Can movies change reality?
Sir doesn't know.
The story of "Under the White Sun" teaches us that maybe, even if it can't really change, but at least mentally, it will affect reality.
This is the social value of cinema.
However, there is a recent film that tells us that movies can not only change reality, but also not only exist on the spiritual level.
It can physically alter the present moment.
A reversal beyond imagination:
Kim's video store
Kim's Video
The popular movie of last year's Beijing Film Festival, which was hard to find at the time, has finally been released.
The results are also good.
Douban's 20,000 people scored a high score of 8.6, which is better than 93% of documentaries.
You read that right, this is actually a documentary.
Don't leave in a hurry, because it records the story of an avid movie fan who carries out "crime" activities in order to save the movie.
That's right.
Someone broke the law and committed a crime, and then he personally recorded his actions with a camera.
and released in cinemas.
Does this seem to be something abnormal?
What's even more "abnormal" is.
After the release of this movie, it was sought after and praised by fans around the world.
So what the hell is going on?
Hold your horses.
Let's start at the beginning.
01
Most people will mention one word about this "Kim's Video Store":
Shadow.
That's right.
Because if you only watch the first half, there is a high probability that this is just another mediocre fan documentary.
There are a lot of film history classics mentioned in the film.
And the director also combines such classic clips with his own behavior, giving these clips a new meaning.
The director showed his determination with "Where Is My Friend's Home".
The theme of the story is searching.
Many years ago, there was a thriving rental chain called "Kim's Video Store", which is said to have a collection of 55,000 video tapes, and even famous directors such as Jonas Mekas were frequent customers of this store.
The Coen brothers also owe $600 in late fees
But suddenly one day.
When a movie fan prepares to look for the store, he finds that the store has disappeared, and the 55,000 video tapes in the store are gone.
The disappearance of brick-and-mortar stores is, of course, the cause of streaming incursions.
But where did so many movies go?
As a veteran movie fan, that is, the director of this film, he did not hesitate to embark on a journey of search to recover that huge fortune.
Finally, the hard work paid off.
Eventually, he discovers that the tapes are all flowing to a mysterious place, Salemi, a small town in Sicily, Italy.
△ One of the filming locations of the movie "The Godfather".
He walked over alone with the camera, and in a small town where he didn't understand the language, he searched for many people and finally found it.
But here's the thing.
Originally, it was said that these audio-visual products were collected in this town in order to create a movie paradise, and they were free and open to the public.
Not only did they promise to show the disc publicly in the town, welcome members of the video store to visit and rent it, but also reserved rooms for members to stay.
But as a result, as a member, he couldn't get in at all.
When he finally slipped in after a lot of effort, he found that this was a collection.
It's hell.
So many videotapes were placed in a warehouse so haphazardly, and even damaged because of the rain and dampness in the room.
Seeing that such a large amount of wealth was about to be destroyed, he thought twice, so he decided to give full play to his subjective initiative-
"Stealing".
That's right, under the lens of the camera, he planned a crazy "theft" trip in detail.
How to steal?
One person certainly can't.
So he was like the movie "Ocean's Twelve", and found a large number of helpers, such as Jackie Chan, Godard, Chaplin, Hitchcock, and Jarmusch...... Everything is ready, the "theft" begins!
Wait a minute.
In other words, aren't these all characters in the history of cinema?
Not to mention Jackie Chan, how much energy does an ordinary movie fan have to find them as helpers, just Chaplin and Hitchcock......
Could it be?
Friends who have just finished watching "Broken Tomb" must be awe-inspiring.
Upper body?
Of course not.
I won't reveal what the specific method is and how to "steal" Sir here, because this is the most exciting part of this film, and you will be pleasantly surprised to watch it yourself.
But one thing is guaranteed.
Such a "theft" will definitely make you high.
As Godard said: It doesn't matter where things come from, it's where they go.
This operation.
What he saved was not only the physical videotapes, but more importantly, the preservation of the collection of past film memories, the understanding and empathy he gained from the world of cinema.
02
What? You say that this kind of behavior is a violation of the law? Could it be that Sir is also like the pedantic Kong Yiji, saying hypocritical words like "How can the fan's business be regarded as stealing"?
Harm, not really.
Please note that when Sir described this incident, he actually and carefully put the word theft in quotation marks.
This act is true.
But this kind of stealing is reasonable.
Why?
Because it's incredibly complicated.
The most obvious points are:
The owner of the tapes, Kim Yongman, has actually lost control of the property.
Who is Kim Yong-man?
He is actually the owner of this video store.
In the 80s of the last century, a Korean named Kim Yongman appeared on the streets of New York, he was a legendary, he was originally a fruit stall owner, but later opened seven video stores in one go, with 55,000 video tapes and 250,000 members.
And the reason why it is legendary.
It's also because this person is unusually mysterious.
For example, he is always "terrible" and "tall" in the eyes of others.
He is like the mysterious "mafia" boss in the movie, wearing sunglasses and even choosing to meet the director in a building that resembles South Korea's Central Intelligence Agency.
So is there really some unfathomable background?
Not really.
He's really just a pragmatic businessman.
A piece of evidence.
When the director went to South Korea to find Kim Yongman, although he was mysterious, he still secretly told the director not to tell the people here about his Americans.
Because.
As a businessman, he was afraid to let others know that he had a compassionate heart.
It's like being in a warehouse.
We can see Kim Yong-man's white shirt embroidered with Youngman Kim, suggesting that he also wants to regain his youthful passion through retrieving the videotape.
He can also be seen pushing the videotape on the edge into the middle of the table before leaving.
He lamented the way the tapes had been handled.
But here's the thing.
