Did you know that one of the best films of the year has just debuted on Netflix? I hope so, but it wouldn’t be surprising if you didn’t. Sometimes it seems Netflix The distribution strategy was designed to finally answer the age-old question of whether a tree that falls in the forest makes a sound if there is no one to hear it.
Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to the people who actually make your films. Describing His Experience Directing His 2022 Animated Film Apollo 10 1/2: a childhood in the space age for Netflix, filmmaker Richard Linklater said he was proud of the final product, but felt that “one day (the film) appeared on a platform without fanfare. It’s always kind of sad when you realize that not even your friends know your film has come out.”
And he’s one of the directors who really wants to work with Netflix. Others flatly refuse. In 2017, Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan shouted Netflix for its “stupid policy that everything must be streamed and released simultaneously, which is obviously an unsustainable model for theatrical presentation.” Google the phrase “Netflix is killing movie theaters” and you will get thousands of results.
SEE MORE INFORMATION: What happened to all the movies in children’s theaters?
Roger Ebert liked to say that a film is “not about what it is, but about as That’s what it’s about.” The same applies to technologies; what matters most is how they are used. As a fan of seeing new works by great directors in any Way or means, I appreciate and acknowledge the fact that Netflix has spent the last few years providing major funding to artists like Martin Scorsese (The Irish), Alfonso Cuarón (Gypsy), David Fincher (The killer) and Guillermo del Toro (Pinocchio). Many of the films they made with Netflix’s money were too ambitious or eclectic for traditional studios. Then Netflix put these ambitious and eclectic projects into hundreds of millions of homes around the world.
But what if people don’t even realize these films are available? Richard Linklater debuted his sequel to Apollo 10 1/2a dark comedy called Hitman, at last summer’s Venice Film Festival. The film received rave reviews. One rave after another described him as a “crowd-pleaser” who absolutely killed it in a theatrical setting. In the end, Linklater sold the film… to Netflix. Last year, the film’s sales agent promised HitmanThe release of would include a “theatrical component,” and true to its word, the film began showing in select multiplexes in May ahead of its debut on Netflix.
How it performed in theaters is anyone’s guess. Netflix does not disclose box office revenue; HitmanMojo Box Office it currently only indicates that the film grossed $1.1 million worldwide. (In the Netherlands alone, it made almost three-quarters of a million dollars. The Dutch can’t get enough of Richard Linklater!) A few looks at HitmanThe Fandango page over the past week has indicated to me that here in New York City I could have easily purchased a seat for any screening at any theater showing the film.
In this context, the title Hitman seems tragically ironic – especially since Hitman is one of the best films Netflix has released in months, or maybe even years. Glen Powell stars as a psychology professor who works as an undercover agent for the New Orleans Police Department. When the cops get wind of someone trying to hire a hitman, they call Powell’s Gary Johnson to come and pose as said hitman, which he does with great skill – at least until the day a beautiful woman (Adria Arjona) arrests him. an abusive marriage. She tries to request services from her.
Hitman It’s funny, sexy, exciting and extremely well written. Powell and Arjona’s onscreen relationship keeps twisting and turning in delightfully unexpected ways, and the film simultaneously examines ideas like identity and police ethics without ever devolving into a didactic sermon. With long conversations between an attractive couple who are brought together by fate, Hitman also doubles as a thriller version of Linklater himself Before sunrise. And I’m really depressed about the idea that all of this has just been scrapped at Netflix and may soon fade into obscurity the same way it did. Apollo 10 1/2 he did.
There are definitely some advantages to watching Hitman on Netflix. For one thing, you can rewatch it multiple times at no additional cost, which is something I’m sure people will want to do. At home you also have the option to play Hitman with subtitles, where you can appreciate the fact that whoever wrote the film’s subtitles took the time to delineate whether Powell is playing Gary or “Ron” (his assassin alter ego) in some scenes – and even at one point the calls himself “Gary /’Ron’” during a moment when his identity is especially confused. (Another caption just says “(kisses)”. Those are good captions.)
In practically every other respect, although, This is not the ideal result for Hitman – or to movie theaters, where I feel like this film he would be did well, assuming it wasn’t playing simultaneously at home for the low price of a monthly Netflix subscription. Powell co-wrote Hitman with Linklater, and he clearly designed it as a showcase for all of his talents. As Gary, Powell is charming, funny, handsome but likable, and very willing to appear silly or vulnerable. In another time, this would have established Powell as a major movie star after his recent roles in Top Gun: Maverick It is Nobody but you.
But in that other time, Hitman it would have been shown in theaters, where the size of the film’s image gives the people on the big screen a grand, mythic quality. At home… everyone seems smaller, less special, less spectacular—even someone as handsome as Glen Powell. I’m starting to wonder if that’s one of the reasons, as many have noticed and complained lately, we seem to witness the death of traditional movie stardom. On television, the stars don’t shine as bright.
I just hope we’re not witnessing the death of cinemas or films themselves. When something this good comes along, it must be another event.
Films that should have become franchises but didn’t
These movies were good enough to get sequels or entire franchises. But that never happened for several reasons.