So, what does Paul Haggis have to say about the recent revelation that “Crash” (not the 1996 Cronenberg film, surprisingly enough) has remained the most rented film on Netflix since September 2005?
“I have no idea why anyone went to see the movie in the first place, let alone rent it.”
Truer words, etc, etc. But snarkiness aside, Haggis has a fair point here: the film was never meant to be any kind of phenomenon. Whether by calculation, alchemy or sheer good fortune, it happened to resonate with certain audiences upon its spring release four years ago — and if those Netflix numbers are anything to go by, it still does. Credit where it’s due.
Academy voters thrust a weighty reputation onto this slender film that forever altered the way audiences would approach it, and I’ve long been unsure how it would support that weight. For my part, I disliked “Crash” immensely when I saw it in the summer of 2005, but I didn’t resent it the way I do today — though the fault there lies with me, not the film.
“Crash” is a fascinating case study of the way the public’s relationship with art can shift with time, but the film’s evident popularity on DVD suggests that the relationship is more in flux than its detractors may have guessed.
For his part, Haggis maintains a healthily objective stance on his debut (though I can’t agree with him on his muddled, turgid sophomore effort):
“It’s certainly not a perfect movie,” Haggis said. “I love the Oscars; I just think they are the best thing in the world, but if you asked me if it was the best film of the year, I’d say, ‘Of course not.’ ”
“(The Netlix reign) doesn’t make it any better of a film. I just know that these were things that were upsetting me, and I wanted to get them out,” said Haggis. “I happened to like my second film [‘In the Valley of Elah’] better than ‘Crash,’ but no one went to see it.”
With that kind of modesty, I almost wish I liked his recent work more. Hey, we’ll always have “EZ Streets.”
Comments
40 responses to “You said it, not me”
What a dreadful film. Just a way for Hollywood elitists to throw their arms around confronting racism, while shying away from homosexuality.
I honestly believe “Crash” to be deserving of the Best Picture award, I’m in the minority I know. “Brokeback Mountain” left me cold and failed to move me in the way I expected it to, I found it to be well made, exceptionally acted but ultimately unable to live up to it’s hype – definitely deserving of it’s nomination, but not the prize itself. I’m not trying to take anything away from what it achieved, but I felt like everyone just wanted it to win so that it could be that groundbreaking film that so many wanted it to be.
Haggis also wrote Casino Royale! He did such a good job of rebooting the franchise. I think that’s another noteworthy point in his career.
I agree with James D., for the most part. I didn’t dislike it, but it was and remains cringeworthy in many parts.
For the record, for me, this isn’t a Brokeback thing; I only liked it marginally better. But Good Night, Capote, and esp. Munich (which is one of the finest films of the decade) were all superior. Ugh.
Personally, I still don’t get the vitriol. Brokeback’s loss made for a weird perfect storm of hatred toward Crash that most certainly wasn’t so intense before the Oscars. The film was firmly in my top 10 list that year and of the nominees the Academy chose, I still say it was the best choice.
There. It’s been said.
Yeah, the hate for the film did blow up exponentially after the win. I did like it, but by no means should it have even been nominated. Too heavy-handed to be anything noteworthy despite fine work from most of the actors and a lovely song by Bird York. Brokeback should have won, and the only time my jaw has dropped during an Oscar ceremony.
Yeah, it’s heavy-handed, preachy, and often times totally contrived.
But it’s really, really effective. I still like it quite a bit, even if my love for it has severely dwindled since seeing it in ’05. Still in the Top 10 though.
Crash is not a bad movie. It’s not a best pic either. The movie had great moments, manipulative as it was. It had great performances. And parts of it was actually hilarious. The public can do worse. With this, it hasn’t.
I’m rather flabbergasted when people say that Crash was a better film than Brokeback Mountain. To me, it’s like saying The Greatest Show On Earth was better than High Noon. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but when one looks at such a patronizing and contrived film as Crash and say, “Yeah, that was the best of the five,” but look at such a superbly crafted landmark film as Brokeback Mountain and say, “Meh”……it’s stunning to me.
