HABISTAT REVIEWS:
Why I aim for Focus Features
On November 7, 2014, film production and distribution company, Focus Features, will be releasing the pseudo-biographical love story of Stephen Hawking, “The Theory of Everything.” Focus Features, who normally produce and release around five movies per year, have recently seen success with their latest animated release, “The Boxtrolls,” earning #3 in the box office. However, Focus normally saves its best movies for last at the end of the year, right around Oscar season as they did last year with their highly acclaimed and multi-academy award winner, “Dallas Buyers Club”. If you have yet to see a Focus Features film (or rather don’t associate movies to their producing company) then I recommend watching “Dallas Buyers Club,” to get an idea of what makes Focus Features films a Focus Features film.
Distinctly, each Focus Features film is laced with an air of perilous ambition; in other words, they stay true and committed to depicting sincere stories that are not always as flashy to the popular audience. Nevertheless, each film is bold in displaying distinct topics and ideas that other movie franchises run away from. Mathew McConaughey won an Oscar for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club”, playing the real-life Ron Woodroof, a self-destructive electrician in the 1980s who discovers after being diagnosed with AIDS that he has less than one month to live. In this day and age, there was little research about treatment for AIDS in America. Out of desperation, Woodroof goes to Mexico to seek treatment and later comes up with the idea of selling this medication in the U.S. After meeting Rayon, a transgendered male with connections to many people in the gay community diagnosed with AIDS (played by Jared Leto who also won an Oscar for this role), the two form a club (hence the title) to distribute these meds against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Whereas much of the specific details of the movie are fabricated, the main story of Ron Woodroof selling AIDS medication in the U.S and getting in a legal fight with the FDA is true.
This is typical of Focus Features to take a story and write a captivating plotline that emphasizes the magnitude of an idea, theme, or belief. The bitter struggle of people accepting homosexuality, for example, is a fundamental theme embedded in many Focus Features films. Though other movie companies have made movies surrounding this theme, Focus Features unabashedly takes people out of their comfort zones. Take “Brokeback Mountain”, (2005: winner of three of the seven academy awards it was nominated for), the story of two married men (played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger) who become attracted to each other and deceptively plan fishing trips to aid in their physical affair. This movie epitomizes the grueling conflict people who are homosexual face in society.
This is just one of the plethora of themes that has been the prime focus of these movies. For me, I sympathize with the father element in “The Place Beyond the Pines”, but some people may respond more to the feeling of human connection as demonstrated in “Lost in Translation”. Many movie companies have been around for almost 7 decades, whereas Focus Features has been around for merely 14 years. In its short lifespan, Focus Features has directed its focus (pun intended) towards simultaneously provoking and enriching people with their enduring films.
On November 7, 2014, film production and distribution company, Focus Features, will be releasing the pseudo-biographical love story of Stephen Hawking, “The Theory of Everything.” Focus Features, who normally produce and release around five movies per year, have recently seen success with their latest animated release, “The Boxtrolls,” earning #3 in the box office. However, Focus normally saves its best movies for last at the end of the year, right around Oscar season as they did last year with their highly acclaimed and multi-academy award winner, “Dallas Buyers Club”. If you have yet to see a Focus Features film (or rather don’t associate movies to their producing company) then I recommend watching “Dallas Buyers Club,” to get an idea of what makes Focus Features films a Focus Features film.
Distinctly, each Focus Features film is laced with an air of perilous ambition; in other words, they stay true and committed to depicting sincere stories that are not always as flashy to the popular audience. Nevertheless, each film is bold in displaying distinct topics and ideas that other movie franchises run away from. Mathew McConaughey won an Oscar for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club”, playing the real-life Ron Woodroof, a self-destructive electrician in the 1980s who discovers after being diagnosed with AIDS that he has less than one month to live. In this day and age, there was little research about treatment for AIDS in America. Out of desperation, Woodroof goes to Mexico to seek treatment and later comes up with the idea of selling this medication in the U.S. After meeting Rayon, a transgendered male with connections to many people in the gay community diagnosed with AIDS (played by Jared Leto who also won an Oscar for this role), the two form a club (hence the title) to distribute these meds against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Whereas much of the specific details of the movie are fabricated, the main story of Ron Woodroof selling AIDS medication in the U.S and getting in a legal fight with the FDA is true.
This is typical of Focus Features to take a story and write a captivating plotline that emphasizes the magnitude of an idea, theme, or belief. The bitter struggle of people accepting homosexuality, for example, is a fundamental theme embedded in many Focus Features films. Though other movie companies have made movies surrounding this theme, Focus Features unabashedly takes people out of their comfort zones. Take “Brokeback Mountain”, (2005: winner of three of the seven academy awards it was nominated for), the story of two married men (played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger) who become attracted to each other and deceptively plan fishing trips to aid in their physical affair. This movie epitomizes the grueling conflict people who are homosexual face in society.
This is just one of the plethora of themes that has been the prime focus of these movies. For me, I sympathize with the father element in “The Place Beyond the Pines”, but some people may respond more to the feeling of human connection as demonstrated in “Lost in Translation”. Many movie companies have been around for almost 7 decades, whereas Focus Features has been around for merely 14 years. In its short lifespan, Focus Features has directed its focus (pun intended) towards simultaneously provoking and enriching people with their enduring films.