Tomorrow if you'll be doing what I'll be doing, you'll be settling yourself down to the Turner Classic Movies channel and tune in to the new documentary entitled Spielberg on Spielberg, it's a new in depth look at the man and his films. Like some people, I am never really interested in Spieberg the mogul or Spielberg the producer or Spielberg the king of Hollywood. I was always interested in Spielberg the film maker.
As a kid growing up on new and old films, I have to say Spielberg was probably the first (along with Frank Capra) film maker I became immensly interested in. That partially was because Spielberg made very accessible films, they were made for the public, but even at an early age I felt there was a difference between his work and other work made for the mass. His films were at times very personal, and always had an air a mystery to them. While other blockbusters couldn't wait to get you to the special effects sequnces, Spielberg made sure there was a concrete story surrounding the FX before the big reveal, and he still does that.
Just look at "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", about two thirds of the film are spent on the build up, and it is at the end that Spielberg lets the spaceships fly so not to disapoint.
Spielberg I think is perhaps the most misunderstood of film directors. Since he does work in the larger Hollywood business, there is a certain art film elitist attitude towards his films. His most recent movie "Munich" became very polarized between critics, many (perhaps more open minded critics) judged the film for what it was, while others claimed that Spielberg should just stick with his films about aliens and dinosaurs. That is an unfair response, Spielberg usually always has more things going on in his films than people give him credit for, particularily his more popular ones. If we look at "Close Encounters" which is probably the most intelligent Sci-fi film post "2001". It deals with aliens now being enlightend beings who bring a message of communication. It's a simple and profound message to bring, not to mention the darkness of the disintigrating family as the father becomes so obssessed with the alien creatures it drives his family apart. Do we see this in the latest summer blockbusters?
Let's take perhaps his most famous film "E.T. The Extraterrestrial", a film about a long lost alien befriending a boy who is coping with the divorce of parents. It is probably the single best film about the life of children and the world they inhabit.
If you look at even more recent films such as "A.I." which is full of some very philisophical ideas about creating the perfect machine that could be human and also love, and the ethics surrounding the idea of disposing that machine, and although some people missed it, "War of the Worlds" was actually a metaphor for the post 9/11 world.
I think Spielberg is actually still growing as an artist, I can separate him away from other technical wizards like Peter Jackson or James Cameron or even his own protoge Robert Zemeckis who in my opinion are still more interested in spectacle than character. I think Spielberg is always concerned with his characters, and he has directed some of the best performances from his actors.
I will not say Spielberg is perfect, he has landed on his face plenty of times ("Hook", "1941"), but I think his track record is better than average, I am not ashamed about naming him along with greats like Hitchcock, Ford, and for those foreign elitists Renoir. Spielberg is an artist, and yest his name does come up a lot about influencing the way movies are made today which is for the general public which helped tear apart the exciting indie scene of the 70s but that's just people trying to find a scapegoat. You need someone to blame for "Armeggdon"? Blame Michael Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer, if Spielberg was in charge he would probably have you caring for the asteroid by the end. I hope you tune into the Turner Classic Movies special tomorrow and look at him with an open mind.
As a side note, if you wanna hear my thoughts on Spielberg's classic "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" visit myspace at this address http://www.myspace.com/jeremyimnotedgar
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