But seriously, the whole Netflix thing isn’t as surprising. As someone from Gold Derby noted, Crash is the lowest-grossing Best Picture of all time at the box office. Since not many people saw it in theaters, and since they’re naturally curious about “the movie that beat Brokeback”, they rent it. It’s curiousity that brought it to the top, not any kind of quality or popularity, and if it hadn’t won Best Picture, it wouldn’t have even cracked the top 25. Plus, making it the top rental on Netflix also implies that rather than buying the DVD like most did with actual beloved films of the public like Finding Nemo or The Dark Knight, most rented Crash once, then returned it. Hardly an earth-shattering accomplishment.
Totally unrelated…
…but we should take this time to remember the victims of Columbine. Ten years ago today, a factoid I completely missed until the evening news.
I hated it winning Best picture and was one oif those genuinly outraged by the Academy and I rank it as the worst choice the Academy could have made. Yes I hate it more for the oscars but evne before then I basically thought it was a very weak and forgetable film if not for the Academy I would have forgotten it. Weak story telling with convoluted matches up, bare bone attempts at manipulating the audience (the seen with the little girl come on.) the terrible dialogue (Sandra Bullock getting the worst of those) really it does nothingnto relate to or examine rascism or really do anything.
Ranting over I thank Paul Haggis for Casino Royale and for getting such a great performance out of Tommy Lee Jones In the Valley of Elah(his best to date). Glad to see he is growing and didn’t let the Academy convise him to continue writing weak scripts.
My feeling on the movie is EXACTLY the same as Speaking English. Word for word.
But Guy, I wonder about this, “For my part, I disliked “Crash” immensely when I saw it in the summer of 2005, but I didn’t resent it the way I do today — though the fault there lies with me, not the film.”
Why, do you think? As simple as an Oscar junkie holding movie’s highest award to a standard you don’t think Crash achieved?
Also, In the Valley of Elah was 10x more preachy than Crash.
There. It’s been said.
I might add, I certainly didn’t say “meh” to Brokeback, also firmly in my top 10 that year. It’s not love this one, hate that one.
Didn’t hate it. Just another Academy blunder in the Best Picture category. Not nearly as laughable as “Dances with Wolves” over “Goodfellas,” “Unforgiven” over “The Crying Game,” “Forrest Dump” over “Pulp Fiction,” “A Beautiful Mind” over “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.”
What will be remembered as a classic Academy mistake: Philip Seymour Hoffman’s win over Heath Ledger. That will be viewed the way Bogart winning over Brando for “Streetcar” is today. What were they thinking?
Crash is a pretty silly movie, but there are four or five sequences of pure moviemaking excellence that just overwhelm the ridiculousness of it all – I call them De Palma moments.
Andrew: truth, truth, truth.
***Didn’t hate it. Just another Academy blunder in the Best Picture category. Not nearly as laughable as “Dances with Wolves” over “Goodfellas,” “Unforgiven” over “The Crying Game”…***
No no no no no no no. One of the most common Oscar misconceptions these days is the bewildering conclusion come to by many that “Dances with Wolves” is somehow a poor film. Not even close to being the case, it is in fact an extraordinary, heartfelt, grand epic that comes as close to the greatness of “Goodfellas” as a film possibly can.
I can’t even comprehend the “Unforgiven” thing. “The Crying Game?” If anything, it should have been “Howards End.” But I have never heard of anyone denying “Unforgiven” its rightful trophy.
***What will be remembered as a classic Academy mistake: Philip Seymour Hoffman’s win over Heath Ledger. That will be viewed the way Bogart winning over Brando for “Streetcar” is today. What were they thinking?***
What were they thinking? Are you joking? They saw Philip Seymour Hoffman’s all-time great performance and were enraptured by his perfection. Ledger was excellent, but to suggest Hoffman was anything less than him is ludicrous. Where did this weird hate come from?
