Spike Lee’s Bamboozled
Tommy Wiseau’s The Room
I keep thinking that There Will Be Blood is pretty courageous. Not that it’s the most courageous, but it is still pretty damned courageous, at that.
Also, and I haven’t seen this, but 2046 seems like it’s damn ballsy.
But I agree with Synecdoche.
Savvy
I don’t think I can add anything to Squiffle’s list. Those are decidedly the most who’da-thought-they’d-get-financing-for-this? films of the decade. Or, in the case of WILD THINGS, wh’da thought the studio could keep its paws off the project…
short bus maybe
nine songs
Synecdoche, Inland Empire, TWBB, TWR…..On second thought, everything in my decade top 10.
“The Fountain”
Where the Wild Things Are? What’s so ballsy about Spike Jonze making an hour and a half long music video?
Cache
Sunshine
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
None of these are “courageous or ballsy”. These are all Hollywood films (or some are Hollywood films masquerading as indies). Maybe branch out a bit folks…
short bus and nine songs hollywood jesse?
Jesse, that’s why they’re ballsy. They’re Hollywood films, and yet they’re still outside the norm…
Savvy
@ Jesse, speak the gospel truth, brother.
C’mon, guys, y’all been hanging around here far too long to be trying to name the LOTR trilogy “ballsy and courageous”. It was a huge financial risk that paid off. Period. I’m sure that’s not what you’re implying by “ballsy and courageous”, is it? I will grant you Synecdoche NY.
KJ, that’s the exact reason why it was ballsy: It was a huge financial risk. That it paid off doesn’t take away from it being ballsy…
Savvy
The interesting thing about the adjective “ballsy” is that it has nothing to do with quality. So hence why most of the films listed above are utter crap. But courage as a quality is not only morally neutral – like Sontag wrote – as it is aesthetically neutral.
So what? The studio gets a pat on the back for making the call? Sorry, no. I’m not trying to take it down, but LOTR didn’t advance anything. At all. ‘Cept SFX. Something that nudges the form, that’d be “ballsy and courageous”. Put something on the line, besides moolah, yeah? If LOTR is “Ballsy and courageous” then Harmony Korrine is Captain James Cook.
Good point, Zachary.
Ten Canoes was quite ballsy if ballsy = ambitious.
Offside and The Circle were pretty ballsy at confronting Iranian society’s idea of women.
KJ, but it’s not about advancement, is it? I guess I just don’t know your definition of “ballsy.” I think, if it was such a risk, then a studio backing it is, yes, “ballsy.”
Savvy
Well put, Ari.
Sorry, Zachary- advancement. That’s all it’s about. For me. The rest is writing checks. No point slinging adjectives around trying to put a better sheen on already shiney garbage.
KJ, well, okay. To each his own, I guess! :D
But wait: Say a studio is almost going under, and they have one chance, one film, that will make or break the entire studio. Are you saying that it wouldn’t be ballsy for them to finance it?
Savvy
By the same logic being used in some of the posts above, ANY film with a huge financial investment would be “ballsy.” The fact is that today “major” studio films are focus-grouped, polled, and evaluated long before a camera turns. The LORD OF THE RINGS had a built-in audience of international fans eager to see it and, if it had been done poorly or not advertised well, it might have failed at the box office, but it didn’t. And I’ll bet it was pre-sold to exhibitors, with DVD rights and ancillary deals galore to maximize profitability.
Should we consider TITANIC “ballsy” because it cost so much? What about CLEOPATRA and other such hugely expensive epics? These films took care NOT to be risk-taking or “ballsy” by casting popular stars, hiring top directors, cinematographers, editors, composers, etc. in order to minimize risk and ensure profit (as best that can be done in the movie business).
These films, including LORD OF THE RINGS, were also not terribly innovative from a narrative or thematic perspective, so I would distinguish them from a SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK, which was NOT a crowd-pleaser and did not rely on a best-selling book or story. It had every possibility of failing at the box office and it did. It took courage to make that kind of movie, whether you liked the results or not.
bruno was ballsy in a sense
you had a movie that was bound to be a hit
after borat
but it was about a subject couples going on a date dont usually like to see
so all these crowds of mainstream viewers saw anal insertions and penises
probably some of the least comfortable crowds since pink flamingoes hit theaters
Den, HAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, but, with Cohen, could people have been that surprised?
Savvy
Zachary, I would say to that studio to examine the (poor) decisions which brought them to that place. Then I’d leave them to their final choice.
Agreed, Frank. All these adjectives are morally and aesthetically neutral.
I think so people were really excited when they came in then started walking out after 10mins
Id say a third of the audience left
How about BATTLEFIELD EARTH? Certainly, that film was ballsy. It took a lot of courage for Travolta to wear those dread extensions.
Squiffle
What movies made during the past decade stunned you with their audacity or with their ambition? Which movies did you walk out of, gleaming with hope, knowing that movies like that could still get made?
There weren’t too many but the one that comes to mind first is definitely
SYNECDOCHE NEW YORK
Which is the closest thing to a true epic that I’ve seen in quite some time. If this movie were a novel, it would be over 500 pages and contain an incredible amount of footnotes. The fact that Kaufman was able to coherently write the script and film it without intrusion, and release his vision as it is is astounding. It sets out to do so much, accomplishes nearly all of it, and succeeds on all levels of moviemaking. To me, it is a masterpiece.
Other movies that could come to mind are:
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE – A surrealist art film made under the guise of being a kid’s movie.
THE ENTIRE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY – Just getting a studio to cooperate with a project that huge is astounding