There is constant discussion about where and how to consume movies, but Alejandro González Irritudirector responsible for The Revenant o Bardo, has hit the nail on the head, highlighting what really matters and why cinema is in crisis: that ideas in cinema are dying. The problem is not how we see a work; whether on a computer, a mobile device or a tablet, but rather that current films do not seek, for the most part, to convey concepts and ideas to viewers. “If you see a film by Fellini or Godard on the computer, it is still a great film,” said Irritu in a talk with Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarn. “It doesn’t change the power of the idea. But I think ideas are being shrunk to computer size and everyone is participating in that. We should be talking about the shrinking of ideas, not the possibilities of the medium.”
The problem with cinema is not how it is consumed, but that it is running out of ideas
Irritu hits the nail on the head and makes a reflection that is rarely heard from other great filmmakers who constantly attack streaming in relation to the way in which they allow viewers to consume films. This is, far from movie theaters. Irritu, in that talk with his colleagues, continued: “Before, you could only listen to music in concert halls, and then records came, and then the radio. If you listen to Beethoven or Mozart with your headphones, does it stop being good music? Obviously, it’s better to go to the music room and listen to 120 musicians play live, but no matter how you listen to it, it doesn’t diminish the idea behind the music“. Reason is not lacking, since the problem is not how a certain product is consumed, it is if the product itself has something to transmit.
Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarn agreed with Irritu’s comments, further adding that these new ways of film consumption are not killing the industry, but are making it change and evolve according to the requirements of the new generations: “All this talk about the death of cinema… Yes, it is probably the death of the cinema that we know, but there is a new cinema that is coming, and why would it die now? What would be the reason? They say: ‘Less people go to the cinemas’. But more people are hooked on their computers. We have to recognize that the new generation relates to cinema in a different way”, said Cuarn. “I think the size of the idea is more important than the size of the screen, definitely“, go to Del Toro.
