Anyone who keeps an eye on Hollywood knows — indeed, has been ever more frequently and anxiously informed — that the theater business is in trouble. If fewer of us than ever have been going out to the movies, one reason must have to do with the easy availability of home streaming, to say nothing of all the proliferating digital distractions precision-engineered to capture our attention. But could it also have to do with a change in the pictures themselves? With more than two million views racked up in just four days, the new Like Stories of Old video essay above ventures an explanation as to “Why Movies Just Don’t Feel ‘Real’ Anymore.”
In recent years, even long, colossally budgeted, and ceaselessly marketed spectacles feel strangely insubstantial on any screen, big or small. The video’s creator Tom van der Linden points to a variety of factors, beginning with a worsening lack of correspondence between the cinematic image and our perception of reality.
One clearly — or rather, readily — noticeable contributing trend is the prevalence of shallow focus, which keeps the characters in the foreground sharp but lets all the details of the background go blurry: not the way we see the real world, unless we misplace our glasses. Because we live in deep focus, deep focus cinematography feels more real to us.
Of course, not every movie can be Lawrence of Arabia. But there was a time when practically all of them did deliver what’s called “haptic visuality,” the word haptic relating to the concept of our sense of touch. Older films have a tangibility about them in large part because the filmmakers had no choice: working only or primarily with analog tools, they could only do so much to detach images from our physical experience. Digital photography, post-production CGI, and now the open abyss of AI have made anything technically possible, though as van der Linden underscores, those technologies by themselves don’t guarantee that the resulting movie won’t feel real. Ultimately, unreality is a choice, and one we moviegoers should hope the industry will stop making — if not for our satisfaction, then for its own survival.
Related Content:
The Dark Knight: Anatomy of a Flawed Action Scene
Why We All Need Subtitles Now
Why Do Wes Anderson Movies Look Like That?
Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His projects include the Substack newsletter Books on Cities and the book The Stateless City: a Walk through 21st-Century Los Angeles. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter at @colinmarshall.
Apparently,none of today’s filmmakers have ever heard of Sam Peckinpah. He figured out a way to make the foreground and the background of a shot look clear. He did it by using several camera setups running at different speeds and then editing the film to produce the look of clarity between foreground and background. Of course, he shot on film. All of today’s films are shot on digital or increasingly AI. The only filmmaker still shooting on film is probably Tarantino.
The problem with movies isn’t so much the look of visuals, but the lack new material instead of remakes or reboots or unnecessary “re-imaginings” because of the lack of riginal ideas. But also,the endless push of the asinine leftist agenda forced down our throats. No sane person cares what the left wants, just shutup and go away!
The problem with movies isn’t so much the look or visuals, but the lack of new material instead of remakes or reboots or unnecessary “re-imaginings” because of the lack of original ideas. But also,the endless push of the asinine leftist agenda forced down our throats. No sane person cares what the left wants, just shutup and go away!
Wow… all that effort to completely miss the point. The problem with movies today is the lack of new materials. Reboots…sequels…DEI…phony and shallow dialog coupled with green screen makes our films feel like low budget high school dramas.
One thing I have noticed is how terribly edited movies are today. There are so many cut shots spliced together it takes away from the realness and acting. Netflix made that show Adolescense where each hour episode was just one continuous shot. The acting was superb, as none of the actors wanted to be responsible for reshooting, gave an authentic feeling along with the camera work.
Interesting article. I think they used to hype up movies much better. The Minecraft movie is a good recent example of how a filmmaker connected with an audience. At least some of the joy in watching comes from the pre-release hype.
Tarantino is not even close to the only filmmaker still using film.
Phoenician Scheme, Smashing Machine, Marty Supreme, Sinners, The last showgirl, Bugonia and The Wolf Man are recent releases off the top of my head that were on film. I think even the most recent Jurassic Park was shot on film.
Nolan just used an insane amount of film he had specially made for the Odyssey. (Nolan always uses film). Wes Anderson, PTA and Spielberg are all major names that use only film. These again are just the names that come to mind and there are many, like Aronofsky, use it often but not exclusively.
