There are certain films that have a higher status in my affections than they truly deserve. Films that transcend their script, the actors, the cinematography and score to take on a life, an ascociation, that wraps them a warm and fuzzy glow. Tales like The Goonies, Flight of the Navigater, Batteries Not Included, Space Camp, E.T. (I could go on) are firmly in this exclusive club of well loved adventures and many of them still feature in my DVD collection. Watching them is more than just revisiting a tale, or laughing at the changes in fashion/acting/special affects; it's a trip down memory lane to a youth that I may have only lived in my memory.
Truthfully they each have a few things in common. They are most definitely young at heart even when the protagonists are not young in age. There is an optomism and hope to them that treads dangerously close to denial. They explore everyday themes we can relate to in the context of fantastical adventures: family, change, friendship, self worth and community, to name just a few. And, I always believe I could be right there with them; every one of these films has invaded my dreams.
Could I be adding to a film to the list?
As the lights came up at the end of our recent viewing of the new J J Abrams and Steven Spielberg film Super 8... all themes, and 'golden glow' indicaters were present and accounted for. Did we just witness a modern classic in the making, or was Super 8 simply a derivative period drama?
Caught between the inocence of childhood and the great abiss of adulthood, five friends spend a summer making their own horror film. As their project is derailed they soon realise they've been caught up in a real life terror, threatening their town.
All Spielberg and Abrams conventions are present and accounted for (daddy issues, optomism, innocence and growth - lens flare, mysterious beast, fantastical adventure and everyman leads), it's truly amazing to see two such distinct film making voices, harmonise so effectively. This duet is by all accounts very successful. Super 8 is a film with heart. I find this unsurprising as I am a fan of both directers/producers. I grew up on a diet of Spielberg and will see anything he makes (or produces) and fell in love with Abrams imagination from Felicity, Alias and Lost onward. So this pairing, it's fair to say, have a headstart in my estimation.
Super 8 is an elegant film. The casting is fantastic (teenagers that actually look the age they're playing!), a near perfect script (there was one line towards the end where I shook my head), the pace is swift but not at the cost of establishing character, and the terror is very real. What surprised me most was how genuinely scared I was watching it. This isn't quite a kids film.
Good friend, and decade long cinema buddy, Craig came to take my hubby out for breakfast this morning. Our conversation, as it often does, turned to film. "So, what did you think of Super 8?" Together we debated whether the film is a classic in it's own standing, or whether it stands on the shoulders of those titans of cinema it references so playfully. It's a question worth asking. There's no denying that the film intends a not to the greats, I'm sure it's a deliberate decision, but I wonder if that should detract from it's effectiveness? No story exists in a vacume, and plenty have tried and made lesser films with as many homages.
If you are yet to work it out, I cast my vote on the side of genius. Five stars for Super 8. If I am taken in by a feeling of nostalgia, then I say hats off to Abrams and Speilberg, there's a certain kind of skill in that too. I am curious about how someone younger who hasn't grown up with the stories of my youth will take to it though. If you were ignorant of the sub-genre it flows from, would you still walk away with that fuzzy glow?
Seen the movie. What do you think?