Five years on, Crash’s fingerprint is all over the industry and its product. Five years on and there hasn’t been a single other major Hollywood drama dealing with gay romance. So which film is having the lasting impact?
Chad, you must be joking, right? What “fingerprint” did Crash leave on the industry, especially considering it just borrowed storytelling techniques and themes from older, better films like Magnolia and Do the Right Thing?
@ Kris: My comment wasn’t directed at your comment specifically, though I guess it was prompted by it. I’ve just heard so many people shrug off Brokeback Mountain and praise Crash (haven’t these people ever seen an ensemble film before?) and it’s just strange to me.
The Crying Game over Unforgiven? The Crying Game is horrible. And Hoffman and Ledger both were deserving.
The Crying Game has rewatchable vaule.
Unforgiven is a good every Thanksgiving kind of movie.
I hate Crash (2004). I love the David Cronenberg movie.
PSH gave the kind of performance that reminds us why the Oscars exist.
Since Ledger’s death knowing that BM lost to Crash (2004) just makes the whole thing worse.
I liked “Crash” well enough (I saw it because there was nothing else serious showing and it had a good cast) and while I hold a grudge against it for beating “Brokeback”, I still think I’d be able to watch “Crash” and not be filled with bile like others. I wish it hadn’t won though, obviously.
Chad, that really has nothing to do with anything. And as Robert said it’s storytelling devices were already all over the place in cinema.
Robert, what an odd analogy.
I’m one for The Crying Game over Unforgiven.
I’ll match up the contrivance of Unforgiven with Crash.
McGuff: Good question. It’s not simply a matter of resenting the film for being an undeserving Best Picture champ — hell, if I got that worked up over every (to my mind) erroneous decision they’ve made, there wouldn’t be any room in my heart for movies I actually like.
And I’m as bored with the “Crash” vs “Brokeback” match as anyone else, which is why I didn’t mention the latter — much as I love it — in my post. There’s very little stimulating debate to be had from comparing the two, since the Academy’s endorsement is virtually the only thing they have in common. (And if I ruled the world, “Cache” would have swept the board that year anyway.)
Uh… where was I?
Oh, right. I think the real reason I resent “Crash” being a Best Picture winner is that it is now forever locked in as a respectable, middlebrow issue picture that will be a TV staple and social-studies setwork — where it’s actually something much stranger and nastier than that, and potentially more interesting for it.
I think it would generate more interesting discussion if it were commonly viewed as the fascinating failure that I think it is, but that’s me.
I loved it back then, still really like the movie now. I too at first preferred it over Brokeback Mountain but that will probabyl change as I grow older too.
I might also note that we recently used Crash in film class. So it’s not entirely without merit, unlike some claims.
Jonathan, your film studies teacher should be fired.
It’s been screened in a film class I’ve been in as well :(….
Good thanks for the info
I mean, really, unless these instructors are using the movie as an example of bad editing and sloppy filmmaking techniques, the use of Crash in a film studies class is inexcusable.
Are they trying to show an example of movies making a statement on racism? Then why not show better films like American History X or Do the Right Thing? If they’re using Crash as an example of multi-narrative ensemble cinema, then they would be MUCH better off with Traffic or Magnolia (hell, even Babel would have been a better example).
Maybe this is what my parents meant when they complained about the “dumbing down” of American education….
I’d say that’s laying it on a little thick, Robert.
I didn’t go the film school route, but I would say “Magnolia” would be better to show than “Crash.” Before you start huffing and puffing, I should tell you that Magnolia is on my best all-time list, while Crash I merely liked.
But if you’re teaching film students about creating ensemble film, do you really want to jump to P.T. Anderson? I think that would be pretty discouraging for a kid that wants to believe he can break into the film industry. Paul Haggis, a much more populist writer, is someone that I think can be emulated a little more easier.