If you like your films on film there are still lots of choices for good quality traditional filmmaking.
So much to say in this topic. Movies over the last 20 years are predictable. The screenwriters and directors seem to be competing in an effort to present the most clever and snappy repartee and action..but with vapid characters and no substance to back up the story, if there is one. Personal favorite from last 10 years: “Columbus” from 2017. Favorite overlooked from 1988: “The Accidental Tourist”…delicate, quirky but completely believable, almost mesmerizing.
So much to say on this topic. Movies over the last 20 years are predictable. The screenwriters and directors seem to be competing in an effort to present the most clever and snappy repartee and action..but with vapid characters and no substance to back up the story, if there is one. Personal favorite from last 10 years: “Columbus” from 2017. Favorite overlooked from 1988: “The Accidental Tourist”…delicate, quirky but completely believable, almost mesmerizing.
Christopher Nolan uses film as well.
That’s why _The History of Sound_ was such an impressive movie. It used filmmaking techniques from the past century and gave a completely authentic texture, especially to the scenes filmed outdoors. I got full “haptic” satisfaction that I haven’t seen in some time. That’s also the reason I keep returning to _Picnic at Hanging Rock_. Filming real things is so much better than any computerized imitation.
If you recreated a popular film technique from the 60’s in the 90’s, it would have a refreshing novelty. Yes there’s value in dusting off old technical constraints and artificially applying them. No it’s not a matter of them being inherently better or more realistic. In all of film, we use a flashing set of 2D images in a fixed rectangle, synced up with an audio file, to try to portray the full experience of how humans perceive the world. It’s always inherently insufficient and always requires the audience to decode a visual language into what they know of real experience. There’s no way to make cinema, real or haptic. We just use an ever growing list of visual tricks and signals derived from the imagination of previous film makers interacting with their equipment, and try to add to the pile.
It’s hard to read the article when the ad keeps shifting where the text appears on the screen
I miss films with real-looking people. The lede has a pic of Roy Scheider; could he even work today? All the “perfect” faces (only character actors can be unattractive and it seems like they have to be really ugly) just seems fake. I vastly prefer foreign films, both for realistic actoing/actors and better storylines.
I miss films with real-looking people. The lede has a pic of Roy Scheider; could he even work today? All the “perfect” faces (only character actors can be unattractive and it seems like they have to be really ugly) just comes across as fake. I vastly prefer foreign films, both for realistic acting/actors and better storylines.
Well, Ed, since the bulk of American movies are still produced in Hollywood (or by artists with a more “Hollywood/Leftist” mindset), enjoy watching the movies that aren’t. Although you don’t strike me as an open-minded individual who’s going to watch foreign films, unless of course you watch them dubbed over into English. Or do you say “speak American!!”
I believe you all are hitting it„ also the fact that they are trying to impress the entire globe with the hopes of selling enough tickets.It isn’t just about the US anymore.This fact washes out the movie, I believe.
It began with Dumb and Dumber, a pretty funny film that went for a less demanding audience. Movies that do well often appeal to a wide audience, including youth used to video games and who have never seen Casablanca or a terrific movie. They want either horror chills or dumbed down comedies or anime. What’s a method or dedicated actor to do?
Thank God, I was raised during the amazing era of technicolor with actual film cameras. The time when you could actually see the dust and grit flying up from the wheels of the chariots and the beads of sweat running down the face of Ben Hur. Sad that corporate America really doesn’t understand true art and is always just looking for a way to save a buck. Ergo reality TV.
It has nothing to do with the “Leftist agenda”. It has everything to do with lousy scripts. Hollywood is only interested in money, not any political agenda. If they had their way, Tom Cruise would be starring in every film that gets made.
How exhausting it must be to be you–seeing a liberal bogeyman every waking moment and forcibly injecting politics into every discussion. I recommend going outside and touching some grass.
