![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hail, Caesar!
Feb. 14th, 2016 09:38 amI enjoyed Hail Caesar immensely.
The people I went with? Not so much.
At the bar after the show, I had to explain the basic plot - there's a guy who's very good at a very demanding job, and when he's offered an easier and more lucrative job he has to decide what his purpose in life is. The point of all the subplots is to demonstrate just how bizarre the protagonist's work is, and by association how bizarre the American postwar cinema industry was.
As I was trying to explain the Hollywood references, one of my friends got mad at me, saying that you shouldn't have to have a PhD in Cinema Studies to enjoy the movie. Personally I feel the same way about things like Ant-Man; like, you shouldn't have to be a fifteen-year-old boy with ADHD to enjoy the movie. The key skill to bring to any viewing experience is the ability to just sit back and let the movie happen, regardless of whether it's Fast & Furious 8 or 12 Years a Slave.
I was grinning during the entirety of Hail Caesar, though. All of the actors (and their characters) are wonderful, and the metatextuality is brilliant. It's nice to understand the history behind what's going on, but it's not necessary. For example, there's this one bit with tap-dancing sailors that goes on for way too long, and the longer it goes the better it gets. When that scene was reprised with a submarine, I thought I was going to transcend my physical state and achieve enlightenment right there in the theater. No cultural capital is needed to enjoy either of these segments, both of which function at around the same fundamental level of comedy as skits from Tina-Fey-era Saturday Night Live.
I can't believe I have to go see Deadpool and the new Michael Moore documentary after this. Honestly I feel like I could probably die happy if I never saw another movie after Hail Caesar, it was just that good.
The people I went with? Not so much.
At the bar after the show, I had to explain the basic plot - there's a guy who's very good at a very demanding job, and when he's offered an easier and more lucrative job he has to decide what his purpose in life is. The point of all the subplots is to demonstrate just how bizarre the protagonist's work is, and by association how bizarre the American postwar cinema industry was.
As I was trying to explain the Hollywood references, one of my friends got mad at me, saying that you shouldn't have to have a PhD in Cinema Studies to enjoy the movie. Personally I feel the same way about things like Ant-Man; like, you shouldn't have to be a fifteen-year-old boy with ADHD to enjoy the movie. The key skill to bring to any viewing experience is the ability to just sit back and let the movie happen, regardless of whether it's Fast & Furious 8 or 12 Years a Slave.
I was grinning during the entirety of Hail Caesar, though. All of the actors (and their characters) are wonderful, and the metatextuality is brilliant. It's nice to understand the history behind what's going on, but it's not necessary. For example, there's this one bit with tap-dancing sailors that goes on for way too long, and the longer it goes the better it gets. When that scene was reprised with a submarine, I thought I was going to transcend my physical state and achieve enlightenment right there in the theater. No cultural capital is needed to enjoy either of these segments, both of which function at around the same fundamental level of comedy as skits from Tina-Fey-era Saturday Night Live.
I can't believe I have to go see Deadpool and the new Michael Moore documentary after this. Honestly I feel like I could probably die happy if I never saw another movie after Hail Caesar, it was just that good.
