Chinese Whispers - Method To The Madness - Part One

Recently on the website Empire.com, movie legends from behind and in front of the camera have been describing their most influential and favourite films.  There have been some obvious choices (The Godfather, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jaws) and some downright bizarre ones (Revenge of the Sith? Oh no, Kevin Smith, really?!)

This got me thinking about my own journey and the personal connection that I feel towards the art of cinema. What got it started?  Was my fragile, little mind warped by the first violent film I watched, or just awakened to cinema's true capabilities?  Has it had a positive or negative effect on my life?  To quote Rob Gordon from Nick Hornby's seminal work High Fidelity...

"What came first?  The music or the misery?"  

(...even though this article is about films, not music... and happiness, not misery... Hmm, I kinda just wanted to use that quote... You'll see why later on...)

Regardless, I searched through my torrid history with film and came across a few milestones in my life that I'd like to share with you and give you some insight into why I love cinema as much as I do. So let's begin, shall we?

STAR WARS

The film that started it all, for both summer blockbusters and this fresh-faced six year old. Imagine me, sitting down one Easter Sunday and watching a strange film about space knights, giant walking carpets and the scariest tall man draped in black I had seen since The Demon Headmaster.  I was transfixed.  The TV only usually showed cartoons or quite short shows on CBBC, but this was something new, exciting and fresh.  I loved it!  It was relatively taking up hours of time that I could be running, jumping or climbing trees.  But I didn't mind.  I was completely lost in another world.

A world full of blaster guns, space ships and freaky-looking aliens.  And my God, the lightsabers.  Not only the coolest weapon in the world, but they could only be stopped by another lightsaber!  How bad-ass is that?  Any game I would play with friends or with my toys, the hero would instantly be made cooler with a lightsaber, regardless of the situation. I don't think I'm alone in saying this, but with his debonair attitude and roguish ways, Han Solo instantly became my idol for most of my childhood.   The guy isn't even the protagonist, yet he gets the best lines, awesome fight scenes and he gets the girl in the end!  Who am I kidding?  Han Solo is still my idol.

Since it's release, it has become the quintessential example of Joseph Campbell's monomyth, or The Hero's Journey and it was a great introduction into how the basic film storyline is created.   A hero is called to his destiny, meets a mystical helpful figure, experiences trials and troubles, but ultimately fights the villain despite being at his lowest point and emerges victorious.  The film is almost the easiest to follow in terms of good and evil, which definitely aided my development as a youngster.

The film and it's sequels truly opened my mind to what experiences were possible from films and I'm sure I wasn't the only one when they were a youngster.  Pretty much every birthday among my friends in 1997 was spent at the cinema watching the re-released A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi, often ending in us running around an empty auditorium, pretending we were X-Wing spaceships.  Although in hindsight, that could have been the massive buckets of sugary drinks...

JURASSIC PARK

Ahh, I can hear the music now.  Mainly because there isn't a month, or more honestly, a week that goes by without this film being watched in our flat.  Is there a more iconic arrival than the helicopter arriving among the lush vegetation of Isla Nublar and the kindly grandfather figure of John Hammond looking around, proud of his creation?  A scarier movie-monster than the terrifying, kitchen-stalking, door-opening, scarily intelligent velociraptor?  A more breathtaking introduction than when the amazing John Williams score begins to build and you, alongside Grant and Ellie, look upon that gigantic brachiosaurus grazing on the tall tree branches?

If Star Wars showed me that films could transport me to other worlds, Jurassic Park showed me that other-worldly creations could be placed right within my own.   Extinct dinosaurs could be brought back to life and seemingly interact with people again. Films could make the truly impossible, possible.  Whilst Darth Vader was a very intimidating presence, pre-teen Mike had never been as terrified as he was when it came to those damn velociraptors. They were my first truly horrifying encounter with films and for years after my first viewing, I couldn't bring myself to watch the kitchen scene with Tim and Lex. It was filled with such suspense, tension and ungodly terror that pre-teen Mike couldn't handle it, hiding behind the cushions and losing countless hours of sleep just from the noises.  No movie had affected me like this before.  Films were capable of such wonderful, and equally horrible things.  

The film is filled with such iconic images and quotes that it has become an instant classic within my generation.  Especially omni-scientist Jeff Goldblum.  Thinking about it, maybe I have to retract what I said about Han Solo...

Scientist.

