America 1987

Chapter 102 Nostalgia

"It's nothing. You wrote the script. You're the best," Nicole smiled. "By the way, why did you suddenly decide to make a film noir? Isn't that genre declining these days?"

The classic film noir began to decline as early as the late 50s and has been dormant for nearly 30 years now.

However, these works have accumulated a stable core audience due to their strong stylistic distinctiveness and narrative depth. They belong to a niche market and still have a certain market share.

"The decline is only temporary. The market for film noir has always existed, it just hasn't been revived yet. I believe my film 'L.A. Confidential' can shoulder this historical responsibility."

""

Of course, these are all secondary factors. The real main reason is that the story of "L.A. Confidential" is set in 50s Hollywood.

The average age of Oscar voters is 62, with more than half of them being over 60. This means that most of the current Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters are in their 20s or 30s and have experienced the golden age of Hollywood in their youth.

This group naturally has a stronger emotional resonance with retro-style works that evoke memories of past movie viewings, and numerous award-winning cases also confirm this preference.

"The Artist," a film heavily influenced by silent film nostalgia, won Best Picture, while "The Shape of Water," with its retro style, paid homage to old Hollywood.

These works, which also won the highest Oscar award, generally hit the judges' nostalgia perfectly.

Although Spielberg's retro-themed works such as "West Side Story" and "The Dreamers" did not win the core awards, it was only because he had won many awards before. The Academy judges, for the sake of balance, would not allow one person to win the core awards multiple times.

"You seem to really enjoy making these niche genre films, David," Naomi couldn't help but interject. "Are you also a fan of old-fashioned films?"

3

"Nostalgia?"

"Even if I'm nostalgic, I can't possibly be nostalgic for that era," David couldn't help but think to himself. He might be nostalgic for movies from the 80s, 90s, or even 00s, but how could he possibly be nostalgic for movies from the 40s or 50s?

It is said that when people feel lonely, anxious, or dissatisfied with their current situation, the brain automatically retrieves pleasant memories from the past and uses positive experiences to offset the negative feelings of the present. This is a self-protective mechanism of the brain.

This is where nostalgia comes from.

"Yeah, otherwise why do you always try these themes that are so outdated?" Naomi said, wearing a black, open-knit, off-the-shoulder dress. "Isn't this just nostalgia?"

"Well, it's fine if you want to understand it that way," David didn't know how to explain it, so he just went along with it. "But this is just a style, not the core appeal of my movies. The core of my movies is still the plot—"

Once people's material needs are met, they generally have a need for nostalgia on a spiritual level. At this time, nostalgic content can naturally resonate with the audience's emotions.

The film "Us and Them" was linked to Rene Liu's national hit song "Later" during its preparation stage.

The release of materials related to "Rene Liu bursting into tears while singing 'Later'" accurately struck a chord with the collective youthful emotions of those born in the 80s and 90s who "did not understand the meaning of the song when they first heard it, and only listened to it again when the song was over."

The topic "Rene Liu brings her own emotional experiences to the screen" was also released, and the movie became a trending topic even before filming started, firmly grasping the public's nostalgia.

Finally, the film's pre-sales exceeded 8000 million yuan on its opening day, and its box office on its first weekday was 2.8 million yuan, far exceeding other films released at the same time. Ultimately, the film, made on a small budget, grossed 13.6 billion yuan, breaking the box office record for a female Chinese director at the time.

However, this achievement is only possible if the film is of acceptable quality. Relying solely on nostalgia-driven marketing to make money, coupled with shoddy content and exploiting classic IPs, will only result in viewers voting with their feet.

"Alright, Naomi, stop asking him," Nicole interjected. "We can't guess what David's ideas are. He just films whatever comes to mind, there's no pattern to it. Speaking of which, David, what kind of movies do you like to make the most?"

"I don't have a particular favorite subject matter, but I do have a particular favorite style."

"What style?"

"I value the style of the characters," David said directly without keeping anyone in suspense. "I really like movies that create dramatic tension through the interactions and changes in relationships between characters."

"What do you mean?" That was Nicole's voice.

"I didn't quite understand." That was Naomi's voice.

"Hmm? Is that so hard to understand?"

"Does that mean we should use fewer special effects?" Nicole asked.

"No, it means prioritizing characters over plot."

""

The 1999 Oscar-winning film "American Beauty" is the most outstanding film in this regard of all the movies David has ever seen.

If you only look at the plot, the movie is actually about the daily life of an American middle-class family. However, through multi-dimensional character design and relationship arrangement, the director twisted the seemingly mundane middle-class daily life into a strong dramatic tension. When he watched it back then, he didn't dare to blink.

Almost all the characters in the film possess complex and multifaceted personalities: Lester, a seemingly spineless middle-aged man, bursts forth with the courage to break free from societal norms after his awakening; the stereotypical homophobic military colonel has long suppressed his sexual orientation; the seemingly promiscuous young girl is actually a virgin—

Each character is portrayed with great realism, and the narrative lines of all the characters are not isolated, but rather woven into a tight network of relationships. The interactions between the characters progress layer by layer, and the subtle changes in each relationship drive the conflict to escalate, making the plot unfold in a captivating way.

Especially in the film's ending, the audience originally thought Lester would die at the hands of his wife or daughter's boyfriend, but the tragedy was actually triggered by his officer father's misunderstanding. The details and foreshadowing laid in the early stages made the reversal both unexpected and reasonable.

The aftereffects of watching it were quite strong. David even rewatched Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang's comedy "Lost in Hong Kong" to quickly recover from that melancholic mood.

"You know, the greatest success of a movie is that it allows the characters in the film to remain in the audience's memory across time."

""

"Isn't what you're talking about art films?"

""

"Who told you that movies that focus on characters, as long as they do a good job in dramatic tension, can do just as well at the box office as big-budget commercial films?"

""

American Beauty grossed $1.3 million in North America and $2.26 million overseas, for a total of $3.56 million worldwide, which is comparable to blockbuster films.

Moreover, its production cost was only around 1500 million, which is more than 20 times higher, making the return rate incredibly high.