With Jane Schoenbrun‘s horror love-letter Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma out in cinemas and Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas just arriving, films about films seem to be a hot topic recently, so I thought I’d take a look at a few other flicks where directors start bringing a bit of meta into the screenplay.
Teenage Death and Sex at Camp Miasma
The first horror spoof which came to mind while watching this was Drew Goddard‘s Cabin In The Woods, another joint that takes a shot at the final girl trope as well as other slasher stereotypes. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (it’s a bit of a mouthful, so I’ll be referring to it as TSaD going forward), however, specifically focuses on the concept of filmmaking from the point of view of Kris as she tries to make a horror film inspired by a franchise she’s already obsessed with. Playing with the genre’s transgressive physicality, there are some effective moments as Schonbrun, a horror obsessive themselves, gets strong performances from the leads as the bloodbath ensues. Personally, it’s not my cup of tea as this isn’t a genre I’m a particular fan of, and the meta layer went overboard at certain points and the surreal elements just felt too loaded a lot of the time. That said, I did enjoy Gillian Anderson’s hammed up performance, particularly considering the Sunset Boulevard references. And the film’s already got its fair share of admirers, so maybe it’s just not my thing.
Sentimental Value
As soon as I saw the trailer for Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas, I was immediately reminded of this gorgeous work. Partly because I was surprised by how Bitter Christmas looks almost like a carbon copy of Sentimental Value. I’m sure it won’t be, but the basic concept does seem awfully similar. Anyway, I loved Sentimental Value so much because it actually covers much more emotional ground beneath the simple narrative setup, and it does so in a way that really creeps up on you, then hits you like an emotional hammer. Subtle, moving and majestically filmed, this is one of my filmmaking faves, perhaps because the film within a film trope actually isn’t the central subject of exploration or exploitation.
The State of Things
This was a film I watched as part of a lecture series on realism when I was studying film at university. It’s a much more studied interpretation of the filmmaking process, and it definitely fit my definition of ‘films that you should put on a lecture series’ list. Not that I’m dissing it, per say, it just stood on the much more academic, ‘look at me’ kind of work that TSaD had to a slightly lesser extent. Like that film, it aims to recreate a film that’s already been made, this one being an old sci-fi flick. This was apparently a personal film for director Wim Wenders, which is all well and good, but ‘personal’ also reeks of ‘passion project’, a phrase which was tagged on to other films like ‘The Death of Don Quixote’ and ‘Megalopolis’, both of which were decidedly indulgent. Like those joints, The State of Things left me cold and disengaged.
8 ½
Another film which focused on a director seemingly giving up on creating a sci-fi film. And again, it’s the avant-garde nature of the concept that pushed me away here. I know it’s beloved by a lot of film critics, it’s a love letter to cinema etc, but the whole metafictional nature of these films just smacks of smug to me. Sorry Fellini, not a fan.
Ed Wood
Directors trying (and largely failing) to make sci-fi films seems to be a recognised idea. Tim Burton did a better job for me with this film, perhaps because the concept was based on real-life material. And also the way that Burton treats his subject with respect while also acknowledging the humorous nature of his endeavours. The guy doesn’t give up on his dreams, even if those dreams are beyond the reach of reality, and that’s something to be inspired by right there.
The Fabelmans
I’m not a huge Spielberg fan, but I quite enjoyed this one. And like Ed Wood, that injection of deeply personal, biographical input makes the whole viewing more relatable and enjoyable. You feel like you’re engaging in a part of real life, while simultaneously acknowledging that you’re still just watching a film. And I also appreciate the fact that it doesn’t lean in to the meta side of things. Again, like Ed Wood, the lack of the self-referential, just grounding the situation in some level of reality, is a lot more affecting. Good job.
To quote Cool Hand Luke’s Captain, what we have here is a failure to communicate. With the meta side of things, that is. As long as you stay away from those in-jokes and heavy self-referential stuff, though, I can usually accommodate you.