Niceta arranged everything for him. The famous film critic of "The New Yorker" magazine, perhaps the most controversial, sharpest, and most different from mainstream film critics among the living film critics in America, Pauline Kael
, would meet with him at his home to discuss her fierce criticism of "Top Gun."
The old lady was born in 1919. She began writing film reviews for The New Yorker in the 1960s and 1970s, and was an important promoter of the New Hollywood movement.
The beginning of America's new wave of films, "The Good and the Bad", was strongly recommended by her and gained public recognition in one fell swoop. It became a double winner at the box office and critical reviews, and is destined to occupy a place in the history of Hollywood movies.
Pauline was also invited by Warren Beatty, the star of "The Big Bad", to serve as a senior consultant for Paramount, but she resigned after a few months and went back to writing film reviews.
This time Pauline's criticism of "Top Gun" was very fierce. There were old people at Paramount who knew her. After coordination, she agreed to meet Ronald at home and talk face to face about why she was so harsh in her criticism of the movie.
"Does Ms. Pauline Carr live here?" Ronald rang the doorbell, and a little boy opened the door.
"Grandma, there's someone looking for you. What's your name?" the little boy turned to ask Ronald.
"Ronald, Ronald Lee."
"William, please come in." Pauline came out and took her grandson aside and asked him to watch TV.
"Hello, Pauline."
Ronald didn't know how to communicate with film critics for a while.
She helped me a lot in my early stages, but this time my criticism was very merciless.
"Come on, Ronald, film criticism has little influence these days. The New Yorker won't influence many of your viewers. They don't care what an old lady says."
"No, your film review is of great importance to me." Ronald felt relaxed all of a sudden, walked to the living room, and started chatting with Pauline Carr.
"Movie reviews do not have the same power as Broadway theater reviews to determine the box office of a movie. What's more, your film company has also invented a film review unblocking system. Nowadays, film reviews can only appear in the media after the movie is released. First of all,
Many audiences no longer use film reviews as a reference for their choice of movies.
What's more, I'm writing for the New Yorker magazine, which has less influence than film reviews from newspapers like Ebert's."
Pauline laughed, mocking herself for her own influence.
Ronald knew she was telling the truth. Compared with Broadway theater reviews, which can determine the life or death of a new play, movie reviews are often a secondary marketing tool for film companies. Posters in movie theaters
The money is much more than that of a PR film critic.
However, he still expressed his disagreement and told her about the past that his debut film "Fast-paced Richmond High" was able to increase the number of copies and become a national distribution thanks to her critical praise, and once again thanked her in person.
"I loved that movie, and your second movie, 'Night of the Comet.' They reminded me of Robert Altman. You don't dictate the point of view or the method by which the audience sees your film, they get to the theater,
You are attracted into it, and then you discover plots and plots that exceed your expectations. Everything is so full of scope, and it is a kind of adventure.
And the big productions you shot later tended to be formulaic. In the first five minutes of the movie, I knew what you wanted to do. For someone who doesn't like to watch the movie he wants to write a review on repeatedly, this is not very good.
Experience.”
Ronald also liked Pauline's frankness, "I understand what you mean, but I can't continue to stay in those small-budget exploitation films. Hollywood is a very realistic place, and there are still people who want to make films that have been around for decades."
For the movies I remember, I had to prove that I could sell them first. And if I want to be a hit, these Hollywood routines are indispensable."
Pauline's hair was already gray and she was wearing a pair of reading glasses. She couldn't help but smile when she heard Ronald say that he wanted to make a movie that would be remembered for decades.
Ronald found that the old lady smiled very gently, just like a neighbor's grandmother, which was very different from her sharp look when she didn't smile.
"I read you right. You really want to make classic movies. If you want to make movies that will be remembered by people, you must stay away from those popcorn movies and pay more attention to the major real issues.
All classic Hollywood movies focused on the major real issues of the time."
"Realistically significant issues?"
"Yes." The old lady stood up and refilled Ronald's cup of coffee. Then she took down several books that she had written on film reviews from the bookshelf, turned to the catalog and handed them to Ronald.
"Have you noticed that since the 1970s, Italian directors have occupied the mainstream position in Hollywood classic blockbusters. And the original Jewish directors, Puritan directors, gradually withdrew from the stage of dramas and turned to comedies and popcorn films.
