Cuarón . . . Alejandro González Iñárritu . . . Fernando Meirelles . . . Guillermo del Toro . . . Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair . . . Jane Campion . . . Peter Jackson . . . Bertrand Tavernier . . . Peter Weir . . . Paul Greengrass . . . Edgar Wright . . . Wim Wenders . . . Kenneth Branaugh . . . Jean-Pierre Jeunet . . . there’s definately respectable work being done by foreign directors in Hollywood.
Lots of anti american sentiment about films here. It makes me wonder about how opinions have shifted from smart to predictable.
First of all, the post addresses a discussion, that is what it’s supposed to be. It’s not about hollywood rather than how foreign directors adapt to the system, that is the aim. It disgusts me when all the anti american film bandwagon comes up so pervasive, I think we can offer a balanced argument without sounding so childish. Like art films? go watch em.
Frankly, there is no better system than the american studio system. This is where the money is, and filmmakers who can merge an understanding of art vs commerce can fare well with the match of material. As long as you don’t work for Fox. Most of you think that films should be art first, and that’s fine but I think both. Paul Verhoeven is an example of a director who managed to bring his sensibility to shake up the system in the 90’s AND made commercial pictures who happen to cost a lot of money. And that is the reality: films cost money, and have skyrocketed.
In the 70’s, films cost a fraction of what they do today and that’s partly a reason so many ballsy ones got made. Foreign crew members have flourished in hollywood, where cameraman production designers and costumes have done well. Peter Jackson, Alfonso Cuaron, even Polanski has done well here. If the case is about american films today, that’s another post. Directors peak too, Ang Lee is an example and so is Woo. That’s as much time as I can spend on the topic. Happy day!
Anubhav Bist
I remember the first time i watched John Woo’s great Hard Boiled and just being speechless while watching the beautifully choreographed action sequences, the wonderful cinematography, the beautifully directed scenes, and of course the charismatic performances from the great Chow Yun Fat and Tony Leung. Its still my favorite shoot em up action film. But after the film’s completion, John Woo went to Hollywood. Sadly since then we haven’t seen a film from John Woo that was really as good. What happened? Was it Hollywood that ruin John Woo or just that he doesn’t have it anymore. Well this begins the discussion: What are some positive/negative circumstances of foreign director entering Hollywood? And just some other things to think about: Is Hollywood a place for where creativity die or will John Woo ever make another classic action film ever again.