“Surrogates and a New Idea”
I have been absent from the internet for a couple of weeks due to a late holiday (Turkey, thanks for asking - weather great although it rained for the first couple of days) and my return to scholastics. I have been trying (in vain) to come up with a perfect degree film; perfect in that it suits me and what I’m trying to create - a vehicle for myself. I went to see Surrogates this morning (I’m not usually a matinee person but with work conflicts I have to get what I can) and, on my post-viewing internet background-check on the film, was surprised to see the lack of user-created information about the film (and absolute lack of the IMDB Trivia page, one of my personal favourites).
Surrogates seems to be a pretty big film; big in budget, lots of posters at the multiplex, decent trailer (the only reason we went to see it was the trailer that preceded Inglorious Basterds - really enjoyed that fyi, don’t really agree with the polarisation of people’s reviews) and all the standard fare. It doesn’t even have the five (5!) votes necessary to have a star-rating on IMDB.
Now it wasn’t a particularly good film, in fact it will probably blend into the following films in my head until the point that it disappears altogether: Blade Runner, I, Robot, A.I., Minority Report et al. However, it was completely watchable and had some funny, interesting, humanistic, well-acted moments. Fleeting as they were. What I’m concerned about is that I have a feeling I will never hear from this film again (except maybe in the Tesco Top 40 and then in the very cheap bargain section and then no more), though I doubt I’m as concerned as the filmmakers or John McClane.
This phenomenon (of which I may be wrong and this film could do massive box office and be talked about endlessly, of course, though I reserve my doubts) has only added to the weight on my shoulders w/r/t my own project, the degree film I need to make this year - and share the idea of on Monday. I am struggling to find an idea that encompasses all of the following qualities:
- Simple (as in not convoluted thematically or narationally)
- Funny (at least vaguely)
- Logistically possible
- The ability to exhibit my writing
- The ability to exhibit my cinematography
- The ability to exhibit my cinematic style (different from no. 5)
Then I have a selection of themes that I may or may not want to utilise and a couple of genres that I would love to fall into. I think I started this totally backwards. I should have had a simple story and then evolved it. But hey-ho. One of the main ambitions I have for this project is creating something that is at least original.
I’m not sure Surrogates had the same ambition. The film is obviously in a sub-genre which begs for it to be compared to its predecessors and, as I have illustrated above, the poster lacks much original effort. The few commentors in the quasi-forums on the IMDB page seem to be in agreement that “There is NOTHING new under the sun.” as in, nothing original being made at the moment. I beg to differ, but am not going to offer any backup information at this moment. Because this is long enough as it is.
NB. In the time it took to write this (9minutes), 850+ votes were recorded on the IMDB and it stands at an 8.0 rating. Also, I found this “review” website that has put the fear of god into me.
