Steven Spielberg has made many masterpieces throughout his career that have inspired young filmmakers. One of his most famous admirer in Hollywood is JJ Abrams. He didn’t just bring Star Wars and Star Trek to new life on the screen. In 2011 he brought a Spielberg homage to the cinema with Super 8.
Of course, all of Abrams’ films contain allusions and references to Spielberg’s work. But in no film do they come into their own as clearly as in Super 8. The mixture of Sci-fi mystery and coming-of-age story is entirely in the tradition of cinema that Spielberg shaped in the 1980s.
Sci-fi adventures on TV: JJ Abrams pays tribute to Steven Spielberg’s 1980s cinema with Super 8
The story of Super 8 takes you to a quiet small town where almost nothing exciting ever happens. That’s why 14-year-old Joe (Joel Courtney) and his friends create their own adventures: With a Super 8 camera film a zombie movie inspired by George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.
You can watch the trailer for Super 8 here:
Super 8 – Trailer (German)
Before they know it, they find themselves on an adventure that pushes the boundaries of their imagination. A US Army train derails nearby on the very night that Joe and Co. want to shoot a key scene for their film. And one escapes from one of the battered wagons mysterious creaturewhich causes chaos.
The great role models are quickly identified. Films like ET – The Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind were the inspiration for Abrams’ Spielberg homage. Basically, Super 8 anticipates everything that would come later with the success of Stranger Things on Netflix 1980s nostalgia was cultivated in film and television.
The result is a stirring, touching film that, on a meta level, also sees itself as a love letter to filmmaking itself. Abrams imitates them with devotion unmistakable cinematic gestures his role model and sprinkles in the occasional lens flare, which he has made his own trademark.
Steven Spielberg tribute: When is Super 8 on TV?
Super 8 is running on May 11, 2024 at 8:15 p.m. on ZDFneo. The broadcast takes place without commercial breaks and ends at 9:55 p.m. The film is repeated at 00:55 at night. If you prefer to stream Super 8, you can currently do so with a subscription to Joyn+. Alternatively, the film is available to purchase and rent on Amazon Prime Video.
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