When such a pragmatic businessman wants to save the videotape, who is the opponent he faces?
Politician Giarina Maro.
At the beginning, after Kim Yongman came in the era of streaming media and couldn't make money, the videotapes donated were received by Jarina Maro.
Politicians, of course, are in the interest of "performance", and there is nothing wrong with that.
But when you want to take back control of the tape, it's hard to get to the sky.
Because of Jarina Maro, he is a powerful character.
An example.
Giarina Maro is rumored to have ties to the local mafia and has been placed under surveillance for five years.
Falco, who was involved in the Giarina Maro investigation, said that he illegally obtained funds that should have been used for public property, which were supposed to fund different projects, including the digitization of the collection of Guin's videotapes, an 800,000-euro project, and ended up spending only 30,000 euros.
And outrageous.
The investigation was still ongoing, and Falco, who was interviewed, died the next day.
It's hard not to suspect that he was assassinated.
And the Sicilian Film Town plan, which was submitted in order to obtain the right to collect the videotapes, was never realized because of the intervention of the mafia.
Despite this, Giarinamaro is now free.
Yes.
Rotten political circles.
In the face of such an opponent, what can an ordinary businessman and an ordinary movie fan do?
Jin Yongman could only express his dissatisfaction in words.
It can be useless.
So in such a situation, the director had to go off the beaten path.
The request was useless.
Then steal it back.
So you see, what is reflected in such an incident is that there are huge differences in everyone's attitude towards movies.
For movie fans.
Movies are works, they have value when they exist, and they have a life of their own.
And for politicians.
Cinema is nothing more than a tool to create an image project that can be discarded when it is used up.
But here's the thing.
Does this contradiction exist only in this documentary, in the midst of these conflicts?
Perhaps, this is a common phenomenon.
For the same film, some people think of it as a work, some think of it as a commodity, some think it has life, and some think it is just a tool.
It depends on where you stand.
So.
What is cinema to you?
03
Of course, the most fundamental reason why this movie can resonate with many fans is not actually the matter of "protecting the movie".
The topic is too big.
At least for Sir, it's also interesting because it discusses a gray area topic:
Protection against piracy.
That's right, the "incorrect" piracy you understand.
It has to do with the nature of this video store.
There is such a plot in the film.
It was said that Kim Yongman wanted to make the film library bigger, so he asked the clerk to collect the excellent works of independent film directors from various film festivals and copy them.
Among them is Godard's "History of Cinema".
Standard infringement, right?
That's right.
As a result, he was also sued by Godard's lawyer for infringing the film's intellectual property rights.
It is conceivable that in the current era of streaming media and today's strong awareness of copyright, such things are bound to become more and more.
And this is one of the reasons why this video store can't be opened.
But.
It is precisely this kind of unbridled reproduction that makes the library of the video store quite rich, and you can not only see the mainstream works, but also the ones that no one cares about, such as films that have never been released at various film festivals, or films from the collection of the New York Embassy, as long as they are innovative, you can find them in this store.
Yes.
In a way, it has played a real role in preserving history.
Let's ask, if there is no such behavior, then those movies that do not have a platform to buy the copyright at the moment will disappear from now on?
Even if we go one step further.
Those "incorrect" movies that don't conform to current values deserve to be hidden in the dust?
To be honest, the topic of genuine and pirated Sir has also been entangled.
Of course, we fully support the genuine version.
This is also the reason why Sir has been accusing of stealing filming and has always been pleased that some movies can be launched in theaters.
Supporting the genuine version is actually supporting the movie itself.
But often, we have to admit that we will face all kinds of unexpected problems, such as deletion and castration, or sudden removal from the shelves.
There is little to no explanation for this.
What's more, as a streaming platform, their selection criteria often only consider mainstream ideas.
Take Netflix, for example.
Some time ago, after the newly appointed film director Lin Wei took office, the plan proposed to the platform was to focus on improving the quality of films, and pay more attention to the audience rather than big-name actors or directors. There will be more control over the quality of the film, rather than just giving money and not making it.
Meaning:
He plans to make more diverse films on different budgets to cater to the diverse interests of Netflix's 260 million subscribers.
Regardless of the fact that most of the movies we watch on the big screen have themselves been tested by the market and professionals, and now that even streaming media has given the choice to the audience, what kind of movies will we see in the future?
In the long run, the audience's right to watch film and television can only be controlled by the video platform.
And what about the unpopular movies? What about niche movies?
I'm sorry.
They had no choice but to die.
Even those famous names in film history, those stories that are so dull that they are no longer liked by the public, and those classics that shape our movie-watching taste, but cannot be seen by the public because of their scale, should they also disappear?
Yes, we are all fans of pirated films.
If only genuine is supported.
In fact, he is also abandoning his former self.
So under such a premise, Sir was actually a little surprised to see "Kim's Video Store".
As a former clerk said, film knowledge is more important than film property rights.
The concept of this film is that the film is more important than everything.
It's bigger than politics, it's bigger than commodities, it's bigger than law, it's even bigger than copyright.
Rough Tang Wu?
That's right, such an idea, at the moment, can almost be pulled out and criticized.
But Sir wants to say that this is actually an ideal.
After all, we don't want to live in an era of big data manipulation, like the information cocoon we face today, where you can only see the movies you are interested in, and thus miss out on the movies that can open new doors.
After all, we also want the right to watch movies freely, movies should not just be a commodity, it is also an art, a kind of knowledge, what should be watched and what should not be watched, and should not be dictated by some product manager.
It's true that niche genres don't bring huge profits.
But since someone shoots.
Then it should be seen by those who are interested in it.
The world is big.
Big enough to accommodate more people and more voices.
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