Well, during the 1930s and World War II, they took over the directors and actors of almost all classic movies."
Ronald looked at the cover of the first book, which was Pauline Carr's first film review collection "Kiss and Guns Bang". He flipped through the table of contents of several books, and there was a review of Martin in it.
Scorsese's "Taxi Driver," Francis Coppola's "The Godfather," Brian De Palma's "Carrie," and Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter."
Compared with the golden age, the number of Jewish directors has decreased a lot, and she only likes Spielberg. For traditional Puritan directors, she admires Robert Altman.
"Indeed, why is that?" Ronald had never thought about this question. Why did Italians become so popular in Hollywood after the 1970s?
It's definitely not a matter of money. It was only after the unexpected success of "The Godfather" that Italian gangsters invested in movies.
It’s not the so-called nepotism or ethnic care issues. When it comes to ethnic care, Jews are the leaders, and their gangs are much more powerful than Italians. They were involved in the film industry as early as the 1920s.
.
Ronald scratched his head. He found the old lady's sharp question very interesting, but he couldn't think of an answer.
Seeing Ronald looking at her like a grandchild, wanting to know the answer, Pauline Carr smiled. This scolding him had a very good effect. She didn't look like she was looking at a master.
, slipped into the popcorn commercial movie shooting machine.
"Because the Vietnam War changed the minds of Americans, stupid."
"Huh? Vietnam War?"
Ronald raised his head and realized that he couldn't keep up with the old lady's thinking. He was from a family of Vietnam War veterans, so he didn't think there was any difference in thinking from others?
Pauline Carr knew that Ronald had not thought about this profound change in artistic style in the film market, so she continued.
"It turns out that we Americans are New Babylonians who feel that our destiny is clear and God is favoring us. But the Vietnam War made us fall from the moral level. We sent poor children to Vietnam to bomb those innocent people and failed. Let us know
I am not morally flawless.
The Japanese products are of high quality and low price, which further aggravates this problem. In addition to morals, we no longer have a sense of superiority in industry and technology."
Ronald nodded in agreement. The Vietnam War had indeed had a great psychological impact on Americans. A very obvious change was that the baby boom was over and the new generation of young people were no longer willing to have children.
"The most serious consequence of the Vietnam War is that the understanding of guilt has undergone tremendous changes. Americans have a completely new understanding of what guilt is, which is completely different from the past."
"Guilt?"
"We have lost the sense of moral superiority that the Puritans had among the immigrants on the Mayflower. We once believed that we would become better and better and that we would defeat all evil and demons.
After the Vietnam War, we discovered that maybe evil is not so easy to defeat. We may fail, and maybe we will have to coexist with them. Morally and technically, we do not have the superiority over other humans that we imagined."
Ronald doesn't quite understand what this so-called sense of guilt has to do with the New Hollywood movement dominated by Italians.
"Italians, and many of the new generation of directors, are Catholics. Unlike the Puritanism of America, the education they received from an early age included a full sense of guilt. We are all guilty, and we are guilty every week.
I need to go to a priest to confess.
It just so happens that this mentality is consistent with the common feelings of modern Americans, so the movies they made are also psychologically in line with the psychological state of the audience at that time.
In addition, visualization is the strength of the Italians. Look at those Renaissance paintings and architecture, they are naturally capable of making movies look like world-famous paintings."
"oh……"
Ronald was deep in thought. As a top film critic, Pauline Carr's perspective on issues was very different from that of the director. He was very sure that at least Scorsese and Coppola would never consider anything Catholic when they were making movies.
Feeling of guilt.
However, there may be some truths from different angles. These are the subconscious thoughts integrated into the bottom of the director's thinking. You may not be aware of their existence at ordinary times, but when making a movie, you are affected all the time.
"Then what kind of culture is my subconscious base? The new generation of consumerism in Hollywood? Or the teachings of Confucius of Chinese Americans in the previous life?" Ronald thought about himself. The great thing about the old lady was not that she cursed people or that she
Not to praise, but to inspire thinking.
"Looks like you agree with me," Pauline Carr mistakenly thought Ronald was thinking of the New Hollywood directorial style.
"I heard that you received a professional education. You have watched a lot of Hollywood movies from the golden age. At that time, Puritan and Jewish directors dominated Hollywood. It was a completely different era.
