May the corporate cinema style of today now die a rapid death please

the horror, the horror... of something even worse than boring.

“Professional” is perhaps my least favorite style or narrative approach. Okay, I’m wrong about that…

“Safe” is my least favorite approach to cinema. In my book, both safe and professional are insults.

You mix these two up with a little “good enough” and you have the house style cocktail that has captivated most of the Global Streaming Platforms, Amer-indies, and Hollywood for far too long – and that’s a drink I wish to no longer abide in. Sure, I like work from those who know what they are doing, and particularly those with enough funds to execute it, but the most common quality for work today throughout our entire cinema ecosystem has gravitated towards something that bores the fuck out of me. Raise your hand if you feel similarly.

I want an intervention and an extraction. I don’t think much of what we are making any more is actually cinema. It is another form of expression that presents itself as something it is not. Something has to come out of most work before something far more honest can even enter the picture. Before we can discuss what the alternative is, I think we have to exorcise the demons. Grab the magic water and prepare the chants. The beast best get out of the room.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not someone who hates everything, or even very much. I got lucky. I am in love with the world and find constant reasons to rejoice. Truffle hunters like us will always find plenty to satisfy – we just have to be willing to root around in the muck. The problem is just that things could be easily so much better, and we’ve all been tricked into being willing to settle. But maybe we can flip the switch?