Can't Be Moved
I started to do a riff on The Hurt Locker as in order to explain why it's sitting at the top of the 2009 Pure Pleasure list, but it went off in another tangent after I began talking about having recently met a couple of women who hadn't heard of Kathryn Bigelow's film. Not 20-something waitresses this time but two well-to-do women in their 50s who've obviously been around and gotten a good grasp of things. Here's how I put it:
Bigelow's Iraq War thriller took me into a world of zero safety and security -- the anxiety-plagued, dry-sweat realm of a military bomb-defusal squad in 2004 Baghdad. Except Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal do give us security -- the kind that a person who's "good" (in the Howard Hawks sense of that term) brings to this daily threat. A guy, in short, like Jeremy Renner's Sgt. James -- smart, highly skilled, improvisational and focused like a madman.
And there's the rub. James is an adrenaline junkie who simultaneously protects and endangers his team (Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty). The movie, likewise, also enthralls and unnerves audiences, and leaves them with an experience they'll never forget.
The irony is that all those Hurt Locker raves that have been pouring in all year seem to have persuaded potential audiences that it's an experience they'd rather not have in the first place.
If you're averse to edge-junkie anxiety then Bigelow's film is probably going to put you off on some level. The odd thing is that so many critics and filmmakers and cinema buffs have been turned on by this film, which is a guaranteed lock for a Best Picture nomination, and yet it's only made $12 million. What's this about apart from Summit Entertainment not knowing how to sell it, or lacking the will to keep plugging away?
I'll tell you what the problem is. One, eight out of ten action-and-excitement fans (i.e., under-40 males) seem to prefer Michael Bay/Roland Emmerich CG crap to real-deal tension machines like The Hurt Locker. And two, women won't deal with it. The buzz has convinced them that it's too threatening, too invested in a situation that's almost totally about non-assurance, and isn't in the least bit concerned with fortifying the nest. (Which it isn't, to judge by what Sgt. James does at the end.)
These are the same women, by the way, who won't go to see The Cove because they don't want to see Flipper get stabbed. And the same women who are going this weekend to The Blind Side and can't wait to pay to see It's Complicated.
Mainstream women have actually gone farther, I believe, than simply not buying tickets to The Hurt Locker. As with most war films I think many if not most women have instinctually decided to ignore it -- to emotionally and psychologically wrap it up in newspaper and drop it in a garbage can.
The other night inside the Hotel Regency bar I spoke to two bright and attractive women in their 50s who hadn't even heard of The Hurt Locker, and one of them used to work as a talent manager and knew the movie world that I live in (or lived in during the '90s) pretty well. It's one thing for sophisticated ladies to say "no thanks" or that they'd rather wait for the DVD, and another to say (and during Oscar season yet!), "What's the title again?"
I suspect that these women (and millions like them) did hear of The Hurt Locker around the time it opened last summer, but they erased it off their hard drives so quickly and instinctually that it's like it never existed. Physiologically the title was heard by their ears -- the sound waves got through -- but psychologically it was brushed off like cows in the pasture flicking at flies with their tails.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 29, 2009 at 1:01 PM
comment #1
drbob
says ...
I don't know what the mystery is here, Jeff. The marketing for this movie sucked donkey balls. If it wasn't for this site, I would have never heard of this movie. For those of us who do not attend film festivals, this movie simply did not exist.
Posted by drbob
at November 29, 2009 2:11 PM
comment #2
Colin
says ...
Completely agree with drbob. This film was marketed nowhere outside LA and NY.
Even in Reno, where we have a lot of smaller films, Hurt Locker was only available for two weeks.
Posted by Colin
at November 29, 2009 2:19 PM
comment #3
Gordon27
says ...
Why are you always so on about women, Jeff? You acknowledge, for one sentence, that the marketing has been terrible, and then spend ten paragraphs talking about how women won't go see the movie.
You know there's also a third thing, right? As Ray Bradbury puts it, audiences reject things that are clearly designed to solely appeal to critics and buffs with critic sensibilities.
Posted by Gordon27
at November 29, 2009 2:46 PM
comment #4
Colin
says ...
@Gordon27
Audiences didn't reject Slumdog Millionaire, which was clearly marketed toward getting Danny Boyle an Oscar.