Jews like to expose the dark side of society and then correct it, so they are in tune with the social reality of the 1930s and World War II. When there are problems in society, someone exposes them, and then someone corrects them, and our society moves on.
Puritans have more beliefs about destiny, for example, if we fight against the Germans and little Japan, the whole world must be saved by the Americans..."
Ronald understood what Pauline meant. Movies reflect social reality. If your cultural and educational background subconsciously coincides with the culture of most American audiences, then your movie will not only be a big hit, but also be able to
A foothold in film history.
I wonder what the cultural subconscious of the new generation of young people after the 1980s is? Maybe my movie just fits their cultural subconscious?
"Nowadays, Jewish directors and actors rarely make serious dramas. It's not that they don't want to make them, but they won't be liked by the audience. Now Jewish people mainly make comedies, like Jerry Zucker and others.
They no longer make films that reflect the mainstream values of social reality. Even Spielberg no longer makes films that reflect social reality. Spielberg is great, his innocence, details, and many other things are great, but he is not
Candidates who reflect the major issues in society today.”
"Directors with Puritan backgrounds, such as George Lucas, are more willing to explore science fiction and film technology. Without anyone to reflect social reality, the art of film will die."
After saying that, Pauline Carr looked at Ronald with burning eyes.
"Huh? Me?" Ronald discovered the old lady's subtext, and the future of the movie depends on you!
"I can't. I just make movies based on my instincts and hope to entertain the audience. If I think about it decades later and it can still be used as a conversation piece, then I'll be satisfied."
Ronald waved his hands quickly. Are you kidding? He is not the material to be the successor of a classic Hollywood director and reflect major social reality issues. Moreover, Hollywood is no longer the Hollywood it used to be. It cannot make money. How can it reflect the dark side of major reality?
The problem is, that's suicide.
"No, I have always felt that you have the potential to become a film master. You act according to your intuition, regardless of the clichés. This is a typical trait of a master. Human intuition does not need to be quantified by theory. Human intuition is the human emotion and mind
The sum of all, only second-rate directors need formulas, while first-rate directors only need to act according to intuition."
"You have over-praised it. There is very little space for directors in current movies. If you don't find out what the audience likes to watch, it is likely to fail at the box office. If it happens three times in a row, I will have no choice but to say goodbye to Hollywood."
"Hey..." Pauline also knew that the current Hollywood market was shrinking. Movies had to be able to drag audiences away from the TV and go to the cinema. The industry was very different from what she was familiar with back then.
The two dropped the topic and continued to talk about other movies. Pauline Carr's comments on major directors were very sharp, and she was more unique. She especially liked some movies that were not favored by mainstream film critics, and she also liked some common movies.
I hate watching good movies.
According to her, most of today's film critics are the producers' sisters-in-law who can't find a job. They are just given a position to make some money.
"Reflecting major social issues, left-wing novels and movies are where masterpieces are produced, because they dare to attack major social issues. You can pay more attention to left-wing art. Stop making popcorn movies, if you want
If you leave your name in history."
When Ronald finally left, Pauline Carr asked him to read more left-wing literature and art.
"Left-wing novels?" Ronald doesn't really believe this. The economy has been developing well since the general took office. Now everyone is busy making money, and no one is interested in caring about the dark side of society. If you have this time, you might as well invest
stocks, or working two jobs to buy a house with a mortgage.
However, what Pauline said is very inspiring. If you want people to remember your movies decades from now, you must grasp the pulse of the times and consciously grasp the psychology of the current audience.
Just like the current "Top Gun", it fits well with the mentality of the American people who want to defeat the Soviet Union. Ronald came to a theater in New York to observe the box office situation.
In the afternoon, the box office of "Top Gun" was still very good, and many young people, including fathers and their children, came together.
"Huh? What is this?" Ronald discovered that there was a booth under the "Top Gun" poster. There were two people in navy uniforms looking at everyone behind the booth.
"Is this Paramount's new marketing method? Or is it selling some fighter model?" Ronald stepped forward to take a look.
"Sir, do you want to join the Navy? Do you want to be an aircraft carrier fighter pilot like the Lone Ranger? Just fill out the form here."
"No, but thank you."
Is this movie so popular? The navy is recruiting soldiers?
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
I wish reader infinityykz, who is studying film at New York University, a happy birthday and success in his studies.