If I’m teaching the class, I’m showing Crash first.
And I fucked up that first sentence of the second paragraph, as you could tell from my argument, I think I’d show CRASH before MAGNOLIA. Good day.
Yes we had to analyze it in terms of layers, storylines and meaning. Also we had to look for binary oppositions, Freudian meanings etc. Anyhow it was a poor preparation because the next film was Code Inconnu (Haneke) and that one really made me wanna smash my head into a wall. That was one difficult film to analyze on an academic level.
So, is there something like a Bible for what is right/wrong in technique, story, etc. (fill this in for me because I’m merely a civilian) that’s set in stone and never changes from era to era and culture to culture? It seems to me there’s a realm of personal subjective opinion and a realm of what many (not all) agree to as objective criteria/canon for lack of a better word, and there’s a shifting overlap of the two.
I loved Brokeback Mountain, Crash and In the Valley of Elah. IMHO, it’s a false dichotomy to pit BM against C. There’s a lot of “preachy” films I love. I find that criticism about something being “preachy” is just criticism about something uncomfortable like racism, homophobia, sexism, incest, etc. that people would rather not have addressed directly or at all. Not that that is what people are doing here. But people are passionate about movies, and I defend people’s right to be passionate.
I would have been happy if Brokeback Mountain had won Best Picture. Besides being a beautiful movie, I love Ang Lee. My brother is a gay rights activist, and I’ve been one since the 1970s. But I didn’t take it as a personal affront when Crash won. I was happy when preachy Crash won. It had the same subjective personal impact on me as preachy Do the Right Thing. (I imagine much rolling of the eyes here.) It was like – THANK YOU! Finally another movie about Race, Class, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Whites, Immigrants, intersections of Classes & Races. Its structure reminded me of Traffic, and later Babel.
I have another explanation for Crash’s evergreen position on Netflix – it resonates with people, people see themselves in it, parts of it, and people are also fascinated with seeing how the different parts fit into the whole picture. It’s dramatic, highly emotional – just the arc of Loretta Divine, Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton is gutting. I’ve been a peace & justice activist since the 1970s too, and I’ve found myself looking into the faces of the police many times. It’s important to remember we’re humans behind the public faces we present.
I remember watching the trailor for Crash and I remember being so excited and intrigued and thought THIS was something different…. felt like this was something extraordinary! All I heard about Brokeback Mountain was that it was winning a lot of awards and it was the “gay cowboy movie”. I saw the latter first and wasnt very pleased…. I saw it for what it was: a great picture. but a horrible movie.
When I saw CRASH I thought it was beautiful movie that America needed to see…. and was very much rooting for it to win the Oscar….but really was expecting Brokeback to win. At the time I was very pleased but still trying to recover from why Sandra Bullock or Thandie Newton werent even nominated and or how Heath Ledger could have lost Best Actor that year. When I reviewed the film a few years later…. my opinion was all but turned around. I read the short story since then and have been even more impressed with the Ang Lee film. Beautifully shot, a movie that will be taught in movie classes as one of the best films of all time!I was simply blown away! Its a beautiful love story and the acting is the stuff on legends. Did the Academy Awards get it wrong that year? Yes.
“I saw it for what it was: a great picture. but a horrible movie.”
Can you unpack this statement a little for me, Dustin? I’m probably being dense, but I don’t follow.
I didn’t like “Crash” at all, but that photo still of Sandra Bullock is terrific. It makes me wish she made more dramatic movies, or more movies period.
Well, since you bring her up, I will say that I think Bullock’s performance is actually the best thing in the film.
[…] in the first place, let alone rent it.” You should have told us that four years ago, Paul. [InContention]Dolph Lundgren has spoken of his character’s arc in Sylvester Stallone’s “The […]
English, there is no “weird hate” here. Let’s not get hysterical. We all have our opinions, and I expressed mine.