Foreign movies

Recently, I've been escaping to foreign films. Most movies that come out under American studios are not at all imaginative, and are merely "fun" movies. You shut your brain off, you are presented with material to soothe your libido and thanatos for two hours and you go home. You don't learn anything new nor are you inspired.

I started watching Japanese horror movies (first was Audition), then I moved to other countries with the Tim Burton-esque City of Lost Children, and District B13. Then came Pan's Labyrinth. I really can't talk about this movie because it fills me with awe and inspiration every time I think about it. Why can't we do that? Because most of our movies start with "Based on the best-selling novel by -----" or "the hit video game -----" And why is that? There hasn't been an original idea in Hollywood sincethe mid 1990s, I think (the last original movie I remember was THX-1138, in 1971, and I'm trying to be reasonable). Other countries have taken it upon themselves to do what we should be doing, because American directors, who could have a good, completely original idea will not get the funds because it might not appeal to a wide audience. Mr Del Toro, director of Pan's Labyrinth, directed Hellboy and Blade II before he unleashed upon the world his brilliance. It must be that after making a ton of money with second-rate comic book movies, our directors still don't have an original idea in their mashed potato brains or we would have heard of it by now. They continue to try to convert other people's ideas from one medium to another, mutilating them beyond recognition in the process (I'm talking about a film version of the 1000-page novel, Atlas Shrugged and a proposed American film version of my favorite anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion). I would expect someone like Peter Jackson, who has directed many movies based upon others ideas, to finally make his own movie. But instead he's making a Halo movie, which is a complete waste of time because we'd all rather spend the two hours watching Master Chief kick Covenant/Flood ass, actually doing it ourselves.

This post is inspired by someone from the New York Times commenting on renowned anime director, Satoshi Kon's latest work, that Japanese directors are reaching for the moon while "American directors are still in the kiddie sandbox" and I took it upon myself to try to figure out why.