Today marks the end of the 35th annual Athens International Film and Video Festival. I hope that many people have had the chance to check out some of the fascinating and unusual films offered by the festival this past week. I know that, personally, I wish I had time to check out more, but am immensely satisfied with the films that I did see.
Tonight also marks the night that some will see Iron Man, the superhero adventure film that is marking the beginning of the 2008 summer blockbuster season.
Having these two events this close to each other might cause some of the more elite of filmgoers to hold up their noses to Iron Man and scoff at the special effects and loud action scenes. They may prefer the more important and emotionally charged films of the film festival.
Conversely, others want nothing to do with films that require reading subtitles, or even worse, films where people sit around in silence, pretending to be profound. They want something to blow up.
What's important to realize is the importance of both in a healthy film diet.
Limiting oneself to one type of movie creates a narrow view of the world of film. While it may be fun to see nothing but what Hollywood puts out on a weekly basis, it closes one off to interesting films that are being made outside of the studio system, and in the rest of the world. Americans are not the only ones who make movies, and it can be enlightening to see what other movies are coming out from places like France and Italy.
However, throwing out terms like Italian neorealism doesn't exactly make you the life of the party (trust me, I've tried). Besides, as the great film critic Pauline Kael said, you can't appreciate great art without appreciating great trash.
A Hollywood blockbuster like Iron Man, which some might consider trash, is easy to love when you consider the amount of work that went into creating the special effects or the loud action scenes.
So today I remind myself that I enjoyed my time this year at the Athens International Film and Video Festival, and I plan to equally enjoy my time tonight at Iron Man. Without both, it's impossible to be a well-educated filmgoer.
Ethan Goldsmith is a junior video production major and a columnist for The Post. Send him an e-mail at eg973705@ohiou.edu.
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Ethan Goldsmith
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