TOY STORY

Like many children back in 1995, this film blew my tiny, little mind.  Whilst Jurassic Park had shown me that computers could do wondrous things, this was something else.  Especially since it felt like it was created just for me. That's what set Pixar aside from the other studios back in the 1990s; they seemed to be speaking directly to kids, their target audience, and perfectly designing films to suit their mindsets.  What child hasn't imagined their toys still lived their lives when they had left the room?  I admit that after watching the film, I often ran back to my room to 'catch' the toys off-guard. Needless to say, they were always too quick for me...

However, the main nerve that Toy Story struck for me was the truly magical world that Pixar had created.  It was recognisable and yet so alien.  It inspired so much joy and laughter in the auditorium that the entire trip (one of my first ever) was utterly fantastic and I demanded to be taken back to see Toy Story at least three more times.  

I'm pretty sure this is when I fell in love with cinemas; the building solely dedicated to transporting me to these other worlds.  I simply wanted to continue watching as many films as possible, so that when I grew up, I could create films like Toy Story.  I honestly wanted to work for Pixar from the age of 7 years old and part of me still does.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS

This was a big one.  Not just in terms of movie accomplishments, ground-breaking CGI or New Zealand tourism, but this changed everything I thought I knew about cinema.  It rattled my brain around in a way I hadn't felt since I first set eyes on that first Star Destroyer in Star Wars.  

Many people recount when they first saw Ben-Hur's breathtaking chariot race in the cinema, Charlton Heston's Moses part the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments or when Lawrence of Arabia's grand cinema-scope allowed David Lean to defy cinema conventions.  They were blown away by the majesty and spectacle that lay before them.  The Lord of the Rings was my moment.

The possibilities of cinema were finally shown to me in all their magnificent splendour with awe-inspiring, sweeping shots of Middle-Earth, nail-biting fight sequences featuring all manner of monsters and one of the most touching friendships in all of fiction.  After the fellowship truly breaks, Sam and Frodo spot Mordor on the horizon and begin their perilous journey.  The lights faded, the credits rolled and I felt truly disappointed.  Not by the film, but in the fact that it was ending.  I had sat in a cinema auditorium for around three hours and I still wanted more.  This new experience seemed unthinkable at the time but I was so wrapped up in Middle-Earth that I simply wanted more.

This continued through The Two Towers and culminated with The Return of the King, which I still hold to this day as one of the greatest films ever made.  The Battle Of Minas Tirith still gives me goosebumps every time I watch it, mainly due how the entire film builds to such an epic battle between good and evil.  Peter Jackson got everything right in my eyes, managing to overcome the odds and finally bring such an 'un-filmable' trilogy to the screen.

CLERKS.

I'm not sure if Clerks. was the first 18 certificate film I watched but it was certainly one of the first.  Along with films such as South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Leon and Dogma (also directed by Kevin Smith film), Clerks. truly led the pack in terms of introducing me to a much larger world of film that I had not yet experienced.  Hell, the opening ten minutes of Clerks. had more swearing than pretty much any film I had seen until that point!

What really drew me in, however, was Smith's sassy, witty, sharp-tongued humour.  He managed to make his slacker protagonists profound in some aspects, yet incredibly petulant in others.  His characters spoke in such vulgar terms, but about such meaningful topics, especially in the religious satire Dogma, another of my personal favourites.  Clerks. seemed to be filled with such weird contradictions to the conventional film but I didn't care.  It was fresh and exciting, plus I was laughing so hard, my sides were literally hurting me.

I truly think most of my current sense of humour was directly inspired by the films of Kevin Smith, starting with Clerks.  He managed to create relatable and entertaining films, filled with pop-culture references, larger-than-life characters and always speaking from a very Generation-X man-boy perspective.  

That's probably what spoke to me most, as I was leaving high school and starting my college education when I first stumbled upon the 'View-Askew Universe' (the collective name for Smith's main films).  I was afraid to mature and wanted to remain care-free and Smith's films were a way to delay, and then assist my transition.  I began focussing on the crude humour, only slightly understanding the topics being discussed.  But over time, the focus on the vulgarity of the situations and speech faded, replaced with the respect for the hidden and serious undertones that are abundant in Smith's films.


I think I'll stop there for now, so I can focus on the next five films in their own article.  Don't want to overload you guys with my life history.  Although I hope it gave a little more insight into my love affair with film.  Next time, the college films and beyond!

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

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