Bullies WIN at cannes

Last week, a Netflix-made film called Okja was being screened at the Cannes Film Festival but was stopped after it was booed by audience members.

The audience was largely made up of journalists and other filmindustry professionals.

The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton and was controversial from the outset, having been selected for the Palme d’or competition despite only being available to watch via streaming.

So, it will not be shown in cinemas.

And the professionals don’t like that, because us plebs must always watch films in the cinema. Now, there’s a bit of relevant backstory here: Netflix decided not to release any of their original films in French cinemas due to a French law that prohibits films from streaming online for three years after their theatrical run. No such law exists in most other markets (including the UK), so the Cannes films Netflix made will receive limited theatrical runs before going live on the service the following week. Anyway, the enlightened audience of scribblers and filmmakers first started booing when the Netflix logo appeared before the film started. Classy. The booing then continued – along with heckling – when the film was projected in the wrong aspect ratio for around 10 minutes.

Film journalists in the room at the time reported with no small amount of glee that there had been “huge boos”. Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin (who is usually a voice of reason) pompously tweeted that Cannes had made “an A+ case for the primacy of the cinema experience”.

The screening was then restarted and completed without further drama or interruption.

For their part, the Cannes organisers were apologetic to the filmmakers and the audience. But it was too late – they were in the firing line too. And so the bourgeois arbiters of taste sharpened their pens, fired up their Twitter machines, and went after the organisers of the festival too, as well as Netflix. As a result of the furore, Cannes has said that next year it will not accept streaming-only films. The shrill bullies win again. Regular readers will be aware of how much I love going to the cinema. All too often I’ll slip into a literary reverie about the experience of seeing a film in a theatre. If I can watch a film on the big screen, I will always choose that option.

But some people don’t. And that’s ok.

They haven’t cracked it yet, but the big studios are still looking at same-day releases across multiple platforms, with the aim of one day being able to offer customers brand new films in cinemas, on DVD and via streaming at the same time. The studios themselves recognise that some people want to see the latest films, but can’t or don’t want to go to the cinema for one reason or another. Perhaps they’re housebound, perhaps they can’t afford the notunsubstantial prices, perhaps they hate the sound of people chewing popcorn. Whatever it is, shouldn’t they be catered to as well?

Cannes had the right idea, but self-righteous critics and other po-faced, protectionist film professionals bitched and moaned and wasted ink, whining about this newcomer moving in on their turf and spoiling things by being too modern. Turning the spotlight onto Netflix shows that the company really doesn’t help itself, and I’ll talk more about that next week. The line between plucky underdog and cocky upstart is paper-thin, and sometimes the business strays across that line. But still…

Watch your films however you want and ignore the broadsheets. Unless you want to watch a movie on a mobile without headphones on public transport – now that is beyond the pale.

During the cannes Film Festival a screening of Okja, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, inset, which will only be available to watch via streaming, was booed by an audience. now cannes says it wil not accept streaming-only films

Mike shaw would always prefer to watch a film on the big screen but some people don’t – and that’s ok