During the time when the films sex, lies, and videotape and Hard Boiled was released, the film industry was rapidly changing. There were more ways to earns profits thanks to the introduction of VHS and cable. Miramax, which owned the two films, were able to generate a lot of profits from both films because of this. Both of the films are unconventional and paved the way for more unconventional films to be made or imported from other countries.
Sex is different for many people. That would be obvious for people that are familiar with Alfred C. Kinsey’s work. Steven Soderbergh’s sex, lies, and videotape is a sophisticated film is about four adults in their mid 30s and their sex lives. There’s Ann, the wife, John, the husband, Cynthia, the sister, and Graham, John’s friend and the drifter. The main character is Graham who enjoys interviewing different women talking about their sexual experiences and records it. He’s impotent and “gets off” on the videotapes. Ann and Graham are similar because they don’t enjoy sex; Ann never had an orgasm and Graham can’t get an erection with anyone. John and Cynthia are very similar because they really enjoy sex. So much so that they don’t mind being unfaithful or ruining relationships to satisfy their sexual appetite. The question this film ask is, “what is the right way to think about sex?” In a 1989 movie review, Roger Ebert writes, “I have a friend who says golf is not only better than sex but lasts longer. The argument in “sex, lies, and videotape” is that conversation is also better than sex.”
This film is great on so many levels that it’s hard to believe Steven Soderbergh only written it in eight days. The characters have many depths, the story is very original and intelligent, most of the lines are well scripted and well thought out. It’s an overall great movie for adults who understands the complications of sex and relationships. No wonder why sex, lies, and videotape became such a huge success for an independent film. It won a few awards including an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. At a budget of $1.2 million, it has earned over $36.7 million worldwide. It was in no way set out to be a blockbuster film, but rather a low budget independent film. With the success of this film and others like it, movie studios started to see the monetary values of such films. Big movie studios started to purchase one specialty division because of this. In April 1993, Miramax, which released sex, lies, and videotape, was even purchased by Disney. This change was made because of the introduction of VHS and cable T.V. because big companies were able to profit from smaller independent films and not just blockbusters.
The film sex, lies, and videotape was all about sexuality for men and for women. The main character, Graham, had stacks of videotapes which contained interviews he did with different women about their sexual experiences and fantasies. This is one of the few times in film where you get to see a women’s sexuality displayed more authentically. On April 9, 1989, there were 300,000 demonstrators, most of whom were women, marching at the Lincoln Memorial for abortion-rights and the freedom to their bodies. I believe this correlates with how this film was a product of its time and played a role in the success of the film.
Around this time, American cinema also saw a rise in Hong Kong action films entering the country that was gaining popularity. One of them is Hard Boiled directed by John Woo which attracted a cult following in the U.S. This was John Woo’s last Hong Kong film before transitioning into Hollywood. It’s interesting that his other movies glamorized the gangsters but Hard Boiled is a movie that glamorized the police. Miramax, the independent film motion picture distribution and production company that released sex, lies, and videotape, bought the rights to Hard Boiled. The film stars Chow Yun Fat who also stars in John Woo’s other action movies such as A Better Tomorrow and The Killers which also did well in the U.S. In Hard Boiled, Chow Yun Fat plays a tough cop named Tequila. With the help of an undercover agent, he takes down a sinister triad boss. There is an interview from John Woo about his influence for Hard Boiled. It interesting to hear why he made the film and how he wanted to make a movie like Dirty Harry. His American influence could be why this film is more popular for Americans instead of the Chinese.
The film has many great reviews from film critics. The website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 94% based on 36 reviews and an audience score of 92% based on over 25,000 user reviews. Scott Tobias from avclub.com writes, “Hard Boiled hits the action beats hard when it gets to them but invests more thought and energy into character work and genre deconstruction than it tends to get credit for.” Scott Tobias argues how John Woo’s action scenes were terrific and innovative in Hard Boiled. His purpose for writing was to compare how Hard Boiled’s action sequences compared to and influenced today’s action films. Barry Hertz from theglobeandmail.com writes about the influences that John Woo movies had on American cinema especially Hard Boiled. “His fetishistic embrace of ultralush violence – not only its execution, but its bloody consequences on the human body – is written into the DNA of any modern shootout sequence. Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, the Wachowski siblings, Michael Bay and, of course, Fate of the Furious director F. Gary Gray – all pray at the altar of Woo.” Quentin Tarantino uses John Woo’s Mexican standoff confrontation on many of his movies as well.
John Woo’s Hong Kong action film, Hard Boiled, was released on April 16, 1992. This film had many great action sequences and contained many violent scenes. Violence in pulp culture has started to become more popular. On April 2, 1992, New York juries’ convicts mob boss John Gotti of murder and racketeering. History.com writes, “On June 23 of that year, Gotti was sentenced to life in prison, dealing a significant blow to organized crime.” On October 8, 1992, the violent videogame, Mortal Kombat, hits arcades across America. It was a big hit, especially with minors. Many people started to become concerned about this including Peter Smith who is part of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. He said, “If children are encouraged to think that violence is a game for them to participate in, it shows a very decadent set of values.” I believe this was where the culture was heading which helped bring some success to films like Hard Boiled.
Works Cited
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sex-lies-and-videotape-1989
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex,_Lies,_and_Videotape
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Boiled#cite_note-ChangDD-10
https://www.avclub.com/hard-boiled-1798219511
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mob-boss-john-gotti-convicted-of-murder
Hi Soonphon!
Sometimes, men are only satisfied with saying they’re married but don’t necessarily want to put any of the work into the initial marriage. I feel that not enough people discuss Asian-made movies, which is beneficial to introducing new things to the American Cinema Industry. So, comparing small films like Sex, Lies, and Videotape to Hard Boiled to being an independent film. Independent films are the basis of blockbuster films. This means that small-time directors are the stepping stool into big blockbuster films. Anyway, have a nice day/night!
Hello Soonphon, I have learned form your essay that shows different people and different languages spoken thorough out the films. I admire to do specific writing in mine. I would also like to say that the films was amazing to show how the differences made in the films. would you ever try peaking another language in a film?
Hey Soonphon,
All the films that were being released around this time had a significant impact on the film industry because they all came from original ideas and cinematographic styles. I like how you related real-life events, such as the abortion march at the Lincoln Memorial, to the sentiments of the film. Something I learned from your post is how influential of a director John Woo is in the film industry and some of the other famous directors he’s had an influence on.
Hi Soonphon.
I had never heard about either of these movies before. Your description of them makes them sound really interesting though. It is cool to see you mention Chow Yun Fat since I just got familiar with that actor while watching and researching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.