In its October 26 issue, The New Yorker has a terrific article on James Cameron, whose Avatar (trailer), his first fictional film since Titanic twelve years ago, comes out in two months. After a hiatus second only to Terrence Malick or Guns N' Roses, will Cameron return to his '80s and '90s greatness or finally fall victim to his hubris? That in itself would make a pretty compelling story, which is one reason why the New Yorker article is a great read.
Though some of his films—The Terminator, Aliens, Terminator 2—are among my favorites, Cameron's work is far from perfect. It would be unfair to compare him to filmmakers like Scorsese, Copolla, or Aronofsky, but even compared to filmmakers in his own field his films don't evoke the wonder or old-fashioned charm of Spielberg or Lucas (though Titanic certainly harkens back to the Golden Age of Hollywood). (The only example that I can think of that does evoke that wonder and charm is the very Spielbergian end of The Abyss.) His attempts at subtext are usually simplistic dichotomies—man and machine, rich and poor, life-giving mother and life-taking killer, etc. However, when he's good, what he lacks in characterization, subtlety, and originality he makes up for in tense, masterfully coordinated action and technical wizardry.
I recently watched Herzog's Fitzcarraldo (trailer) for the first time, and I couldn't help but be reminded of it as I read the New Yorker article. The title character, played with captivating gusto by Klaus Kinski, is an unsuccessful developer in a town in the Peruvian Amazon in the early twentieth century; his true passion is opera, and he dreams of building an opera house in the small, isolated, jungle-circled town to host the Great Caruso and the other great voices of the day. The only way he can get the money for this is by buying a plot of land in the jungle known to be rich in rubber trees, but inaccessible thanks to river rapids and violent native tribes. In a Herzogian take on the classic underdog-challenges-the-odds story (darkly paralleled in his Aguirre, the Wrath of God (trailer), also starring Kinski), Fitzcarraldo is so driven by his dream that he ignores contrary advice, common sense, and sound boating practices in his attempt to reach his rubber trees, to the point of enlisting the natives to haul his river boat over a steep, muddy hill in the middle of the jungle.
While Cameron may not have the artistic creativity or knack for storytelling that many of his colleagues have, what the article conveys is an indominable drive, a stubborn refusal to do something on any terms but his own, a geeky enthusiasm for technical problems, and an aggressive single-mindedness sometimes bordering on obsession. On the one hand, his filmmaking style often comes across as a serious case of failing to see the forest for the trees (on page 60, first column, he takes very detailed notice of how light interacts with various tissues and structures of an alien creature's mouth), and on a personal level I'm not surprised that he's been divorced four times; but on the other, it's impressive—and in this day and age, honestly a bit inspiring—to see a filmmaker so passionately dedicated to making his film, regardless of technological contraints, problems with actors and crew, and doubtful studio executives. (In another unexpected similarity between the two, Herzog's consistent depiction in his films of nature as a hostile force parallels Cameron's view of a hostile Hollywood, his "environment.") While the end results may not be particularly groundbreaking or moving, they're not the result of compromise or indifference, but of sheer will.
P.S. — Speaking of Herzog, check this out. No wonder he sees the world as hostile.
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