Los Angeles, Aug 4 — Legendary filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who recently helmed ‘The Odyssey’, his film adaptation of the epic poem the Odyssey by Homer, feels that amateur film criticism comes with its flaws.
The 56-year-old director recently spoke with podcaster Zhong Shu, and pushed back against familiar criticism from amateur movie-watchers.
Nolan shared, “The criticism that’s often levelled at movies in general is, ‘Oh, the character has to be made sympathetic, so the character is manipulated in different ways or changed in different ways'. And that’s a fundamental flaw of film criticism in a way, or storytelling criticism. Because to be able to identify the mechanism does not invalidate the mechanism”.
He further mentioned, “I’m thinking more of amateur criticism, because they feel they’ve identified the mechanism, they feel that it invalidates it. That can be true of certain elements, and film grammar, film language evolves with that. So when a trope becomes too familiar to an audience, then it has to be changed. But we do, as filmmakers, avail ourselves of that common language. We build on that understanding. Our audience has seen many films and they understand that language”.
The filmmaker recently directed ‘The Odyssey’. The film is based on the ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer. It follows the legendary journey of Odysseus as he struggles to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, facing mythical creatures, divine interventions and perilous challenges along the way.
Nolan blends large-scale spectacle, emotional depth and practical filmmaking techniques to the timeless tale in the film.
The film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson and Lupita Nyong'o.
The film has been shot using cutting-edge IMAX technology across multiple international locations.