Whenever I tell someone I’m going to the cinemas to see a film, I’m invariably asked the same question: “What’s it about?” Invariably, my answer is the same, “I don’t know.” This usually results in them raising a Spockian eyebrow as they struggle to make sense of why I’m about to dole out 13 bucks to see a film I don’t know anything about. I assume they’re wondering how I know I want to see a film when I don’t even know what it is about. Generally there are three reasons I want to see a film (unless it’s part of a franchise, then it’s because of the franchise).
1) The production team. The director is a big enough reason for me to check out a film. I knew I was going to see La La Land just because I loved Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash so much, and I don’t even like musicals. These days a good DP (director of photography) is a selling point as well. Throw in a good screenwriter and a composer like Alexandre Desplat and I’m sold on a film.
2) The Cast. Seeing as characters are the driving force behind a film (unless you’re watching a shitty film), a cast is usually an indication of quality. There are numerous films with stacked casts that suck (I’m looking at you, The Men Who Stare at Goats), but it’s hard to deny the appeal of a strong cast. Sometimes I’ll watch a film just because I want to see a particular actor work. Sometimes the eclectic nature of a cast and brand new combinations of varied actors and the chemistry they may have brings intrigue to a production, like The Royal Tenenbaums or Blue Jasmine.
3) The buzz. This one is pretty simple. Sometimes a film doesn’t fit into criteria 1 or 2, but gets a lot of buzz. Usually these films are from new directors with mostly unknown casts or foreign productions, but tend to be excellent. Some recent films which I sought out due to buzz are some of my favourites like Moonlight, The VVItch and The Babadook. Of course, hype can lead to a film seeming lesser than it was made out to be so I tend not to jump aboard the hype train too often.
It isn’t easy in modern times to go into essentially every film blind. Ads are everywhere. Trailers are super hyped and shared all throughout social media. Everyone constantly talks about trailers, set photos, and rumours. It’s difficult to avoid spoilers, especially if you’re like me and avoid opening weekends for anything above a low-budget indie flick. Thankfully, the few film communities I’m in are respectful when it comes to spoilers so films are rarely spoiled for me.
I purposely go into films late to avoid watching trailers or pull a Gene Siskel and leave until they’re over. I don’t watch live TV often so I rarely see TV spots. I don’t follow film news either…despite being a film buff and playing Fantasy Movie League, I’m typically oblivious to what movies are coming out next week or next month unless it’s a big franchise film. I heard about The Lighthouse and was told it was Robert Egger’s follow-up to The VVitch: I literally don’t need anything else. I’m seeing it. What’s the premise? It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to know the premise. I want to go into The Lighthouse totally blind. Frankly, I’m upset enough that I know it’s in black and white from links I’ve seen shared.
Before you read any further, beware of spoilers for Upgrade, Midnight in Paris, and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. NOTE: Don’t watch AVP: Requiem.
I suppose the question for anyone reading this is…why? Why do I put effort into avoiding news and trailers and even the premise of films? There are two reasons. The first is simple. Trailers give too much away and they can misrepresent a film to sell it beyond its intended audience by portraying it as something it’s not (which leads to poor Word of Mouth and hurts the film, but studios keep doing it). We’ve been trained to see trailers as ‘previews’ and not ‘advertisements’. The trailers aren’t there to enhance your viewing experience. They’re there to get your money. A typical, modern trailer will tell the first third of the film, show key details of the middle, and hint at the ending, all while showing most of the best stuff. Not only does this rob the viewer of many surprises along the way, it robs the viewer of any potential impact of early happenings that set up the film.
Some trailers give everything away. And I don’t mean a lot or most, I mean everything. If the entire plot isn’t given away, you’ll see most, if not all of: a comedy's best jokes and visual gags; an action film’s biggest set pieces; a horror film’s best scares; a drama’s emotional payoffs. These all serve to cheapen the experience of actually watching the film. There is nothing worse than watching a horror film and knowing the spooky thing about to happen because it’s in the TV spot. They so desperately want you in the theatre they’ll ruin the impact of their own film. And that’s a sad state of affairs.
I used to love trailers – I bolded that for true emphasis. I used to love seeing them in the theatres. When I was a kid I used to watch the PPV Preview Channel that was nothing but movie trailers all the time. I used to love getting excited for films and scouring the internet for news, images, and clips. But then something happened that left me jaded and disillusioned: I watched the Red Band trailer for Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. I didn’t like the first AVP, but I fucking love Xenomorphs (Predator is an alright lad too) and the trailer was basically 120 seconds of pure carnage full of death and gore. It looked awesome. I thought ‘if this is the trailer, what the hell will the movie be like?’
I went to see it opening night, not caring for a story or characters. I just desired unfettered carnage. I thought they were making up for the first AVP (which seems like a classic compared to Requiem). What I got was the realization that every death in the red band trailer was every death in the film and I essentially paid for a bad plot and cheesy dialogue because all the carnage I wanted to see was distilled into a 120 seconds and I’d already enjoyed it a dozen times for free. Ever since then, I’ve avoided trailers more and more. Would I have liked AVP: Requiem without seeing the trailer? Nope. It was trash. But at least I could’ve enjoyed the gore…maybe? At the very least I wouldn’t have felt cheated out of my money. Whenever I heard about people not enjoying films due to hype through viral marketing or being misled by trailers (the fantastic It Comes at Night was poorly received due to this), it makes me glad I avoid those things.
