|
What is "The Rocker?"
When a director gets
"on The Rocker," it means that he's achieved a level of consistent excellence and will be remembered long past his waking
days. It doesn't mean that every movie he makes is perfect -- it means that every film he directs has some innate quality
that makes it infinitely superior to your average flick. Think of Sidney Lumet's run in the 70's.
Serpico. Murder on the Orient Express. Dog Day. Network. Every person in Hollywood wanted to work
with him. He was able to try different things and bring cinema to a new level. Now, picture him sitting in his favorite rocking
chair, moving to a rhythm of his own that no one else could pick up on. He knows that he's reached greatness.
That's The Rocker.
What is "going off The Rocker?"
When the spell is broken, and a great director makes a stinker, he tumbles
out of his figurative rocking chair and takes a good portion of his reputation with him. But going off the rocker isn't
simply making a bad or unsuccessful film. On the contrary, directors can make a piece of trash and then follow it up
with something amazing; bad movies can be compared to speed bumps. Spielberg fit 1941 in between Close Encounters
and Raiders. But when an accomplished director makes a film that feels like a complete break from what made him great,
or directs a movie so self-indulgent that it fails to connect with the audience in any meaningful way, it's likely
that the magic is gone for good. They will never get their form back, and they will continue to make movies that lessen
the works of art that they had previously shaped.
It simply becomes clear that the director has lost it (see "Why, God, Why?"
for theories and insight).
|
