Hilary Smith asks whether film should be classed as easy entertainment or a fine art
When the Lumiere Brothers first began projecting moving images captured by their Cinematographe in 1895, film was not wholly considered an art. It was entertainment, but did not yet have the intellectual hauteur of painting and theatre. These days some people seem gobsmacked that film could be anything else.
The first ever films were simply moving images of regular life: a train arriving at a station, a family eating dinner, workers leaving a factory. Now, time and the gradual improvement of increasingly available technologies has meant that film-makers have made pieces which we might well call works of art.
As with theatre, literature and visual art there will always be commercially appealing movies that serve to entertain the public more than creatively explore film as a medium of expression. Romantic comedies, adventure flicks, and tacky parodies sadly have bigger budgets, wider releases, and earn more revenue than some of the well crafted independent or foreign language productions made on the fringe each year. It would arguably be more fitting for films with meaningful depictions of tragic world affairs to dominate the global spotlight, but in reality there are too many philistines out there to make this realistic.
Art is largely defined by its critics. But popular opinion often goes against them. Everyone has their own favorites: Quentin Tarantino, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Elia Kazan, Martin Scorsese and the Coen Brothers are just a few household names. Some, for example Terry Gilliam, remain underrated despite enjoying fame for his incessantly wild imagination and animations. From his zany work with the Monty Python crew up until his most recent work, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Gilliam has always managed to stretch the technical conventions of cinema with what we might call a more artistic approach. Imaginarium is quintessential Gilliam. Its premise, aesthetic, action and atmosphere are all surreal. Christopher Plumber plays Parnassus, a man who has found eternal life through a pact with the devil, and creates fantasies inside his mind for willing participants. The plot is complex and bizarre, but also typically fantastical Gilliam footage.
Of course, not all films have to be boundary-breaking but can still be called art. Take An Education as an example. Dutch director Lone Scherfig and fabulous writer Nick Hornby’s remarkable and captivating piece is out on October 30th. Its story and the brilliant performances by Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, Peter Skaarsgard, Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike - all exceptionally suited to their roles - must demand serious respect. It is an utterly impeccable production worthy of the title art: touching, artistically crafted; yet in all essential aspects (plot, cinematography, lighting and performance), entirely conventional. The documentary method is powerful and creative in its portrayal of a real life story in an extraordinary way. Man On Wire (2008), Oscar winner for Best Documentary, has an electrifying atmosphere throughout its intriguing depiction of a tightrope walker’s illegal attempt at crossing between the top of the Twin Towers in 1974.
One of the problems with cinema is that actors tend to have greater public recognition than directors, who are in fact responsible for the vision, styles and themes of the piece. Blockbusters with tabloid celebrities are highly marketable despite the questionable talent they throw onto screens, making the public dubious of the artistic merit of cinema. Since film is the most globally accessible form of entertainment in the world (except perhaps music), a great number of people share this attitude.
In terms of adapting stories or pieces of text, the screen provides greater opportunities for the director than the stage does. Julie Christie’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (Titus, 1999) is a fine example of the ways in which film-makers can capitalize on the greater variety of visual appeals that film offers.
Today, the accumulation of technologies and ideas pertaining all aspects and genres of film mean that it is more an art form than ever before. There will always be cynics in any creative genre, so it is up to the enthusiast to seek out and propagate the artistically striking pieces.
