The sky behind the Warner Brothers logo was the color of television tuned to a dead channel. It is the year 1999. I am thirteen years old and I am sitting with a friend in the back row of a packed movie theater. The film we are about to watch is a movie I had been anticipating ever since I saw the first short enigmatic television spot. This was my first exposure to the work of two filmmakers from Chicago who then went by the names of Larry and Andy Wachowski. It was a film which combined elements of everything which fascinated me; from science-fiction, to martial arts, anime, video games, and philosophy. When it was over I wanted more I wasnt satisfied with just this one film. I overheard the chatter among other theater patrons saying there were plans to make this one movie into a trilogy, that began a four year long wait for the follow-up. I watched the first film directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski. While that was a very different film, centering on contemporary characters in a contemporary setting, I could tell that it was a film made with the same eye behind the camera. The camera in both films seemed to be liberated from time and space. The camera was free to spy from any particular angle, as well as manipulating the passage of time. By the time the sequel was eventually released in 2003, my film sensibilities had matured. I began taking note of film history and filmmakers. I began taking note of particular styles and filmmaking techniques which differentiated some directors from that of typical mainstream moviemaking. With only these three films I could see that The Wachowski Brothers were two distinctive cinematic voices. Every good writer of film and film criticism has within them the book focusing on one specific filmmaker, or auteur. The auteur theory came about in the 1950-1960s directly after World War II. As the popular narrative goes, the French film critics (who would graduate to be the filmmakers of the French New Wave) who were denied all of the American films made during the occupation were suddenly exposed with a decades worth of new films. Consuming all of these films in a short period of time allowed them to see similarities between films produced in a specific genera, by specific studios, and by specific individuals. At the time the view of film as an art was still debased and disrespected among serious scholars as a vulgar medium, incapable of the complexity and sophistication of older story telling mediums. A similar view can be seen in the way in which video games are viewed by a large portion of the population today. The auteur theory was the attempt by these film critics to legitimize their favorite art form by equating it with literature. In some instances, it can be stated that a single person can be considered the author of a film. This is my attempt at writing a book length analysis of an individual auteur, following the example of books like Scorsese by Roger Ebert. My particular favorite in this particular genera of film literature is Agitator by Tom Mes examining the films of Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike. Though while Miike has directed on average four movies a year since 1985 (literally the man has directed on average four movies a year for as long as I have been alive), the filmmakers I will be examining have a far more limited filmography. Though with only a handful of films the filmmakers, formerly known as The Wachowski Brothers have changed not only the way in which movies are made but have had a profound effect on our culture as a whole. The terms and imagery in their films have become shorthand for complex philosophical concepts. The phrase living in the matrix has entered our everyday lexicon for our increasingly digitally mediated age. And the Guy Fawkes mask, once unrecognizable outside of England, has become an international symbol for protest. In the world of filmmaking The Matrix popularized the use of computer generated imagery. The Animatrix legitimized the co-branding of popular Hollywood properties with Japanese animation studios. The concurrent production of the sequels The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions preceded the current trend of taking a sequel to an established franchise and deciding it into two distinct parts. Their writing and directing of the Enter the Matrix video game tie-in was more then just a means to capitalize on a popular entertainment property, but a bold experiment in cross-media storytelling. Though one of their greatest contributions to the common culture was when director Larry Wachowski came out as a trans-person. Now going by the name Lana, she received the 2012 Human Rights Campaigns Visibility Award. She revealed her inspirations for coming out were the themes of Cloud Atlas, a film that she and her brother made in collaboration with filmmaker Tom Tykwer. Every human life represents a negotiation between public and private identity, she states at her award reception. And you can see that theme running through all of the Wachowskis films. Every one of their films are not only stylistically similar but involve characters whose whose personal and public identity come into conflict. Often it is the result of an overarching malevolent force which seeks to usurp or subjugate that persons will or agency. Every story they have told is about overcoming or transcending those barriers not only physically but mentally. Their protagonists overcome the antagonists who wish to subordinate them, but overcome an idea of self which allows them to be subordinated. From this point forward I will be examining each of the Wachowskis films as they were released in chronological order, beginning with their 1996 debut Bound and finishing with their 2012 film Cloud Atlas. This will be finished hopefully in time for the 2015 release of their film Jupiter Ascending. Since their catalogue involves many collaborations with many other writers, directors, and producers, I will discuss only the films in which they represented either two out of those three positions. This means I will be discussing the James McTeigue directed V For Vendetta which the Wachowskis both wrote and produced, but will overlook Ninja Assassin. I will also look at anthology film The Animatrix which they produced as a whole and provided the story for a few of the segments. I will also look at the video game Enter the Matrix which prominently displays was Written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers but brings into question what we can qualify as a film. [This is an entry in a series of posts I am doing on the films of Lana and Andy Wachowski. I intend to collect and expand these entries in a book which I intend to publish inc the title of IDENTITY MATRIX: THE FILMS OF LANA AND ANDY WACHOWSKI, FROM BOUND TO CLOUD ATLAS]
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 04:33:06 +0000
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