Since the cinema experience was created in the late 19th century, the urge to thrill, shock and test audience boundaries has always been apparent. From the moment cinema goers ran for their lives at the sight of a train pulling into a station in the Lumière brothers’ L’arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat, cinema has dared to test audience’s limits wherever possible.
Now, after 140 years at the forefront of entertainment around the world and surviving many tests to its existence, cinema is still daring to push audiences beyond their comfort zone. Paul Verhoeven’s critically adored thriller Elle is definitely a film that dares to go against the norm, and so to celebrate its release on Digital Download from on July 3rd and on DVD and Blu-ray from July 10th, we’re looking at other masterpieces from cinema’s global back-catalogue that dared, keeping the art as bold as it can be.
Straw Dogs (1971)
During the 1960’s and 70’s, Hollywood became a melting pot for artistic inspiration. As the political mindset of western society began to change with a new generation, so did the focus of film’s that represented them, as themes of rebellion began to be championed by directors with increasing artistic power on set.
A telling example of this era is Sam Peckinpah’s intense thriller Straw Dogs, set in the sticks of the British countryside, as an American couple (played by Dustin Hoffman and Susan George) move into a small village and are immediately made to feel unwelcome by the locals. This tension escalates to the point where Hoffman has to turn his home into a fortress to defend against a gang of intruders with anything he can find (surely an inspiration to Home Alone?).
As the tension continues to rise, the leader of the gang graphically and violently rapes George’s character, in a scene that was met with immediate outrage, with many feeling it glamorised sexual violence. Views on the film have since become a lot less negative, as it became an example of how the era was testing audience boundaries during a period of massive social change.
Kids (1995)
Much in the same vein as Vietnam War-era Hollywood, the 90’s proved to be another mass venture into the bold and beautiful for cinema, coinciding with the emergence of a new indie genre. Many filmmakers looked to rebel against the increasingly generic mainstream the industry was heading towards, culminating in a host of micro-budget, personable films centred around human issues, such as Larry Clarke’s Kids.
Written by Harmoney Korine (Spring Breakers), the film follows a group of youths in New York City, one of whom, Telly, has a goal to de-flower as many virgins as he can. When one of his old encounters discovers that she is HIV+, after only one encounter with a guy, Telly ignores this and decides to continue on his mission. During a time where the message of ‘safe sex’ was everywhere, Kids used the fear of HIV in society to test audiences view on youth culture.
Oldboy (2003)
Since Oldboy’s release at the start of the 21st century, it has snowballed to become a huge cult hit, as gobsmacked reactions to the film helped fan the flames of word-of-mouth. The film uses mystery as its catalyst, following the story of Oh Dae-su, who is imprisoned in a cell which resembles a hotel room for 15 years without knowing the identity of his captor or his captor’s motives. When he is finally released, Dae-su finds himself still trapped in a web of conspiracy and violence.
His own quest for vengeance becomes tied in with romance when he falls in love with an attractive young woman. The film’s particularly violent and disturbing ending asks questions of its audiences morals when new-found information is presented to them in a plot twist for the ages.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
