The Good and the Bad – a busy week for polarising cinema Parasite and Cats at Cafe Biografen
As the current decade draws to a close, the pressure to categorize “the best and worst” cultural products looms over many a clickbait editorial policy – in Hollywood, the pressure is tenfold. We’ve recently been told that the star of the decade is Scarlett Johansson, only to discover that the hierarchy is primarily income-based, and that Johansson has been the “number 1 female grosser of the 2010s.” This type of feckless, empty measure of cultural capital is recurrent in popular media, with its PR-driven content and its noise jamming the statements of wholesome critiques.
It might, therefore, rub you the wrong way to hear that “Parasite” (dir. Bong Joon-ho) has been named one of “the best films of the decade.” It’s clearly a buzzword. But, in this case, it might as well be true! The film has received critical acclaim across the board and has been showered in awards. “Parasite” is coming to our local, cosy cinema this Wednesday, December 25th, when we can test feckless PR statements and heavy critiques against the product itself.
On quite a different set of listicles, the musical fantasy “Cats” (dir. Tom Hooper) makes a headliner appearance and is expected to “haunt viewers for generations.” The cinematic adaptation of the Broadway classic is so bad, that, a week after the premiere, the director himself announced thousands of movie theatres that they will receive a new version of the film, with improved visual effects. Its strategic Christmas release date is considered one of the strongest criteria for any box-office success whatsoever, which says enough about the quality of the film.
“Cats” has been dubbed “best worst movie ever made” – in itself, a hook for audiences. I’m not going to strongly encourage you to see the film – it seems slightly perverse to recommend something of decided low quality. But I myself won’t be able to stay away – I’m simply too curious; and I know for a fact that curiosity did not kill the cat – it just gave it the informed, first-hand experience to make up its own mind on how bad this film actually is.
“Parasite” plays at Café Biografen from Wednesday 25th December at 15:40 and 20:40 every day.
“Cats” plays at Café Biografen from Wednesday 25th December at 13:15 and 20:50 every day.
Link to the event
Written by Elena Stanciu
Elena has an MA in American Studies from SDU, and currently works as Features Editor for arts and culture publication PETRIe. She is interested in visual culture and contemporary art, design an...