Can We Have New Cult Classics?
Looking for an ecosystem that can support films that fly under the radar.
Films have lives. The response they receive at one point may be completely different later in history. A film that was a massive hit one year may be lost to memory later on (Nathan Rabin had a great series on this called “Forgotbusters”). Conversely, films that failed to find an audience upon their initial release but later gathered a following through repertory screenings and home viewing are deemed cult classics. But either way, this fate relied on a release timeline that typically went for theatrical distribution of a few months then moved to ancillary markets (international, airlines/hotels, home video, cable, broadcast). Movies kept going, and they kept going in such a way as to continually denote their prominence, e.g. a movie available on HBO was newer than a movie debuting on broadcast.
You probably already know why this all changed: streaming. There are other reasons as well like the deluge of content provided by social media and the web, but just as it’s difficult for even the biggest movies to make some noise today, if something flies under the radar, that could be its fate for the foreseeable future since there’s no clear way to dig it out. It used to be that a publication like Entertainment Weekly could run a list like The Top 50 Cult Films in their print magazine in 2003, and that would provide some good direction. But now if you type “Best Cult Movies” into Google, the top results include the documentaries Holy Hell and The Source Family because the algorithm thinks you’re talking about literal cults. The movies are scattered and so are the recommendations.
I was thinking about this as I watched 2020’s Love and Monsters on Netflix last week. Friends recommended it to me when it was released and it stayed on my radar because I liked writer Brian Duffield’s other 2020 movie, Spontaneous. Love and Monsters concerns a young guy (an incredibly charming Dylan O’Brien) who seeks out his high school crush in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where non-human animal life is now outsized and monstrous. It’s a PG-13 movie, so there’s nothing really aiming to scare you or make you upset about the wasteland, and it’s also a lovely coming-of-age story set against a unique backdrop. Even if there hadn’t been a pandemic, I don’t know if this film would have easily broken through because it doesn’t have any A-list stars, and it’s not based on any pre-existing IP that carries its own fanbase. But it’s good! And it deserves to find an audience!
The problem is that the film is in a wasteland of its own. You can easily rent it for only $4 from numerous platforms (Apple, Google Play, YouTube, etc.), but I understand the hesitancy. We pay so much for the streaming platforms we have now. I finally watched it on Netflix because it was due to leave the service on March 8th, and it’s currently not streaming anywhere at the moment. I get the frustration to pay over $10/month on multiple streaming services, and then reluctance to shell out an additional $4 to see a movie that will more-than-likely return to a streamer at some point. Of course, when that happens, the question then becomes if it’s a streamer you have a subscription to or not.
This creates a bizarre vacuum where a film that didn’t succeed on its theatrical run now has no traction at home because even if you do recommend it to someone, the likely follow up question is, “Well, where is it streaming?” and unlike a Blockbuster where you ultimately drove out to the store and feel compelled to make a choice, on streaming you add it to your list where it sits with almost no urgency. Again, the only reason I chose to watch this movie now was because it was leaving Netflix! And I only knew it was leaving because I’m a weirdo who constantly checks for that thing!
I wish I had an easy solution to this problem because there needs to be some kind of way to elevate weirder movies that don’t have “A24” slapped on them.
Recommendations
My pal and former Collider colleague Greg has a Substack where he chronicles the culling of his Blu-ray collection. It’s an idea so good I’m a little mad I didn’t think to do it myself. He’s also a great writer, so keep up to date on what “stays and plays” in Greg’s collection:
What I’m Watching
Speaking of A24, this weekend Rose Glass’ Love Lives Bleeding expands nationwide. The neo-noir is set in the 1980s, and follows a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian) and her girlfriend (Kristen Stewart) as they try to cover up a murder from not only the police, but especially a local crime boss (Ed Harris), who just happens to also be the girlfriend’s father. I had a lot of fun watching this, and paired with Glass’ last film, Saint Maud, I like that she’s a director who’s willing to take some very big swings. Thematically, I’m not sure if the ideas ever reach the outsized visuals and tone, but that doesn’t stop the film from being a blast and a half. If you’re looking for something gnarly in theaters, Love Lives Bleeding is a good choice.
I also highly recommend Julio Torres’ Problemista. Torres also stars in the film playing an immigrant desperate to have his work visa renewed so he can stay in the U.S. and apply to his dream job as a toy designer for Hasbro. His best chance, unfortunately, is working for a difficult, scatterbrained woman (Tilda Swinton), who desperately wants to open a show to sell the paintings of her cryogenically frozen husband (RZA) so that she can continue to afford keeping him frozen until someone finds a cure for his terminal cancer. Torres’ does a fantastic job of using absurd comedy to show the difficulty of the immigrant experience without ever making the film play as a preachy. It’s a movie where you’re always empathizing with his character, but there are also jokes about FileMaker Pro.
My wife and I are also gritting our way through the final few episodes of The Crown even though they were released months ago. I couldn’t quite place what was bothering me so much about the show’s conclusion, but I think I finally have it now. The show’s first few seasons were about stripping away the mythology of the Royal Family to show the flawed humanity of these public figures; the last season feels like an attempt to build up a new mythology. Like do we need to be sold a fairy tale about Prince William and Kate Middleton? Are we watching a serialized drama, or are we watching PR for the Palace? As the show comes to its conclusion, it feels like the latter.
What I’m Reading
I’ve hit a really nice rhythm reading Before the Storm. However, I will say that this is a not an easy, airport reading history book like The Wager or Devil in the White City. It’s a compelling, well-written history, but it also feels like the kind of book that’s meant to serve other historians, so there’s a wealth of names and details that a more mainstream history book my omit in favor of pacing. I’ve basically given up trying to remember every person’s name, and tried to focus more on the sweep of events and the battle for control of the Republican Party in the 1960s.
In other reads:
The Film Christopher Nolan Doesn’t Want You to Watch by Christopher Kuo [The New York Times] - “Larceny” is a student film Christopher Nolan made with his friends, but he doesn’t want anyone to see it. As someone who made some truly awful student films in college, I get it! But it’s an interesting argument about canon and distribution. It would be historically interesting to see “Larceny,” but if Nolan doesn’t want to show it (and it’s not like he sold the rights to anyone), then it should be kept under lock and key. But I wonder about films like Fear and Desire and Killer’s Kiss, two early Stanley Kubrick movies that he basically disowned, and if it’s against his wishes to watch those movies despite those films providing insight into one of history’s greatest directors. If we never see “Larceny,” I’m personally okay with that, but I understand the completionist desire to see everything a director ever made.
What I’m Hearing
Since I’m a fan of Hozier, Spotify led me to pop-folk artist Noah Kahan, and I’ve liked what I’ve heard from him so far. Listening to his music also caused me to find out what a “stick season” is.
What I’m Playing
I’m loving Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but it’s very funny to me that the stakes of the story is that the fate of the world is on the line, but also I need to do silly little side-quests for a little cyborg boy. Yes, Sephiroth is the manifestation of evil and bent on destroying the planet, but these towers aren’t going to reactivate themselves. Chadley needs me, and there are also card games to play.
