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[RAG
RAG RAG]
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| [03/27/01] |
| INDEPENDENT
MY ASS |
| Rag from the Editor |
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| It's the biggest joke
of the year on independent films when the Independent
Spirit Awards gave (or even nominated) "Crouching Tiger
Hidden Dragon" the Best Picture Award. They might as well
have nominated "Traffic" and "Chocolat" (oh that fake
European art house film). Who needs the Spirit Awards
when we already have the Oscars? |
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| "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" is hardly
an independent film. Its $15 million U.S. budget is financed
by Columbia Pictures International, an off-shoot studio
of Sony Pictures based in Hong Kong set up to make Asian
blockbusters aiming to dominate Asian territories' box-office.
Under the direction of its studio head Barbara Robinson
(whose taste is more art house than commercial), Columbia
Asia has experienced mixed results. Oh... I guess I shouldn't
mention Tsui Hak's incomprehensible action mess "Time
& Tide" for Columbia Asia, which bombed in Hong Kong. |
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| "Independent" films hardly exist in
Asia, because most films are made by small studios. There
are some independently made films, but the commercial
driven nature of Asian economies makes it incredibly difficult
for anyone to make a film outside the established commercial
"studio" system. If everyone works like a slave around
the clock just to make a living, it's impossible for anyone
to have time to sit around, write a feature script and
crew for your little indie film for nothing. On top of
that, Asian cultures generally do not encourage independent
thinking and arts. So by definition, "Independent films"
are a very American phenomenon. |
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| From the American point-of-view, Ang Lee
did start off making low-budget and somewhat "independent"
films ("Pushing Hand," "The Wedding Banquet," and "Eat
Drink Men & Women" which are financed by Taiwan's singular
studio Central Motion Picture Company), but "Crouching
Tiger" is no more independent than "Sense & Sensibility"
except that it's set in Asia and speaks a foreign language. |
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| The marketers at Sony clearly knew that if
they had opened "Crouching Tiger" as a regular studio
film (which in fact it did in Asia), the public would
have had a hard time accepting it. So playing on its exoticism,
Sony released "Crouching Tiger" with the platform release
strategy through its art house division Sony Classics
in the U.S., opening first it in New York and Los Angeles,
and expanding slowly. |
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| Because "Crouching Tiger" is Asian and has
subtitles, the American public would undoubtedly perceive
it in the independent/foreign/art house category. Sony's
marketing has been working brilliantly, perhaps even better
than Miramax's campaign on "Chocolat." I've heard
friends (not in the knows of the industry) started calling
"Chocolat" a "fake European art house film."
Sony has successfully passed "Crouching Tiger" as a break-away
art house film. |
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| Now back to the Independent Spirit Awards
I really wonder what these people were thinking. Were
they really fooled into thinking that "Crouching Tiger"
was more independent than "Traffic" or "Erin Brockovitch,"
or were they just trying to get the Asian film stars to
the ceremony? At the day's end, it was only a goddamn
award show and who should really take it so seriously?
Nevertheless, it was certainly a gesture of erasure on
the real independent filmmmakers who toiled to make their
real low-budget films unsupported by the studio system,
reinforcing my very intent of starting INDIERAG.COM. |
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—Q.L.
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MORE
INFORMATION on the Independent Spirit Awards
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