This way something clever comes

For many of us, if we were not streaming much before the pandemic, that has changed since COVID-19 invaded and changed all our lives.

The Other Half and I, for instance, had one streaming service beforehand (Amazon, as a by-product of other things) and now we have ... well, at least three more than I’m aware of, all of which are for the screening of films or TV and not as a by-product of lower delivery charges.

In general terms, I’d say they’re pretty good value, but it strikes me that, in terms of cinema, that they could be seen as a very positive development.

Between 2016 and the start of the pandemic, the OH and I had developed a big cinema-going habit. For instance, we managed 21 cinema visits in 2018, with 19 the following year.

Of course, 2020 was the first year of the pandemic and we managed just five, of which Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (which we’ve seen in two different National Theatre stage productions) we streamed just before Christmas that year, which came at additional cost, since we'd just lost our wifi service after a big blow-out that lasted into February, and streamed it, therefore, by linking a 4G phone to the TV.

Last year, remarkably – and in spite of the very best efforts of COVID – we managed 12 cinema visits and one streaming of a just-released film (Green Knight, which was on nowhere near us in sensible terms).

The cinema has felt the safest place we can visit, because we can walk to and from our local, and it’s not difficult to choose screenings at the multi-screen cinema we regularly visit that have few people in attendance.

For instance, on my birthday late last year – Saturday 11 December – we went to see Stephen Spielberg’s West Side Story on our nearest Vue’s biggest screen, with approximately 30 people occupying the 430 seats. How safe can you feel these days, in an indoor space, outside your home? We felt perfectly safe that afternoon.

 

But streaming has also meant that we have caught films that we might not have pencilled in for cinema attendance. Just over a week ago, with Ormicron case numbers finally falling in London, we saw Spider-Man: No Way Home at the cinema. And thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

The day after, we got around to streaming Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog.

Wow. Just wow. I’m not sure that, even in a pandemic-free world, I’d have gone to a cinema to see that (which rather makes a fool of me), but a paid-for streaming service ensures that (presumably) the producers get a cut of the takings, rather earlier and presumably at a greater level than if one had to wait a year or more to watch it at home.

And presumably such a mixed release also increases the number of people who see the film.

 

But back to The Power of the Dog specifically. It is a simply stunning film: performances, visuals, music, themes ... all utterly superb. Over a week later, I simply can’t get it out of my head.

 

And similarly today, when the OH and I watched the Apple TV+-produced The Tragedy of Macbeth.

 

It has had a limited cinema release – however minimum a cinema release, that is what is needed in order to ensure that a film qualifies to be considered for the Oscars – but it’s mainstream release was, in effect, on Apple TV+ on Friday and we had signed up to AppleTV+ primarily because we wanted to see it.

 

This is another superb film. I have seen some comments suggesting that the two central performances are somehow ‘underplayed’. These seem to be put about by people who apparently imagine that Shakespeare must be performed in an histrionic manner and can’t imagine it not being so.

 

I’ve seen at least five stage productions, reviewing at least three (one in Spanish) and on that basis, I’ll dare to suggest that I have a clue.

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as the Macbeths are simply superb. These are controlled performances – no hysterics, sure, but the control helps ensure that the descent into madness in both of them is utterly believable.

And Kathryn Hunter as the trio of witches is creepy beyond belief.

The cinematography – it was shot entirely on stage, entirely in B&W – is simply stunning. This is a visual masterclass. Some have suggested that it echoes Fritz Lang, but it’s much more a case of being influenced by German Expressionist cinema in general, with a nod to Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, plus a big dollop of the lonely, alienating nature of the paintings of Giorgio de Chrico.

The reality is that Joel Coen has created possibly the finest cinematic telling yet of Macbeth – and yes, that includes Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood – while having to work in a world where the cinema was not, physically, easy. And streaming almost certainly means that more people will view the film now, early in its release, than would have done so if its release was limited to a few cinemas, as many ‘arthouse’ films are.

We will only really find out in time how this all pans out, but perhaps streaming and cinema can live alongside each and, indeed, actually benefit each other. I very much hope so.