Dune 3 has bin shot on film
So, I grade college papers every day. So many students are simply using AI to write their papers. AI has a very distinctive “voice” and writing style.
It is nice to see “professional” journalists are also using AI to do their work.
There’s nothing wrong with Diversity in cinema. Historically, movies and their filmmakers had a terrible penchant for casting only white casts or using blackface/brown face whenever an ethnic character was included. Cry me a river if nowadays it’s common that people of color are finally getting some limelight on screen and the whites aren’t the only exclusive race to be featured, acting as though the arts belong solely to them. Do grow up.
Shut up and leave, ed.
I encountered the same frustrating problem.
Personally, I’m looking forward to the complete collapse of Hollywood and the US film industry. I loved film, when it had substance. As most have noted here, it now lacks not only substance, but purpose.
Well, to be honest I admit it’s purpose, like every other endeavor in the US is to make money. What changed?
1. The American people have become progressively more ignorant over the last three decades.
2. Technology has contributed to a collective stupidity, degradation of culture, erasure of individuality and many of the other predictions written about by science fiction writers over the last 60 years.
3. The stupidity has affected the sophistication of taste. Young people truly don’t seem to have the ability to distinguish good from bad.
4. Corporate America (a prideless, shameful synonym for greed at the CEO level)
1+2+3 / 4 = technology used to crank out mindless crap targeting a (youthful) class of people who were never educated sufficiently enough to develop their own taste.
and it’s not even the fault of folks newly brought up in this environment because the educational system is now run much the same way as the entertainment industry.
They seem to compliment each other.
“Education as a service of entertainment”
Personally, I don’t think that works. like anything of value, there must be struggle to achieve it, including taste and discerning good from bad.
Corporate America wants to sell you anything and everything and technology is the tool they use to make everything effortless. Including what you will swallow as good entertainment.
Technology is the application of science to business. Never forget that science never moves forward unless there is profit or winning a war as the outcome.
Now there is a formula for disaster.
I watched the YouTube video. It contains so much more nuance and details than this article. Please watch it. Then artist/creator is amazing 😍
Push down your throat? You mean you’re being forced to see these movies?
I only watch movies that are made within the black and white era. Beyond, the stories can be less engaging and quality dialogue replaced with scenes of gratuitous violence or vulgarity. Padded out like food with noxious food colouring and artificial sweetness.
Movies is not the problem even with AI generated. The biggest problem is money money they want more money for nothing. Second is lak of imagination. A good movie a good story. Thats the biggest problem they like Disney produce garbage and want more money for it THAT THE PROBLEM THESE DAYS
On the original subject, I totally agree, the push for super high definition and the optic effect aren’t how we see the world in real life, I hate super HD it completely drops me out of the experience of the story, I don’t want to see every hair in detail you end up looking at every freckle and and not following the film.
Now I’m just too distracted by racist Ed upset that movies now acknowledge brown people exist
Ed: The world is tired of righttrash cliches starring ugly old white dudes being “heroes”.
Why would we want to see the tiny and diminishing cohort of a melanin-deficient minority as if they were still relevant?
I get that right whingers need their fantasies of superiority; however,the majority population just laugh at your feeble attempts at portraying your deluded “exceptionalism” 🐷🤣
Me personally, I still think there’s good movies but why pay exorbitant prices and deal with other annoying people when you can have a much more comfortable experience watching at home — eat what you want, no crowds, take bedroom breaks etc. I just don’t see which compelling reasons to go to the theater… And the surround sound in theaters is obnoxiously loud, almost defending. Gives you a headache. Now if movies could be done in virtual 3D so it looks like real people on a stage, THAT might be interesting 🙂.
Sorry ha ha I meant bathroom breaks, not bedroom breaks, though that might be fun too 😜.
Cinematography was an art form that isn’t valued by today’s Gen Z digitalmakers, and I do mean digitalmakers. It’s stolen valor that they call themselves ‘filmmakers’. The nuance is lost on them. Thankfully there are still a few true filmmakers left but as for the rest of modern entertainment, my expectations stay low.
