The last movie I saw in a theater, it was early March, just before the unanticipated shut-down, was The Invisible Man whose villain was visible only in mask-like outline. Masks may increase our odds against infection, but they can also make us feel invisible. It was strangely appropriate as my last picture show of the year
Although I stopped going to movies, the movies kept coming to me. After The Invisible Man, I finally put aside old prejudices. I already recognized that American productions intended for home viewing (“Breaking Bad,” Behind the Candelabra) were better than most of what Hollywood dished out to the multiplexes but was slow to accept the premise that—in most cases—I can have just as good an experience on screens as small as laptop as in a cinema. One hesitation remains: I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy film on I-phone.
Aesthetically, most films are small in scale and intimate in their arrangements. Tom Hanks fretted that the special effects of his World War II movie, Greyhound, were diminished when shrunk to TV size. But all that CGI ocean splashing across the deck of his destroyer was less important than the story of a commander and his men confined to a warship during wartime, continually in danger and making fast decisions to avoid death.
Yes, some movies really do look better on epic-sized screens: Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001, Dunkirk—and then the list gets harder to tally. Most movies from recent decades seem designed to be seen on television. After all, long before the pandemic, that’s where most of us saw them.
Erasing the Gap
The gap between the theatrical premiere of movies and their release for home viewing was narrowing in recent years. In 2020, with theaters closed or open with limited seating, many studios erased the gap altogether. Intended as a spring blockbuster, Mulan’s release was delayed several times before debuting in September in the U.S. on Disney+. By just about any measure, it was a hit.
The big news came when Warner Bros. announced its plan for the simultaneous release of all 17 upcoming movies in theaters and HBO Max. HBO Max was an also-ran when compared to Amazon Prime and Netflix, but at $14.99 per month, it will now deliver a stream of (real or wannabe) blockbusters to your house. It’s cheaper than a date for two at the multiplex and if your home is like my home, the popcorn will be better and less expensive as well. And yes, you can hit pause while getting the nachos out of the oven.
Not all studios are going in that direction. Roadside Attractions opened the new Italian production of Pinocchio with Roberto Benigni on December 25 in theaters only. It debuted to just $274,600, a poor showing abetted by the studio’s refusal to send a screener link to critics in most cities. Were they counting on Facebook to spread the word?
The End?
Is this the end of moviegoing as we once knew it? While some theaters won’t survive, I don’t think theatrical exhibition of films has ended. What the pandemic might have done is accentuate a trend already well underway. Unless it’s a much hyped movie whose readymade audience will line up on opening day and return for a second helping, fewer people than in the past are hurrying to see the latest Hollywood films. It’s generally accepted that most of them aren’t much good, and if any movie seems sounds interesting, it will be out soon on some streaming service (or maybe all of them). Maybe my demographic alliances are peculiar, but most people I know go out to the movies no more than four times a year and each outing is part of a bigger day or night out—lunch with friends, dinner with your spouse, something different to do.
And that will be what will save many theaters from closing. Most people don’t want to be stuck at home. They want to go back to restaurants and bars and attend concerts and ball games. Moviegoing will remain on the menu of options but more than ever before, the cinema will have lots of competition for attention and time.
Favorite Films of 2020
I don’t like calling it a “best-of” list because who am I to say what’s best? Let’s just say that the two films I most enjoyed this year were Sophia Coppola’s smart, casually sophisticated comedy On the Rocks, and Aaron Sorkin’s often hilarious yet meaningful historical drama, The Trial of the Chicago Seven. A close third was Charlie Kaufman’s quantum mind-warp I’m Thinking of Ending Things.
As always, there were gems less noticed by the general public, including a feast for film history buffs, David Fincher’s Mank; Julia Hart’s neo-noirish I’m Your Woman; Marco Pontecorvo’s understated miracle play Fatima; Agnieszka Holland’s indictment of Stalinism, Mr. Jones; the haunting fantasy by Benh Zeitlin, Wendy; Steve Coogan’s blistering satire of neo-liberal economics, Greed; and Oz Perkins’ intriguing visit with the Brothers Grimm, Gretel & Hansel.
Special mention goes to Milwaukee-reared Niels Mueller’s Small Town Wisconsin, an almost perfect study in what good actors with a well-conceived screenplay can do within a tight budget.
Worth seeing are several documentaries ripped-from-recent-headlines, especially Ron Howard’s Paradise, which counts the human toll of one devastating California wildfire while examining the catastrophe in the context of climate change. Music fans had a good year in 2020 with documentaries such as Daniel Roher’s Band of Brothers, Milwaukee native John Scheinfeld’s Herb Alpert Is… and Leslie Woodhead’s elegantly composed Ella: Just One of Those Things.
