I’m just going to say it, despite the bad reviews, and or any fear of recrimination from fellow film aficionados. David O. Russell’s AMSTERDAM is a great film. Sure it’s flawed on several fronts. It’s weighed down by Russell’s scrappy scattershot script, by his attempts as an artist to reach too far in an entirely new direction for himself and create something new and fresh and outside of his usual fare.
As I was explaining to Princess Little Tree earlier this evening, who professed to not liking it, and actually fell asleep far before midway, there’s a difference between professional film makers and artists. Professional filmmakers give the world Hollywood blockbusters like Marvel movies. They pay the bills. They make a lot of money to be able to afford the world great art. We don’t have to watch them. But we can’t diss them, at least not publicly, due to the fact that without them we’d never see great film as art. There’d be no money for it.
Russell, who tends to work more slowly than most, has given us at least two professional filmmaker films, Silver Linings Playbook and his masterpiece so far, American Hustle. Both of which also happen to be great works of art as well. He also gave us the incredible I Heart the Huckabees. Another work of art.
What appeals to me about watching an artist work, perhaps as an artist myself, or just a lover of artists and the process of creating great art out of nothing, is watching them start from nothing and decide one day “I’m going to stretch. I’m going to go out on a limb and do something entirely different for me. I’m going to push the art envelope entirely I’m going to create something brand new and fresh.”
Even if they don’t quite achieve Apocalypse Now, it’s still a thrilling ride to behold them attempt it.
I was disappointed twice this year by two of my favorite filmmakers as artists. Both Paul Thomas Anderson and Wes Anderson tried but failed to deliver as much as I would have liked. Truth is, Wes phoned his French Dispatch in. I cannot say with certainty I even got through that whole movie. After three attempts.
And Paul, though he did try, very hard, it’s obvious, just couldn’t manage to make his Licorice Pizza an enjoyable film experience. For all the trying it was still long and boring and rather a dud by the end. Though I did manage to enjoy it and get through it 3 times. But never once did I say “wow. What a great work of art. What a masterpiece.”
I’m not saying that about Amsterdam. It’ll take me a few viewings to get to the meat of the bone as to why it feels so clunky and at times off kilter. But as an artist he has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. He broke a lot of rules. He was all over the place. His script was disjointed. But boy was it fresh.
I’m not even going to say I recommend it as a great movie, except to fellow artists or lovers of artists. For you, you’ll dig watching Russel try pushing the boundaries and try getting something out of himself totally different than anything he’s ever attempted before. And to me that’s what great art is all about.
