Clark wrote:
"Further small films that the regular public do enjoy do get discovered.
_Oh Brother Where Art Thou_ did quite well with basically little or not
advertising. Same with _Memento_. Every summer there are several hits
which, while still marketed, aren't marketed in nearly the strength of other
films. You have movies like _The Others_ or _Sixth Sense_ which become huge
hits by word of mouth rather than
initial hype. (Although hype often follows the discovery by marketing
departments that these are huge hits)
Further there usually are films from Sundance or the like that get picked up
by the main Hollywood system and redistributed. I can think of several
Sundance films that have been picked up"
Let's be clear about this. All the movies mentioned here are 'Hollywood'
films (irrespective of where they were actually produced, & how they were
financed.) They are all in the loop of the star sytem, for one thing.
"Mulholland Drive", too, is totally dependent on Hollywood (look at the
story, the locations...) So it doesn't work to name them as examples of
'small' alternative/independent films that find and reach their own market
on artistic merit alone.
The growth in the number of delivery formats (dvd etc) and the number of
screens (multiplexei ?) hasn't been accompanied by a wider choice in the
films you may see. Try to find a Straub/Huillet film on dvd (or even on
videotape) & see how far you get. My local multiplex has eighteen screens
- supposedly one screen is dedicated to 'art cinema', but in practice this
means they mostly play the Miramax type of international panoramic
historical romances or US movies starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman / Kevin
Spacey / Julianne Moore.
That said, I think Hollywood films as a category are no better or worse than
films at large. Didnt' some of the cinema's greatest artists work within
the studio system?
Laura Carroll
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