The 23rd

In the past couple weeks I've seen quite a few movies. Two in particular piqued my interest as a study in contrasts.

Both films deal with the death of a woman. Film 1 proceeds as a courtroom procedural, wherein an attorney seeks to bring a known killer to justice. Film 2 proceeds as a mosaic and examines the lives that are affected by the dead woman. The actors of Film 1 are bigger stars than those of Film 2, but both films feature easily recognizable performers. The director of Film 1 has previously made more well-known films than the director of Film 2, although neither is in any way an household name.

Still, what is more interesting than the actors in each film or even the approaches the films take, although that could be dissected at length, is the startling difference of the films post-release.

Film 1 received generally favorable reviews, with most of the praise going to the actors. This is understandable given that it featured actors who have combined for 6 Oscar nominations, with 1 win. Personally, I found the performances to be overpraised, but still the strongest part of the otherwise pedestrian film. It opened in over 2,000 theaters and grossed about $39 million in the US. You've no doubt heard of it, quite possibly seen it, and there's a decent chance you'll consider picking it up next time you're at Blockbuster.

Film 2 received generally favorable reviews, with most of the praise going to the actors. This is understandable given that it featured actors who have combined for 8 Oscar nominations, with 2 wins. Personally, I found the performances to be worthy of the praise given and the film far superior to Film 1. It opened in 2 theaters and grossed about $19,000 in the US. You've probably never heard of it, haven't seen it, and there's a decent chance you won't even find it next time you're at Blockbuster.

But the contrast I found most interesting is an incredibly simple one. If I told you that one film primarily featured male actors and the other film primarily featured female actors, would you have difficulty guessing which film was which?