In the art of filmmaking, there's a special place for movies by directors who know whereof they film. When a baseball movie is made by a former professional baseball player—for instance, Ron Shelton's "Bull Durham" (1988) or when, as with Oliver Stone's "Platoon" (1986), a Vietnam War movie is made by a decorated and twice-wounded veteran of that war, there's an implied assurance of something deeper than just research. The assurance is of a personal stake, of having the story in one's blood, and maybe vice versa. Such movies fit within a larger genre, what one could call the lid-lifter-fact-based fictions that offer behind-the-scenes glimpses into realms that are usually inaccessible. Ava DuVernay's "Origin" (2023) reveals how a nonfiction writer goes about her research; David Fincher's "The Social Network" (2010) shines a light on the hectic maneuvering of the tech-startup scene. Another subset of this larger genre is the movie-business movie: Robert Altman's "The Player" (1992), say, or Robert Townsend's "Hollywood Shuffle" (1987). These films have an extra layer of built-in reflexivity: set in a world that the directors inherently know, they go behind their own scenes, via sly allusions and bold metafictions.
This story is from the May 13, 2024 edition of The New Yorker.
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This story is from the May 13, 2024 edition of The New Yorker.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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