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1917: The secrets of an immersive cinema 5:56
Note: This article anticipates some outcomes of the films mentioned.
(CNN Spanish) - Sitting in the cinema chair I watch the most epic scene of "1917". One of the protagonist soldiers jumps to the battlefield, while huge explosions are knocking down the bodies of some of his comrades one by one. I feel that I recover the magic of cinema art. Not that I had lost her, I had forgotten her. One tends to forget even what one enjoys, in this case for comfort, perhaps because the years go by and there are not many reasons left to drag the body to the cinema.
Universal Pictures
The dark side of the sofa
Perhaps I prefer to shelter in the comfort of a sofa and in the power of a remote control and a good internet connection. In recent years, television screens have grown a lot: 45, 50, 60 inches. With such a screen and a good audio system it is easy to reproduce the magic of cinema in the living room.
If we add to this the menu of the growing platforms of “streaming” or live, the offer may be superior to that offered by today's cinemas full of digital superheroes, you can lock yourself up and enjoy them on your TV.
Netflix
If the movie is long like "The Irishman" or "The Irish" by Martin Scorsese on Netflix, you can even divide the three-hour session into three chapters to watch comfortably and without risking falling asleep in the middle of the movie .
Yes, I admit that Scorsese did not conceive it that way and that his intention was to see it with a single shot, but unlike the rooms, at home you can stop the movie without burning the projector and then resume viewing.
However, films like "1917", "Joker" or "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" are the ones that return us to the origins of sharing the audiovisual experience in a more open space and with public. And it is that the cinema was created like this, like an almost circus show where people got scared with the approach of a steam train or laughed with a playful hose.
Part of the objective of the show is in "1917", which besides being a movie is also an audiovisual experience. By using the endless sequence plane, one experiences a feeling of being next to the actors, being the third man on a risky mission of two messengers trying to alert their war comrades to an ambush that could end with 1,600 lives.
Beyond the armchair
This is repeated at the end of "Joker," when the Joker climbs into a car and stands as the new leader of a social revolution of clowns against power, be it the power of the famous and rich Bruce Wayne or the municipal government that It cuts their social benefits. That is when you feel like leaving the armchair and entering the screen.
It is that screen that flickers at the light of the projector, which entangles us in a collective experience.
It is on that screen that this year has illuminated me with some of the films chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to compete for the most precious Oscar, that of the best film.
"Parasites", a very unfamiliar story
Neon
Of the nine selected in January by the Hollywood Academy to compete for the Oscar for the best film of 2019, the four mentioned above stand out, in addition to the excellent “Parasites” of South Korean director Bong Joon Ho.
The film breaks with the traditional Hollywood plot scheme where the viewer can anticipate events and guess the end. In this story of two families joined by futility and a very interested domestic service, the director continually surprises us with unexpected twists that rise in intensity in a comedy without clowns or a drama without villains, as described by Bong.
In that thin line, the director plays with actors in full grace, capable of becoming parasites and parasites, humble or unscrupulous people and rich and stupid people.
"Once Upon a Time In Hollywood", the ninth is not the charm
Sony Pictures
In the case of the ninth film of the direct Quentin Tarantino, disappointment for an ending that repeats a formula already used in the excellent "Inglourious Basterds". Tarantino builds a compelling narrative scaffolding to drop it at the end. It does so by opening the speculative plot line of "y si". That alternative “and yes” entails an end of orgy, of violence, often free, that not only does not conclude the plot plot of the film, but steals it.
However, there are memorable moments such as the outbursts of rage in the dressing room of the character of Leonardo Di Caprio that reveal his insecurities and weaknesses, or the fun fight between the character of Brad Pitt with that of Bruce Lee.
It is clear that Tarantino projects on the screen much of the plot and imagery of the cinema he saw as a young man when he worked in a video store. Hence the mixture of genres of many films in one.
"Joker", the loose verse of DC Comics
Warnes Bros. Pictures
I finish with the cruel, but excellent joke that the "Joker" of Todd Phillips spends, an excellent example of how you can revisit genres and give them a spin.
Intriguing, tough, cruel, intelligent, spectacular, are some of the qualifiers that can be given to this film that only an actor like Joaquin Phoenix could interpret.
In this case, it is one of the trips to the hells of a comic villain told in a detailed way, contempt for contempt, insult to insult, blow to blow, which finally causes Arthur Fleck to explode. There are many forgers of his hatred, from an egocentric mother who did not protect him when he should, his favorite television star who mocks him to a precarious health system that leaves him.
Together they manage to make a failed comedian a murderous clown.
In sum, there are five films that have made me return to the rooms where they are screened, which are worth seeing them from the armchair of the cinema, but if it cannot be, then try it from your sofa. The magic may be smaller, less spectacular, but it will still be there.