editorlisa

Went to see Cloverfield last night, and it so totally did not disappoint. Which is kind of amazing since it’s the first studio-made, mainstream movie I’ve wanted to shell out $12 for in the last, I dunno, 2 years? (My tastes tend towards independent films & docs.) The videocam POV was clever, and so apropos of the times in which we live. I loved the camera shooting through other digicams and cell phone cams, too. I’ve lived that perspective many times since moving to New York, so watching kids digivid the Statue of Liberty’s head after it crashed to the street was instantly relate-able, almost nostalgic, for me. Even more satisfying, telling the story from this POV allowed the filmmakers to avoid falling into modern apocalyptic destruction movie traps, such as needing to have some authority figure to try to explain what this Thing is, which is usually so far-fetched an explanation that I can no longer get the movie. Movies that insult my intelligence really piss me off. This one didn’t. I found myself smiling through the whole thing (when I wasn’t covering my eyes in fear); I really enjoyed sitting through this movie and was thoroughly entertained.

What’s even more remarkable, though, is that when I got home, I spent probably 3-4 hours online reading about the movie & JJ Abrams. Scouring IMDb and Wikipedia to read about trivia, Bloop and spoilers, flipping over photos on 1-18-08.com, following every link on slusho.jp, reading the history, following links to the fictional drink’s fictional parent company. I even bought the t-shirt. I never wear t-shirts.

I think it’s safe to say I’m fangirl crushing on JJ Abrams and all that he touches. I’m equally obsessed with Lost and get sucked in to all their viral marketing alternate experiences, watch the Missing Pieces, drool over the podcast (Carlton & Damon are equally awesome) and read every Entertainment Weekly Doc Jansen article. What I love is the extent to which he goes to create an experience for the viewer. He instinctively knows that in this day and age, the task of convincing an audience to suspend disbelief is more challenging than ever. It takes more than just an actor in a lab coat telling us what the monster is. By creating these parallel realities he can create new myths, which are based on just enough real-world phenomena that we buy into them. Or, in the case of my new Slusho! t-shirt, actually buy them. He’s making the unreal real, and isn’t that what great entertainment is all about?

Side Note to Those Who Haven’t Seen the Movie Yet: keep an eye on the ocean in the Coney Island scenes, and stay through the end credits.