…in which I casually, briefly engaged with dozens upon dozens of Average Joes and Janes about this and that chit-chat topic…many times, over and over…and when the subject of the year’s best, most see-worthy films briefly surfaced, Joe and Jane had never even heard of the tip-tops….Sentimental Value, Marty Supreme, Hamnet, et. al.
It would have been one thing if these titles stirred a semblance of recognition, and they and were half-interested in streaming these vaguely-familiar films down the road, but these and other titles drew a total effing blank. Morever, no one had even heard of last year’s Best Picture winner — Anora.
I chatted with quite a few Yale University undergrads — exceptional, cream of-the-crop Zoomers! — and not a single one had heard of Luca Guadagnino‘s After The Hunt, which is set in New Haven and within an elite Yalie academic demimonde
The finest films used to jar and sometimes electrify large portions of the populace. Moviegoing in general used to be an accessible, mass-interest thing, at least as far as the end-of-the-year Oscar chasers were concerned.
But the pandemic, streaming and woke-lefty instructional theology flicks (a fraternity to which One Battle After Another belongs) suffocated the golden goose. Movies have devolved into an elite cottage industry of concentrated but marginal cultural value, and the Oscars will be moving to YouTube in ’29.
I know, I know…the getting-smaller-and-narrower-and-less-vital trend has been apparent for many years, but 2025 was the year in which this numbing realization became inescapable. The mooks have mostly checked out, given up, lost that lovin’ feelin’.