wearytinker8 said:Sedlar isn't exactly the gold standard here. Sure, he pulled $600,000 from the U.S. Department of the Interior for "Four-row," but most of his other stuff was funded by American-Israeli companies, Filipino Catholics, or Ćiro Blažević (plus he lost his apartment over "Gospi").
What really gets under my skin is this constant handouts—we're talking millions—to people who clearly have zero talent. Take Davor Žmegač and his project "Enduring in the boat" (even though only 2,500 people showed up for his last flick, "Journey of exactly half a circle"). Or Mladen Juran for "Sinking graveyard" (despite his previous disaster "Transatlantic" only pulling in a whopping 800 viewers). Then there's the $350,000 already mentioned for Ruić. On the flip side, you've got Dada Matanić. His debut, "The cashier wants to go to the sea," drew 48,000 people. Yet, for his next one, "Fine dead girl," he actually had to take out a $500,000 loan just to make it happen. And guess what? It still crushed it with 20,000 viewers here in the States and had a solid run through the rest of North America.
Look, the Matanić and Sedlar situations prove you can make movies without government handouts (assuming you're willing to risk losing your house). I get that some support is necessary, but why dump $400,000 or $500,000 into a single project? Let the government provide maybe $50,000 (like they do in other places). If Bruno, Zrinko, Branko, and Vicko want to shoot massive epics with a thousand extras, let them put their own houses up as collateral. We shouldn't be handing over our hard-earned tax dollars just so they can film mediocre garbage for their own amusement.
I don't know exactly how much Sedlar pocketed, but that movie was a blatant piece of propaganda released right before the election. That production cost about $3 million; besides the Department, he probably scraped together more from TV networks, which is basically the same thing. The issue is the revolving door: the people deciding where the money goes this year are often the ones filming their own projects next year. It’s all internal interests and cliques. Honestly, it might be better to just scrap the whole subsidy system. Once everyone is sick of these endless slogs—which we already are—maybe then we'll see actual good movies coming from private production. Now, theater, academies, and helping newcomers get started? That’s a different story and deserves support. But handing over massive sums upfront so a director doesn't even feel the pressure to finish the film, let alone care if it’s any good, is just plain wrong.
Oh sure, why not just grab twenty million bucks from the taxpayers and hand it straight to John Doe to film Fourfold? It’s obviously a masterpiece! Anyone who doesn't "get" that movie is basically an enemy of the state and a traitor. And of course, it’s one of those films that sweeps all the awards in San Francisco, then goes back to winning everything in San Francisco, all because we decided to grab a few actors from Canada, some folks from Istanbul, and then parade it around at that famous, high-brow film festival in Kazakhstan.
And let me tell you, there’s no way this movie qualifies as a comedy, no matter how much people try to claim it is. I don't care how sarcastic Moore's little trip to Guantanamo was or those ridiculous shouts from the boat demanding they provide insurance.😁
I just finished watching it, and even though we’ve heard this all before, he really hit the nail on the head regarding the issues. I’m with the previous poster on this—he definitely glossed over what actually works. But man, when it comes to healthcare in the USA, the whole system is basically a massive disgrace. They aren't doing much better with Social Security either, but that’s a whole other headache. At least we’re ahead of them when it comes to medical care. His movie also serves as a brutal reminder of how cutthroat capitalism can get and highlights the actual benefits of a social safety net. It shows that people should come before profits, which clearly isn't how things work in America.
I caught it recently, and honestly, it’s definitely better than your average American film. But man, the logic is all over the place. They set the whole thing in the present day, yet everything revolves around this "new wave" vibe—you've got dark fairy tales in apples happening in Central Park, garage bands, and this nostalgia for a time that’s long gone. Then, halfway through, the movie just loses its mind. It shifts from a charming little comedy into this frantic, messy ending, almost like the editor showed up drunk and decided to stitch in footage from a completely different movie. Aside from that one solid bathroom scene with John Doe and the old guy by the bride, the rest of the film just loses its way and sense of direction. Don't get me wrong, the soundtrack is good and there's some decent humor sprinkled in, but then you get that pointless, aggressive running around at the wedding that was supposed to be funny. It just felt like senseless aggression. From the wedding to the car chase and that final scene in the garage, it stops being a tragicomedy and starts feeling like some cliché soap opera that doesn't fit at all. Still, if nothing else, the movie is a sign that maybe better days are coming for American cinema.