Influences

Guy at the coffee place we frequent was complaining about Tarantino, how one word that does NOT describe him is “great.” Although it is not an applicable word for his last couple of films, he has enough under his belt to keep his legacy in the “great” column for a while yet. I’ll jabber on about that for a moment before taking a chance with an actual near-term prediction.

An earlier post mentions Tarantino, Smith, and Favreau as significant Xer filmmakers. Although each has a different justification, one connection is that their films that really heralded a new age were in the consecutive years 1994, 1995, and 1996. Although Reservoir Dogs made its director’s name, Pulp Fiction was a massive critical and box office hit. It had a distinct style and attributes that hadn’t previously been visible in mainstream movies. The most obvious of these is the non-linear story, moving back and forth so that the (chronological) beginning of the film is in the middle, the final events shown are after that, and the actual end of the film is halfway through the events shown. (But it all makes sense...) There is also the use of cultural ephemera, from Clutch Cargo to nostalgia clubs to obscure breakfast cereals, as a way to describe the people being portrayed, and to give the world depth. And while it was nothing new to make movies about criminals, hit men, molls, or washed-up boxers, how they were made relatable, even admirable, was at least different. All the talk at the time was about how it was world-changing, and looking back now it’s amazing how truly influential it was.

It did not immediately appear to be hugely influential on Kevin Smith, who produced and directed “Clerks.” on a budget so paltry it was shot in black and white -- there wasn’t enough money for color. It focuses on the truly ordinary Dante and Randall, a convenience mart and video store clerk, respectively. A lot happens on this day that the film portrays, even though much that we see (like Pulp Fiction) is people talking about what they do, what they’ve done, what they plan to do. The language is casually filled with profanity, to the point that it nearly earned an NC-17 rating despite having no on-screen sex or violence. Again, though, it is not like films that came before, and it was influential on what came after. Smith was able to parlay this into a respectable and continuing career. He helped launch the careers of Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Lee, and others. Further, his ability to create a marketable film on the proceeds from sale of a comic book collection meant that almost anyone could at least consider selling a film regardless of their initial financial state.

That might not have been exactly what happened with Swingers, but director Doug Liman realized that their more substantial ($200K) but still minimal (by Hollywood standards) budget required a similar outlook. Still, we are seeing cultural callbacks - Reservoir Dogs is directly referenced and lightly parodied - and still it’s a film largely of people talking to each other. This time, those people are struggling actors in Hollywood, begging for anything that can help pay the rent, whether its a TV pilot, a character at Disneyland, a job at Starbucks. They are quotable, recognizable and (again) casual users of profanity.  Vince Vaughn’s career was launched when a request for permission to use music from (yep) “Jaws”  meant his performance was seen by Spielberg. Writer/director Favreau would get a few gigs, too,  and would eventually direct the huge Marvel Ironman movies. 

There's an additional thread of influence from Doug Liman, who followed on directing another indie film, “Go.”   With a non-linear narrative concerning a drug deal gone bad (or two, or three, depending on how you count), it may not be actually derivative of Pulp Fiction, but that film’s success probably made it easier to get this one to the big screen. The screenwriter was John August, who would go on to work with Drew Barrymore and Tim Burton. It was the big-screen debut of Melissa McCarthy, and one of the first big roles for Timothy Olyphant. And, of course, Liman himself would go on to direct big-budget action films.

Three young adult Xers, three writer/directors, three exceptionally influential films, all starting about 20 years ago.  Although its based on more than only them, my prediction is that we are nearly due for another world-changing few years like that. No later than 2016, we will see the first films with a true Millennial view, written and directed by people born after 1982, which will unstoppably influence movies for the following twenty years, possibly more. The first indications will be a young auteur, probably not yet 30, who is noticed for a film that is just not like what is out there now. 

I will fill this prediction out more, although that will require looking back at least to the mid-70s, and possibly back to the start of motion pictures....