Critical consensus and popular preference in film occasionally converge when a genuine crowd-pleaser attracts the collective fancy of cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike. In 2004, \Spider-Man 2"" and ""The Incredibles,"" two of the year's highest-grossing moneymakers, appealed to and satisfied the tastes of nearly everybody. These were examples of popular cinema being helmed not by uninspired Tinseltown hacks, but passionate filmmakers seeking to transcend their genre while espousing exuberant independent spirit.
While those devoid of talent shovel their crap onto celluloid for mainstream America's viewing pleasure, the individuals with vision craft indelible films, many of which are destined to be misunderstood and unjustifiably hated by mainstream filmgoers. The reason inventive, oddball films like Sofia Coppola's ""Lost in Translation"" and Paul Thomas Anderson's ""Punch Drunk Love"" will never attain truly commercially viable status, despite the participation of Hollywood fixtures (Bill Murray, Adam Sandler), is because mainstream audiences' tastes have become immune to the bombardment of multiplex junk cinema.
Tsai Ming-Liang's ""Goodbye Dragon Inn"" is a frustratingly monotonous film that is marketed and praised as a ""beautiful love poem to the movies."" This aggressively minimalist production details the happenings inside a Taipei movie theatre's last night of operation. There's the lonely club-footed woman hoping to give part of her cake to the handsome projectionst to win his affection. There's the aloof projectionist himself, walking around smoking. Then there's a seemingly gay tourist who keeps sitting and staring at the limited patrons, a woman annoyingly eating peanuts, along with a few other odd patrons. Ming-Liang's film is composed of extended long takes observing these people walking around or watching the obscure martial arts saga ""Dragon Inn.""
""Goodbye Dragon Inn"" has been veritably exalted by critics, who gush extensively about how it serves as ""an elegy for the communal experience of cinema-going"" and a wonderful ""portrait of loneliness and isolation."" Apparently, Ming-Liang's lack of dialogue and penchant for lingering static shots containing little to no action is brilliant because it allows the viewer's mind to wander and ponder the current existence of cinema, or wallow in the simulated experience of watching a film unfold.
This film may remind one of the ""South Park"" episode where the boys go to the fair and ride the ""Line Simulator,"" which simulates the experience of standing in line for a ride. Film is an immersive medium-one which is designed to engage and excite an audience, whether it's through storytelling, intriguing characters or superb visuals. ""Goodbye Dragon Inn"" is essentially the ""Movie Simulator,"" where you go to a theatre to watch a movie about other people watching a movie.
Its visuals are often gorgeous-especially towards the end when we see the dilapidated theatre being pounded on by rain-but they grow old quickly. A bizarre scene inside a men's bathroom, with patrons standing at urinals extremely close to each other, is awkwardly funny for the first five minutes. Then it becomes as unspeakably dull as any other agonizingly prolonged moment from the film. Another scene seems to try to criticize vulgar moviegoers who distract attention from the film being shown. However, the scene in ""Scary Movie"" where gratingly talkative Regina Hall's death by brutal stabbing is greeted by cheers illustrates the critique more effectively.
Ming-Liang (""What Time is it There?"") is obviously a diehard cinephile clinging to the nearly bygone days when seeing a film was an honest, unique experience; in other words, the days before authentic movie houses were replaced by gaudy multiplexes. Thus, the overwhelming critical praise for this film can arguably be attributed to approval of his message. Film critics share Ming-Liang's joy for the cinema, and strive to show their support by giving ""Goodbye Dragon Inn"" a fervent ""hell yeah!"" But is it possible to actually enjoy this film as is? Ming-Liang's message is trenchant, but his method and execution is anything but-in fashioning a heartfelt homage to cinema, he seems to have forgotten what makes it special in the first place.
The mainstream filmgoer will hate this movie not because they ""don't get it,"" but because it is a remote, misguided piece of work. Mainstream America's tastes may be unreasonably fickle when it comes to independent cinema, but that doesn't mean it's always wrong. After watching a film like this, it doesn't seem unreasonable to want to pop in something like ""2 Fast 2 Furious"" afterwards-if just to watch something happen onscreen.
A far more fitting ode to the power of the cinema is Giuseppe Tornatore's sublime ""Cinema Paradiso,"" a movie that loves film and tells a riveting story. ""Goodbye Dragon Inn"" will only put you to sleep, and its critical praise only validates mainstream audiences' avoidance of anything outside of the scope of Hollywood.
