The Success of Oppenheimer and the Future of Cinema
A still from the film depicting one of Oppenheimer's hearings (Photo: Universal).
Christopher Nolan is a renowned director, famous for films such as Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy, and Interstellar. Famous for using strange aspect ratios, as well as exclusively using practical effects, Nolan has gained a reputation as being one of the greats of contemporary film.
His newest film Oppenheimer was a departure from his earlier work, being a nearly three-hour biography of a scientist from the 40’s. Fans of the fast-paced action present in films like Inception, or fans of the spectacle and violence of WWI depicted in Dunkirk, are in for a very different experience.
Oppenheimer is a film mostly filled with men sitting in rooms talking, arguing, collaborating and so on. What makes Oppenheimer such a marvel is the fact that it’s so enthralling, despite not being your typical Nolan film.
Cillian Murphy portrays Oppenheimer with a tact and grace that made the character feel genuine. Murphy also commented on the preparatory steps he took for the character, specifically body acting. “I love acting with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right. I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked with the costume and tailoring; he was very slim, almost emaciated, and existed on martinis and cigarettes,” Murphy said.
The film also has a star-studded cast, with the likes of Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek, Florence Pugh, and others. Countless times in the theater I pointed at the screen, recognizing a face but being unable to connect it to a name. Some critics were unhappy with Pugh’s generally brief appearance within the film, but Pugh herself had this to say about it; “Doesn’t matter. Even if I’m a coffee maker at a cafe in the back of the room, let’s do it.”
Cillian Murphy portrays Oppenheimer with a tact and grace that made the character feel genuine. Murphy also commented on the preparatory steps he took for the character, specifically body acting. “I love acting with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right. I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked with the costume and tailoring; he was very slim, almost emaciated, and existed on martinis and cigarettes,” Murphy said.
The aspect in which Oppenheimer shines the most however, is its brilliant cinematography. The film is interspersed with shots of strange visualizations of Oppenheimer’s mind. The color palette of the film is also very interesting, with most of the settings being brightly lit, lush environments. This provides an interesting contrast to the darker subject matter of the film. All of these aspects come together to create a film that sticks with you. I still think about certain scenes from the film, even two months later.
However, the most exciting aspect about this film for me is not the film itself, but rather the implications its success has for the future of cinema. Needless to say, after the pandemic theaters were not in a good way. For instance, AMC lost $4.6 billion dollars in 2020 alone. Even after lockdowns were over, things were looking grim for the future of theaters. Traction began to pick back up with releases such as Top Gun: Maverick, a wonderful little military industrial complex propaganda piece.
The first time the general public was truly excited to go back to the theaters, was of course, Barbenheimer. A completely organic trend that catapulted both films' respective success stories. Now that both films have come out, the total sum of money the films pulled in was around $2.24 billion dollars. Oppenheimer releasing on the same day as Barbie, a fact that many took to be a major hindrance against its success, wound up being the best marketing Nolan could have asked for.
Ultimately, the reason these two films were such a success was not only because their differing subject matter provided an engaging contrast. They were so successful because they are both fantastic films. Hopefully studio executives take notice of this fact, because the future of film has never looked brighter.