The 75th Cannes International Film Festival is in full swing. After Tom Cruise had his red carpet moment with Top Gun: Maverick, James Gray’s new film, Armageddon Time, premiered last night. At today’s press conference the director presented the project in more detail.
Armageddon Time takes you back to 1980s New York and tells a personal story against a historical background. While Gray processes many things from his own childhood and youth in the metropolis, the film also addresses the disturbing themes and questions that shaped America at the time.
Armageddon Time director James Gray criticizes the franchise cinema of Marvel and Co.
Capitalism plays a crucial role in this and still concerns Gray. On the Armageddon Time press conference he gives a flaming speech that draws a link to the present and reports on the effects on cinema. According to Grays, young people can no longer properly understand capitalism.
Where has all this got us? The point is that we need to inspire creativity. We have to inspire a world, which produces artists at breakneck speed. But we’re just teaching them, ‘Ah, that’s a good franchise. You should get into this franchise.’ We used to think of McDonald’s and Burger King when it came to franchises. Now let’s talk about cinema.
In addition to the social and political dimensions of capitalism, Gray primarily refers to the current blockbuster landscape in his inventory. The number of Films with an original idea are becoming fewer every year. Instead, comic book adaptations from Marvel and DC as well as offshoots of popular universes à la Star Wars, Harry Potter and Fast & Furious dominate.
Gray further analyzes:
How could that happen? Why don’t we talk about this more? Where has the critique of capitalism gone, which has led to terrible inequality? If you ask me where we are today…we’re in a real mess. And it’s the artist’s job to show what’s wrong because it doesn’t come from anyone else. I can assure you of that.
My colleague Lisa Ludwig was there at the press conference and filmed Gray’s speech. You can watch the video below.
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It’s ironic that Gray’s new film screened in Cannes shortly after the Top Gun sequel. Three years ago, the director set the franchise cinema with his outstanding space odyssey Ad Astra – To the Stars an exciting contrast. However, the film, which cost around 100 million US dollars, could not hold its own at the box office and ended up as a financial disappointment.
You can watch the Ad Astra trailer here:
Ad Astra – Trailer (German) HD
At the time, Ad Astra was one of the films that suffered enormously from the Disney-Fox deal. The project was originally developed and put into production by Fox. For a long time after taking over the studio, it seemed like Disney didn’t even know what to do with the film. Gray’s first foray into blockbuster cinema appears to have been an unfortunate experience.
With Armageddon Time, he returns to the league of mid-budget films that have so far distinguished his career. That’s where masterpieces like Two Lovers and The Immigrant are hiding. Perhaps the next stroke of genius awaits us with Armageddon Time. The reviews from Cannes fall mostly positive out of.
What do you think of the current situation in blockbuster cinema?