The real reason, however, I avoid trailers and the synopsis of films is so that every scene can work as intended and allow the narrative to unfurl before me. One of my favourite films of 2018 was Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade. Seeing this film was pure buzz for me considering I thought Leigh Whannell sucks before this film…I can see now James Wan is the one who sucks. But If I’d seen the trailer for Upgrade beforehand, I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it as much. I just watched the trailer for the first time before writing this. It gives away the death of the love interest, the protagonist’s condition afterwards, what Stem is, that Stem talks, that he uses Stem to exact revenge, that a police officer is suspicious of him and he is chased by the police, and it gives away the guns built into the arm of the villains; it also shows too much of the first action scene when Stem first takes over, a scene so brilliant in comedy, gore, and shock that even knowing the scene exists at all does anyone who sees the trailer a disservice.
Knowing nothing about the film, the death of the love interest had more impact, and that impact allowed the aftermath where he is paralyzed and hopeless to affect me because I wasn’t expecting it. The film’s world slowly unveiled itself as I became invested in the main character’s struggle, his uselessness, his abject misery not just of grief, but in his own condition, and his wanting to give up. It’s truly sad stuff. It really helped elevate what is basically an old school revenge flick. Things like the bad guys with the guns built into their arm, Stem being able to talk and to fight for him, the suspicious police officer, all naturally unfold in a way that makes the films universe feel real and kept me invested and intrigued at what was coming next. It allowed the film to surprise me along the way. I surely wasn’t expecting the film to inject such great comedy after how dour the first act was. I wasn’t expecting the innovative action, slick camera work, or the skillfully multi-layered plot. And because the first act was able to impact me, the final twist is truly earned in about every respect as the film reverts back to a tragedy and leaves us with an ending that is horrific in its implications. Would seeing the trailer have made Upgrade a bad film? Of course not. Would it have lessened the experience and my emotional investment in it? Definitely.
Though I’d grown distrustful of trailers after Requiem, I hadn’t really set into my philosophy of how I currently approach viewing films yet. One film changed my approach forever. That film was Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. I had never seen an Allen film before this. The only reason I watched it was because I wanted to see every film nominated for a major Academy Award that year. From the cast I expected a romantic-comedy of some kind, nothing more. And for the first 20 minutes or so, I was getting what I expected. But then suddenly Owen Wilson’s character of Gil travelled back in time and found himself at a party where he meets F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and then he shares a drink with Ernest Hemingway.
I was blown away by this development. Being that at the time I was really diving into literature and had just read both The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises, the film suddenly became magical journey for me. Gil’s experiences of puzzlement and awe mirrored mine and things began to dawn on me just as they dawned on Gil. And like Gil, I was suddenly thrust from a simple comedy film into a fantastical time travel film and was in the presence of revered artistic heavyweights. It’s a film experience I will always remember. I find almost no films to be magical, but this was a magical film for me.
To the credit of the marketing team, they understood that the magic of the film would come from the unexpected journey and the trailer doesn’t reveal anything about time travel or the inclusion of Hemingway, Picasso, or Dali, among others. So seeing the trailer wouldn’t have harmed my experience.
But this single sentence synopsis on iMDB would have: “While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s everyday at midnight.” While that synopsis doesn’t reveal the details of the time travel, I would know there would be time travel. And while I might not expect hobnobbing with Hemingway and Gertrude Stein from that synopsis, that reveal would be lessened knowing time travel was guaranteed instead of time travel being something I’d never have considered to be a possibility. Like Upgrade, I’d still have liked Midnight in Paris just fine. Though the film would surely not hold such a special place in my heart as an unexpected romp through time with people I didn’t expect to spend time with. It turned a good film into a good film that was also a wonderful surprise and a film experience I’ll never forget.
All this said, I do not hate film trailers. I think a good trailer in this day and age can make an unknown commodity suddenly become known and a great small-market film might find an audience, become successful, and open the doors for more films like it to be made...or we get the next Paranormal Activity (barf). Some trailers also do a terrific job with minimalism and creating intrigue without giving much away – Cloverfield is an obvious example of this. Frankly, I wish more trailers went with less is more instead of throwing everything at us like Jason Biggs desperately trying to get laid. Preserve something. Have some fucking dignity, Hollywood. A great example of a trailer is Man on Fire.
While it gives away the event that sets up the rest of the picture, the trailer itself establishes Denzel’s character and the emotional connection with the girl he’s protecting well enough you’re probably invested by the trailer itself. And then it takes about 20 seconds to say Denzel is going to get Dakota Fanning back and we’re told how good a killer his character is before the trailer ends. Sure we can guess how a film like Man on Fire wraps up, but does it show anything from the next two hours of the film? Not really. Compare that trailer with Upgrade. Two revenge flicks with a similar structure. Upgrade literally shows revenge being taken on about every character and shows clips from every action scene, which is even more detailed if you watched the Red Band trailer (it includes the awesome Joker Face killing, which is far more impactful if you're not expecting the extreme violence Upgrade serves up). Man on Fire focuses on setting up the emotional stakes of the film and leaves the actual taking of revenge and action hanging in the air at the end with the tantalizing tease of Christopher Walken saying of Denzel’s character, “A man can be an artist at anything. It depends how good he is at it. Creasy’s art is death. He’s about to paint his masterpiece.”
Distilling everything down to something more palatable, I avoid knowing anything about the content of a film for one simple reason: I like sitting down to a film and having no idea of what I’m about to watch. It’s liberating. It allows even rudimentary set ups in a film the chance to take on more weight and leave an emotional impact. It lets a film sneak up on me, turn me around, shock me, affect me, or whisk me off someplace I wasn’t expecting to go. For me, this is the only way to watch a film. And I recommend for anyone who reads this to try it. Maybe you’ll find it’s not for you. Maybe it will change the way you watch movies. Maybe you’ll discover you miss speculation, breaking news, and watching Youtubers dissect trailers, and that’s fine if that’s what you’re into. But you should try going into films blind for a little while. You might see what you’re missing out on.