I feel you. Sometimes, to me, it feels like artists are just making art for other artists or art aficionados. It can feel a bit like a suffocating echo chamber to me.
With that said, some of my absolute favorite films are "about" moviemaking.
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" (2019) is probably my favorite movie currently and I enjoyed the subsequent book version of it too.
"Ed Wood" (1994) used to be my favorite movie for a few years and is probably still in my top 5. The biography it is based on however tainted it a bit for me since it brought to light some ugly truths regarding a few of the people portrayed in it. The movie doesn't hide that it portrays a brighter version of reality though and it is kind of itself an open meditation on the ups and downs of living with rose-colored glasses - so in a way, you could say that the dark realities just add another layer to it...
Like you say, if these films are good it's because they are about other things than just filmmaking - which I feel is true for the two I mentioned. Another thing , - speaking of adding layers - is that by making the stories involved with the filmmaker's lifeblood, it can envelop the work in kind of a "meta-love story" ; the story of the love that the artist feels for the art itself - like an added aroma or aura surrounding the film. At least that's how I feel.
Between the lines of "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" it is like there is a love letter dedicated to the 1960's, to the city of Hollywood, to movies and moviemaking, to Tarantino's childhood growing up in the city and to the filmography he got to produce there.
The Fabelmans sounds interesting and I might go see it if it captures some of the rich depths that can occur when a movie like this is done right :)
The echo chamber is a good subject... maybe I'll write more about that...
I think seeing them as love letters to the art is a good way to frame it.
Maybe it just feels a little bit off, because normally if you would make a love letter about anything else than people, it would feel insincere. A love letter about cars for instance?
I dunno...
Maybe a love letter is always about the people. So in this case it would be a love letter to the crazy, eccentric people that make the movie scene? It's almost like an invisible country.
Haven't seen those other movies, but I might give them a shot when I feel ready for another movie-movie!
There probably is a better word for what I was trying to say than "love letter"; I guess I meant it "colloquially" as I've heard it used before, as a way of simply saying "in tribute to" or something like that.
Regarding the point that it may all come down to the people and not the moviemaking, it definitely rings true for me when it comes to Ed Wood (1994) - your description is almost perfect for that.
I wish I could share my thoughts on The Fabelmans but I still have yet to see it - though that might change in the next couple of weeks.
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is harder to simply fit into this category for me though. As I see it and experience it, while this movie is most definitely about its characters, it feels like it is just as much about the time and place that the characters are nested in - and maybe even just as much about how these things are portrayed on film. It's a movie that a lot of people think is a waste of time and for others it's incredible.
I guess my point would be that this movie may or may not be the exception to the rule.
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Btw, Paul Dano who plays the dad in The Fabelmans played Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys in "Love & Mercy" (2014). As far as movies about creative people go I recommend that one :) . It is also very much a movie about the people and not just the music.
I feel you. Sometimes, to me, it feels like artists are just making art for other artists or art aficionados. It can feel a bit like a suffocating echo chamber to me.
With that said, some of my absolute favorite films are "about" moviemaking.
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" (2019) is probably my favorite movie currently and I enjoyed the subsequent book version of it too.
"Ed Wood" (1994) used to be my favorite movie for a few years and is probably still in my top 5. The biography it is based on however tainted it a bit for me since it brought to light some ugly truths regarding a few of the people portrayed in it. The movie doesn't hide that it portrays a brighter version of reality though and it is kind of itself an open meditation on the ups and downs of living with rose-colored glasses - so in a way, you could say that the dark realities just add another layer to it...
Like you say, if these films are good it's because they are about other things than just filmmaking - which I feel is true for the two I mentioned. Another thing , - speaking of adding layers - is that by making the stories involved with the filmmaker's lifeblood, it can envelop the work in kind of a "meta-love story" ; the story of the love that the artist feels for the art itself - like an added aroma or aura surrounding the film. At least that's how I feel.
Between the lines of "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" it is like there is a love letter dedicated to the 1960's, to the city of Hollywood, to movies and moviemaking, to Tarantino's childhood growing up in the city and to the filmography he got to produce there.
The Fabelmans sounds interesting and I might go see it if it captures some of the rich depths that can occur when a movie like this is done right :)
The echo chamber is a good subject... maybe I'll write more about that...
I think seeing them as love letters to the art is a good way to frame it.
Maybe it just feels a little bit off, because normally if you would make a love letter about anything else than people, it would feel insincere. A love letter about cars for instance?
I dunno...
Maybe a love letter is always about the people. So in this case it would be a love letter to the crazy, eccentric people that make the movie scene? It's almost like an invisible country.
Haven't seen those other movies, but I might give them a shot when I feel ready for another movie-movie!
There probably is a better word for what I was trying to say than "love letter"; I guess I meant it "colloquially" as I've heard it used before, as a way of simply saying "in tribute to" or something like that.
Regarding the point that it may all come down to the people and not the moviemaking, it definitely rings true for me when it comes to Ed Wood (1994) - your description is almost perfect for that.
I wish I could share my thoughts on The Fabelmans but I still have yet to see it - though that might change in the next couple of weeks.
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is harder to simply fit into this category for me though. As I see it and experience it, while this movie is most definitely about its characters, it feels like it is just as much about the time and place that the characters are nested in - and maybe even just as much about how these things are portrayed on film. It's a movie that a lot of people think is a waste of time and for others it's incredible.
I guess my point would be that this movie may or may not be the exception to the rule.
-
Btw, Paul Dano who plays the dad in The Fabelmans played Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys in "Love & Mercy" (2014). As far as movies about creative people go I recommend that one :) . It is also very much a movie about the people and not just the music.