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by William Speruzzi 
What makes a film “work” is as mysterious as the art form itself. It’s personal and special to the individual audience member but a failure isn’t necessarily as mysterious, it is selective though. Does anyone consider the publicly flogged and misguided Heaven’s Gate a heartbreaking work of staggering genius? Yes, it is too beautiful for words to look at and has incredible talent behind it but…well, you know how that panned out.
By nature most films could be considered. Much blood, sweat and tears go into more productions than not. What separates a film for the sake of this blog-a-thon though is a film that’s scope goes beyond the confines of simplistic entertainment. The ambitious failure should theoretically work on every or most levels given the elements involved, the great care it was given, the outrageous runaway budget, the talent associated or just pure man hours put in but it just doesn’t. The definition of failure is purposefully vague and not necessarily a negative1 but can be considered financial, critical, artistic or maybe all three. This will hopefully create much debate and probably the occasional mob rules pile on but so be it. Just keep it civil.
To participate there is only one requirement: write a convincing essay that will provoke thought on why your chosen film is considered an ambitious failure, deserved or otherwise, and some thoughts on what went wrong, if hindsight worked in the film’s favor and/or what was the fate of the film’s creators etc.
The Ambitious Failure Blog-a-thon runs from June 20th - 24th, 2007. To participate just e-mail me your essay or preferably a link to it from your site if you have one. You can also link by way of the comments section of this post. I’m looking forward to some great contributions so pass the news along to anyone who you think would be interested. Thanks in advance to all who participate.
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- My Ambitious Failure Pick: At the time of its production, Apocalypse Now suffered from a boatload of career killing rumors but went on to be what many consider the definitive war epic.[↩]
11 Comments
#1. mutinyco
05.26.2007
Um. Grossed $150-mil worldwide. Nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 2. Named by Sight & Sound as the greatest motion picture of the past 25 years in 2002.
The word ‘failure’ doesn’t really come to mind.
#2. William Speruzzi
05.26.2007
I planned on addressing my argument of why I chose Apocalypse Now with my essay but maybe this will give you something to chew on until then:
It is an extremely ambitious film and an acknowledged work of great art. Coppola’s artistic vision is what created its eventual success. I was playing with my own rules to make a point about how time can reverse the perception of a film’s critical and financial failure. This all happened in the press before the film was even released. That’s why I put in the caveat:
“The definition of failure is purposefully vague and not necessarily a negative but can be considered financial, critical, artistic or maybe all three”
also
“if hindsight worked in the film’s favor”
Check out Hearts of Darkness:A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (still (sigh) only on VHS) and tell me if at the time of filming in the Philippines Coppola wasn’t having a career meltdown because of the public perception generated by the trades at that time. It’s pretty well documented.
Yes, it did recover and go one to be the monumental film that we all know and love and a film I consider one of my personal favorites of all time but AT THE TIME of production the film was failing miserably. If you don’t believe me read this laundry list of problems that almost killed the film. That success that you speak of only happened after a length of time and massive personal investment on Coppola’s part along with his cast, crew and family.
#3. mutinyco
05.27.2007
I’m aware of the film’s history. (As to day marks the end of Cannes, I should also mention it won the Palme d’Or.) Perhaps the way you should approach this is more from the perspective of how a film deemed to be a failure at one point can come back and be considered a triumph. A similar argument could be made, I suppose, for say, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
#4. William Speruzzi
05.27.2007
I agree. In fact, 2001 was a point of reference and comparison I was going to use for Apocalypse Now. People walked out of the theater when that film was released. Time passed, the audience caught up to it and it was considered an important film probably by every major film historian and publication. That was my take on it and was going to be my argument at the time of the blog-a-thon.
Looking forward to you participating.
#5. rob
06.16.2007
I think I’ll cover “The Fountain” for this. It is a film I love despite - or perhaps because of - its flaws, and its something I’d like to reexamine now that it’s available on DVD.
#6. William Speruzzi
06.16.2007
Great pick Rob. That was definitely a film that divided a lot of people. Look forward to your take on it. What’s the saying? True great art is flawed.
#7. Paul Hackett
06.20.2007
Hi,
Can you link to my entry on “The Quiet American,” which is at
http://www.paulhackett.ca/2007/06/20/the-quiet-american/
Thanks s lot.
#8. Erich Kuersten
06.20.2007
I am so glad I found this blog. Let me jump in to mention my beloved and unjustly misunderstood John Carpenter’s GHOSTS OF MARS.
If this film was part of a triple bill with the two films of GRINDHOUSE, you would appreciate it for the brilliance it is.
On the other hand, GRINDHOUSE bombed too.
Consarn it! Deadpan Hawksian satire is too complex for the great American masses. We gots ta educate em! We gots to make them smart like the French, or like they were back in the 1970s. What happened to the 1970s, man? Anyway, below is the link that explains the whole thing, with numerous Lacan references, even.
http://acidemic.com/id34.html
#9. Piper
06.21.2007
Erich,
Always glad to see a Carpenter fan. Even if it is for Ghosts Of Mars. And Grindhouse is an excellent example of an ambitious failure.
#10. Chris Daniel
06.21.2007
Not sure that I agree about Apocalype being an Ambitious Failure. Certainly the production was a disaster.
I have another Coppola entry that I think is a better choice. Nice article though. Please link to this story.
http://therecshow.com/2007/06/21/the-offer-that-should-have-been-refused/
Thanks,
Chris
#11. Ambitious Failure Blog-a-Thon - Movie reviews - Spout 06.21.2007
[...] contribute to the blogathon, check out the guidelines here. I think I’m going to do an entry on It’s Always Fair Weather, Stanley Donen’s super-dark sort-of [...]
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