However there is a large portion of the world that has an apathetic attitude towards war and Hurt Locker suffered because of it.
Posted by Colin
at November 29, 2009 2:59 PM
comment #5
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
I wrote what I wrote today because I've now had two conversations with groups or pairs of women in which they've said they've never heard of the movie at all -- no recollection of the title whatsover. Nothing. Blank slate. That's not just bad marketing. That's something else. I've had thousands of conversations with people who go "oh, yeah" when I mention a film but who also go "yeah, haven't seen it" in a way that makes it obvious they don't intend do. This is something else. I'm begin to think there's something primal about this film.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at November 29, 2009 3:08 PM
comment #6
frank_delsa
says ...
Slumdog Millionaire was a crowd pleaser, The Hurt Locker is more a character study, with an ending that's way more bitter than a lot of people care to admit (the scene with Renner and his son, it's just heartbreaking).
It's a brilliant movie, but it's not an easy one. There's no mystery as to why few went to see it.
Posted by frank_delsa
at November 29, 2009 3:11 PM
comment #7
MartinBlank
says ...
Once more, from the top: Hurt Locker, a brave and bold film (it's on my ten best list), died because of the following:
(A) The title. Intriguingly obscure, referenced in the movie (it refers to Renner's under-the-bed box of bombs he disabled, no?), but tells you nothing about the movie going in.
(B) Iraq War movies, or even anything resembling an Iraq War movie (I know, I know, it isn't really an Iraq War movie), have been the kiss of death for years.
(C) The marketing.
(D) The terms in which it was praised -- a lot of people just aren't in the mood, in this time of stress and uncertainty, to see a movie whose ad blurbs promise "Extreme tension! You'll be on the edge of your seat, shitting your pants!" and so forth.
(E) The Sullivan's Travels Lesson Nobody Ever Learns: People want to have fun at the movies. Now, Jeff, you and I may well define "fun" as "a beautifully rhythmed and intelligent thriller by Kathryn Bigelow." Most people define it as "Paul Blart."
Which is fine. People, as Sullivan learned, will always need Paul Blart and eschew what makes them think or feel bad. Even I, a scurrilous elite, am sometimes more in the mood for Much Ado About Nothing than King Lear.
But you may have to content yourself with the thought that Paul Blart (or pick your recent "why the fuck are people watching/enjoying this" movie of choice) will pass unremarked into oblivion within ten years along with thousands of others of its ilk, while The Hurt Locker has a real shot at posterity. It may not be built to be popular now, to make big money and win prizes now. Every year, some deserving films go unattended and unrewarded. That's part of what you're here for, to shed light on the outcasts.
Posted by MartinBlank
at November 29, 2009 3:23 PM
comment #8
scooterzz
says ...
imo, it's been shown time and again that people aren't just apathetic towards films with a tie to the war in iraq, they are repulsed and flat-out won't attend them.... and summit's marketing folk didn't do the film any favors by putting the fyc screeners in a folder that proclaims on the cover what a great "WAR MOVIE" it is.... it's my guess that, now, a large portion of guild members will be hesitant to watch it....
Posted by scooterzz
at November 29, 2009 3:24 PM
comment #9
bfm
says ...
The title is terrible and not even remotely memorable.
Posted by bfm
at November 29, 2009 3:33 PM
comment #10
Chicago48
says ...
Alright I'm repeating myself. Dear Hollywood, when a movie like the Hurt Locker is released can you make it available in various media -- online, pay per view, whatever, so that people like me can see it. I wanted to see it in the movie house, but it disappeared before I could get there. I would like to see the producers move it to Hulu or Youtube (for a small fee). Many of us are busy and we cannot spend our lives in the movies like Jeff can, he's a writer/critic. He gets paid to see movies. So once and for all -- somebody shake the powers that be and let them know there's other ways for movies to be seen besides the movie houses. Now I have to wait until AFTER the OSCARS and DVD releases.
Posted by Chicago48
at November 29, 2009 4:40 PM
comment #11
Chicago48
says ...
To Martin Blank: Three of your points are reasons why Hollywood should find ways to distribute these type of movies outside of movie houses.
Posted by Chicago48
at November 29, 2009 4:41 PM
comment #12
orler
says ...