Ed, You seem smart: Miss the point of the article, deflect, and blame. But yeah, let’s make this political.
Plus the advent of second screening… where the filmmaker assumes we are all watching our phones so everything on screen is explained as it happens.
If you are paying attention — this is really annoying
Film, as art, storytelling, technology, marketing,etc. involves the whole spectrum, for younger to older viewers with tens of thousands of hours viewing experience in life.…opiate of the masses? Seven Samurai any day! From a good book Boys in the Boat came a very good documentary, but recently a bad Affleck ripoff w/‘required’ love interest exemplifies some of the ‘industry’ mass demand issues.…occasionally you get a Train Dreams! Feel something.…curious, our Netflix ‘Continue Watching’ is over flowing! Redundant pulp?
Couldn’t put it better myself.
I think we really have a lack of real movie stars these days. All of the men and women who were truly great are now dead. Or, they are too old now. Also, I am so tired of seeing the casting decisions being made in every movie. There’s a dumb white guy, his smart, ingenious, black companion, a woman who can leap 20 story buildings and then an Asian, who can solve any problem or come up with any answer. That’s not how real life is and that’s why I think a lot of people don’t go to the movies anymore because it just continues to happen. Movie after movie after movie. I also don’t appreciate the 30 minutes of ads once the movie has supposedly supposed to have started according to the start time. And movies need to be historically accurate. That doesn’t mean you can’t take some liberties. It just means you can’t have a character that is supposed to be black turned white and on down the line. I know some people are trying to rewrite past wrongs, but I don’t think the movies is where you do that at.
Would you, please.
Nobody cares what the asinine right wants to shove down your throat ( think orange and stupid ), just shut up already.
I started to leave a message but realized how truly ignorant the majority of you all are. Here’s the thing never have a conversation with someone who could never understand the validity of an opinion.
There are a handful like Tarantino, Nolan, and PTA, but I don’t know how much longer they’ll even be able to do it.
I agree 100%.
That was funny.
Some “not so bright” individuals might actually believe you.
>How exhausting it must be to be you–seeing a liberal bogeyman every waking moment and forcibly injecting politics into every discussion. I recommend going outside and touching some grass.
They aren’t ‘liberal’, they are illiberal Leftists, and they are the ones forcibly injecting politics into everything.
I recommend seeing a psychiatrist, you obviously need one.
Real?! No sir, they’re not supposed to look real. They’re supposed to feel plausible. There’s a reason why effects, props and stages look so fake in high frame rates as opposed to the exact same cut at 24fps. That despised flicker is dreamlike, reminiscent of the times when old wise men would tell us stories in front of the flickering fire. That feeling sets us in some “fantasy mode”, that makes us believe, and be immersed.
I could not agree more I was just talking to Chatgpt about this the other day. Anticipation is HUGE and that is a huge part of it not sure if you remember the pre launch trailers for Jurassic Park or Independence Day back in the 90’s but the cryptic trailers were absolutely epuc in building hype for the movies?
We’re here talking about movies and what not and you launch into some bullsh*t about the left that nobody gives a crap about just because you saw 2 black people and a gay person in a movie with a female lead and felt left out. Poor baby! Keep your crying to yourself, sparky, nobody cares!
Myan, you have missed the point.
He is covering the visual aspect of story telling, not the quality of the story.
As the title indicates it was I think more about why movies do not feel real anymore instead of the actual content or story as many mention here…
Tarantino isn’t even filming anymore… he’s supposedly got one more film left to do to make his 10 movies and then he’s done… but in making that perfect final film it appears he’s hit perfection paralysis and keeps scrapping his works and saying he wants to spend more time at home with his kids
So no sane person wants respect? Or self-awareness? Or conscious communication?
Noooooo… only the dictatorial right wants to squash those aspects of humanity, afterall, that’s how you control people by not respecting them, by dumbing down their self-awareness, and by dismissing and bullying them into silence…
Grow up Ed, the rest of the world is getting ready for adulthood, maybe you should join them