Crouching Tiger and the asses in the theater

[Don Brown]

>People in the UK and the US may blench at the thought of watching films in
>other languages, but for the rest of the world, its just a fact of life. 
So
>the message is that if people would rather watch dross like THE MATRIX, 
then
>let them, but if by watching films like CDHT (which incidentally, I liked
>but ultimately have seen far better films recently and couldn't see 
anything
>so special about it) just a couple of people come to realise that there 
are
>films being made elsewhere in the world other than California, then this 
can
>only be a good thing.

Jasper, I hate to bring this up, but it seems that in every mail you write 
(recently anyway), you manage to work in some disparaging comment about 
"Hollywood dross" in one way or another.  Please excuse me if I'm 
misinterpreting what you're saying, but it sounds as if you are a bit 
preoccupied with this.  
Film snobbery works both ways: some people exclusively watch American 
product, others steer absolutely clear of it.  It doesn't matter about the 
intrinsic quality of the film - the stigma attached to it being made in 
"Hollywood" or "Not Hollywood" is enough to put off the closed-minded 
filmgoer.  Personally, I think a good film is a good film, regardless of 
the nationality.  And it's a totally subjective opinion as to what 
qualifies it as such.  I'm no fan of the hegemonic nature of global film 
distribution and the subsequent predomination of American product, but on 
the other hand some of my favourite movies were made in Hollywood.  Does 
that automatically make them dross?  I've seen plenty of Asian cinema in 
the last twelve months that would easily fall into that category.  Does the 
fact that a film doesn't come with a Made In America stamp somehow make it 
more worthy?   It's hypocritical to encourage other people to broaden their 
cinematic horizons while holding fast to your own prejudices.  
Furthermore, I think your statement about English and Americans sticking 
their noses up at foreign language cinema is a rash generalisation.  I know 
plenty of people here in Japan who can't get enough of American cinema, but 
have no time for indigenous or other non-American films.  The same goes for 
back home in New Zealand, and probably (unjustifiable statement warning) 
most other countries around the world.  The U.S. and the U.K. have no 
monopoly on luddites.  They are a global industry.      

>Lets hope its success means a
>lot more films from Asia finally get shown over this side of the world.

I sincerely hope so too, but I won't be holding my breath.  From a 
commercial perspective, under the current filmgoing climate it's just not 
viable.  Besides, it's always a real mission to see Japanese films these 
days - and I live in Japan!
Don Brown
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