Here's your marketable Iraq war movie: group of teenagers go on vacation on some remote island where BinLaden happens to be hiding out, and they end up being captured and try to escape.............
Posted by orler
at November 29, 2009 5:34 PM
comment #13
The Hoyk
says ...
I understood that the title referred to the container that a dead soldier's belongings are placed in when they are sent home with his coffin, i.e. a euphemistic term that stands in denial of the dangerous truth, much like the cowboy protagonist who takes to bomb defusal as if it's not the death risk that it truly is.
Posted by The Hoyk
at November 29, 2009 6:03 PM
comment #14
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
The title is beautiful. Just listen to the sound of it and you'll know right away what it means without someone explaining the Websters Slang Dictionary definition. It alludes to a hurting place in your head or heart. -- a place you're stuck in for a while. A world of pain or anguish. Fairly simple. Obviously it has a slight ring of poetry to it. Which, of course, is what throws Average American Joes for a loop.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at November 29, 2009 6:21 PM
comment #15
dinovelvet
says ...
Just put the words "The feelgood movie of the holiday season!" onto Hurt Locker posters.
Posted by dinovelvet
at November 29, 2009 6:29 PM
comment #16
K. Bowen
says ...
I think I read The Hurt Locker is army slang for screwing up and getting yourself killed - going to The Hurt Locker, as Guy Pearce does in the beginning. Something along those lines.
Posted by K. Bowen
at November 29, 2009 7:15 PM
comment #17
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
Okay, that too.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at November 29, 2009 9:01 PM
comment #18
Eloi Manning
says ...
If they wanted a mass audience they should have given it a title like "B.D.U: Bomb Disposal Unit". Would have sold like hot cakes.
Jeff, the marketing was truly abysmal for this movie. Many of my male friends have no idea it even exists either. One person I know mentioned to me that he wanted to see it, and that was because he'd heard it was good from a friend who bought a pirated DVD off the subway. When the pirates are better at publicizing a movie than the studio, you know you're fighting a losing battle.
As someone mentioned above, the only reason I knew it existed was from reading this site.
Posted by Eloi Manning
at November 29, 2009 9:02 PM
comment #19
Gordon27
says ...
"Audiences didn't reject Slumdog Millionaire, which was clearly marketed toward getting Danny Boyle an Oscar."
Was marketed as, sure, but it was written, and to some extent directed, as a feel-good Frank Capra style "rise from adversity" story. Like many "indie" (as opposed to "independent", thank you HomestarRunner) films, it's basically a Hollywood story done with handheld cameras and unknown actors. (And I say that as a fan.) There's a clear difference from that to 'Hurt Locker', even though 'Hurt Locker's script is a lot more conventional than people are giving it credit for.
Posted by Gordon27
at November 29, 2009 9:32 PM
comment #20
K. Bowen
says ...
Well, Jeff, I like your interpretation, too.
Posted by K. Bowen
at November 30, 2009 3:51 AM
comment #21
Mgmax, le Corbeau
says ...
The title may be beautiful, it's still a turn off. But mainly, this thing has been wildly undermarketed. Complaining that people go to Transformers instead of this is like complaining that they eat at the place by the mall with a big neon sign instead of the little shack out on the abandoned road by the old mines.
Posted by Mgmax, le Corbeau
at November 30, 2009 6:40 AM
comment #22
Mgmax, le Corbeau
says ...
Even if you did hear about it... what would make you think it's any less of a piece of crap than, say, Rendition or Redacted or Lions For Lambs? The Iraq War subgenre is a swimming pool that's been peed bright yellow by Hollywood, as far as moviegoers are concerned.
Posted by Mgmax, le Corbeau
at November 30, 2009 6:46 AM
comment #23
Gordon27
says ...
Well, being fair, it's not as if audiences did see those movies either (it's not "Fool me once, shame on you..."), but I know what you're saying.
Posted by Gordon27
at November 30, 2009 11:58 PM
comment #24
Gaydos
says ...
Martin Blank: Have you ever seen "Sullivan's Travels?" That's not the point, as Mr. Eliot, once said, that is not it at all.
The point was the value of bringing joy through laughter. Of all things Sturges was about, "keep it simple, stupid" was never one of them.
"Man cannot live by heaviosity alone" is more like it.
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at December 1, 2009 10:59 AM
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