Three awards hopefuls — Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light” and Pan Nalin’s “Last Film Show” from India — include a scene of one character explaining to another what 24 fps means and how it works.
It’s hard to remember the last time any film included such a scene, so why three in one year? And why are many other contenders also exploring the nature of films?
That list includes Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon,” Alejandro Iñárritu’s “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” Martika Ramirez Escobar’s “Leonor Will Never Die” from the Philippines, and international film entries such as Iran’s “World War III” from writer-director Houman Seyyedi, about the life-changing moment for a day-laborer when he is cast as Hitler in a movie. The U.K.’s entry, Hassan Nazer’s Farsi-language “Winners,” is a salute to Iranian cinema, centering on two young film buffs who discover a lost Oscar statuette in the trash. And Israel’s Orit Fouks Rotem-directed “Cinema Sabaya” concerns eight women (Arabs and Jewish) who gather for a filmmaking class.
The trend might be coincidence; maybe it’s harmonic convergence. Spielberg has said in interviews that COVID introspection triggered his decision to write about this. Mendes has stated, “Lockdown was a period of intense self-examination and reflection for all of us.”
After the COVID pandemic began in March 2020, there also were questions about the film industry: Cinemas were closed around the world and naysayers predicted an end to moviegoing.
Many filmmakers must have wondered: “If I can only make one more movie, what would I want to do? What’s a summation of my life and work?” One answer: movies about movies.
Nalin’s semi-autobiographical “Last Film Show” centers on nine-year-old Samay, who lives in a small Indian village. The title refers to his father’s statement that religious film “Jai Mahakali” would be the last time he’s allowed to go to the movies because “the film world is filthy.”
Of course, Samay is attracted to the forbidden, and starts to cut classes to go to the Galaxy cinema. But his relationship with movies deepens as he becomes fascinated with the light from the projector. He loves touching celluloid and, in a brief poetic segment, he plays with light and colors via mirrors and a green glass bottle. Movies have made him see the world in a new way.
In the Gujarati-language film, distributed domestically by Samuel Goldwyn, Samay decides to create films and recruits his friends to help, explaining, “We need to catch the light.”
The title “Last Film Show” has a second meaning: The film is set in 2010, which filmmaker Nalin says marked the end of celluloid film.
Nalin revisited his hometown in 2011 and encountered his former mentor who, like thousands of film projectionists in India, had lost his job. “Within 14 months, almost every theater went digital,” he tells Variety. “As a filmmaker I had embraced digital, for post-production and editing. Should I be sad about the changes? Is there a loss of heritage?”
He realized, “This is a better story to tell than anything else I was working on. My other script ideas seemed too dark. I want to see hope, light, authentic storytelling.”
Searchlight’s “Empire of Light,” from writer-director Mendes, dovetails with the Indian film, but movies are not an awakening for these characters; cinemas are sacred temples, a communal center where people come to think, learn, escape — or connect with one another.
“Nothing happens without light,” says projectionist Norman. “It’s just static frames with darkness in between,” and 24 frames per second creates an illusion of motion and life, “so you don’t see the darkness.” In the same way, movies can bring light to their lives.
The film centers on the Empire cinema, in an English seaside town in 1980-81. The Empire is lovingly designed by Mark Tildesley and photographed by Roger Deakins; its beauty contrast with the often-troubled lives of the characters who work there.
As with “Last Film Show,” Mendes’ film offers signs of changes in the industry: The fourplex has been reduced to two screens.
When assistant manager Hilary (Olivia Colman) tells new employee Stephen (Micheal Ward) that she is too busy to watch the films, he urges her, “You should watch once in a while … that little beam of light is escape.” When she hits a low point at the end of a workday, she finally requests of projectionist Norman (Toby Jones): “I want to see a film … any film.” She sits alone in the theater, filled with emotion as she watches Hal Ashby’s “Being There.”
In the past century, many feature films have looked at the process of moviemaking, concluding it’s comedic (“Singin’ in the Rain,” “Hail, Caesar!”), darkly funny (“The Player,” “Barton Fink”), nightmarish (“Sunset Blvd.” through “Blonde”) or dramatic (from “What Price Hollywood” through “Mank”).
But those are about the process of creation. There aren’t many movies that explore the connection between audience and film, which can be fun, confusing, awesome — and sometimes spiritual.
Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” from Universal, is about making films, but it’s more internal than most movies in the past. It’s not about the crazy Hollywood studio system; it’s about a young person wanting to be a filmmaker. Spielberg has created a road map for upcoming directors, showing how to do what he’s done.
His father dismisses it as a hobby, but his mother understands that it’s more. His Uncle Boris sympathizes, “We’re junkies and art is our drug. … It’ll tear your heart out and leave you lonely.”
“Fabelmans,” directed and co-written by Spielberg, begins with young Sam’s first trip to the movies, to see the 1952 “The Greatest Show on Earth.” His father tells him “Don’t be scared,” which sets the tone for Sammy’s life, with movies helping him work through his fears in life.
In many scenes, “Fabelmans” audiences see the origins of Spielberg’s movies. But it’s not just a bunch of Easter egg/in-jokes. He also depicts a film’s effect on the audience. When Sammy is in high school, he films Senior Ditch Day, and “Fabelmans” shows how the group, as well as individuals, react to watching a movie.
This year’s crop join a select few pictures of the past that explored the audience-film relationship, including Buster Keaton’s 1924 “Sherlock Jr.,” Preston Sturges’ “Sullivan’s Travels” (1941), Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Cinema Paradiso” (1988), Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” (2011), and a pair from Woody Allen: “Play It Again, Sam” in 1972 and 1985’s “The Purple Rose of Cairo.”
As Fazal says in “Last Film Show,” “The future belongs to storytellers.” This year’s group of filmmakers are helping audiences make sense of a world that is often frightening and confusing. And they’re doing it at 24 fps.
Nalin tells Variety, “For me, the light was very important. With my spiritual upbringing, Hindu and Buddhist, we talk about the inner light and meditate on the light.”
His film “is a love letter to cinema,” he adds, with a dedication to such movie greats as Stanley Kubrick. “I am what I am through movies. This may be my only chance to pay homage to them.”
From Variety US
