Defining movies of the 00s
I rarely watch movies these days, sadly, nor do I know much about cinema in general. I’m really the wrong person for this. But I would like to list a few movies that I think are significant for the decade that will end soon. Perhaps not the best ones, but defining in the same way that Modern Times defined the 30s (capitalist crisis), Casablanca defined the 40s (antifascist struggle), Dr. Strangelove defined the 60s (the Cold War), A Clockwork Orange defined the 70s (institutionalism), Videodrome defined the 80s (screen consciousness), and The Matrix defined the 90s (network consciousness).
The Matrix Reloaded & The Matrix Revolutions
In the sequals to The Matrix the influence of computer games becomes more obvious, both in camera angles and animation effects, and in the story telling. In his book Convergence Culture Henry Jenkins points out that the story of The Matrix takes place on many different platforms: in the three blockbusters, in the animated short films, in the games, in web-forums, in the comic books, etc. That’s why some parts of the trilogy can be difficult to understand for people unfamiliar with plot elements from other platforms. Many movies have given birth to successful spinoff-products (Star Wars-books, etc.), but with The Matrix-trilogy it was the first time that the creators planned for their story to take place in many different media contexts from the beginning. Using several platforms for enhancing the experience and the interpretations of a cultural product – that’s what Jenkins calls convergence culture. Apart from this interesting aspect: it’s difficult to find action films that are more entertaining.
It’s made with new, victorious animation technology that give the anime-dominance some competition, and it’s about control society and the War on Drugs and its casualties. And it’s a faithful PKD-adaptation. Even more shockingly: Keanu Reeves acts well in it.
Like no other film, this was a cultural and social phenomena, surrounded by an enormous hype in Brazil. Before it premiered, pirate screenings took place everywhere in favelas and other poorer areas, only adding to the success of the movie; very interesting indeed, with all the discussions regarding copyright and intellectual property that we’re having these days.
With an aesthetics inspired by american reality shows like Cops and with a message wide-open for interpretations, this was a problematic movie for many people. Some critics saw it as fascist, others discovered its shades of grey. Those who saw Captain Nascimento as a modern Chuck Norris missed the sweaty, pill-popping, delicately nuanced and very powerful performance by actor Wagner Moura. And excellence was found all over the team; the other actors, the music, editing, script, directing, light, etc.
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