His & Hers proves the value of word of mouth.
Donald Clarke
Much as we keyboard-thumpers like to think otherwise, strong reviews have only a modest effect on the performance of a motion picture. The figures show — if you are interested — that, whereas good notices have a pretty direct correlation with per-screen average, there is a fairly shaky connection between positive critical word and total takings. What this means is that reviews seem to boost interest in smaller films, but don’t really matter that much when it comes to blockbusters. The punter may pay attention to Maurice Snooty-Hack when choosing between Pierre Le Frou Frou’s Le Plume de Ma Tante and Moxie Woolyhat’s Stonewall Diary Redux. He or she does not, however, care too much about the critics’ view of Zebraman vs Mothra.
Go see His & Hers or we kill the kid’s hamster (not really).
The strong reviews go some way to explaining why Ken Wardrop’s His & Hers — a super documentary about being a mother in the midlands — managed to open relatively strongly a few weeks ago. But the fact that it has hung around so impressively must be attributed to a form of communication that Hollywood rarely considers these days: word of mouth. Just look at the top 10 in today’s soaraway Ticket. Nearly a month after it opened, His & Hers sits proudly at number five in the chart. Sex and the City 2 is currently eating its dust.
Last week, when I was chatting to (name drops with clunk) M Night Shyamalan, he reminisced about how the success of The Sixth Sense took them all by surprise. It opened to decent, but not ecstatic, reviews and respectable, but not spectacular, box-office returns. Word got around and — steadily, steadily, steadily — the film began building into a phenomenon. It seems odd that, in the time of the internet, the slow-burn so rarely defines cinematic success. You’d think that this would be the Age of Word of Mouth. But no. The studios continue to open their big films in a billion cinemas worldwide in the hope of raking in a fortune before everyone discovers how crummy they are. Indeed, current release practices seem calculated to reduce the effect of word of mouth.
At any rate, go to see His & Hers if you can.
I’m not dissagreeing with a word that’s been writen but I wonder if The Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity and Snakes on a Plane are examples of word of mouth, in the Internet age?
As you say though release schedules seem to be specifically designed to reduce the effect of word of mouth, by an large.
Well observed! Since its release I’ve seen the odd bit of publicity for His & Hers but to be honest i would have paid it very little attention if a friend of mine hadn’t explained the plot to me and expressed his own excitement to see it. A few weeks later while out with an entirely different group of people one of our number asked did any of us have any film suggestions and another friend, studying film, immediately chimed in with a volley of praise for His & Hers. I have since been to see it twice with friends and absolutely loved it but have yet to come across any reviews of it in Irish papers, though it is certainly remarked upon in other articles touching on recent Irish film.
His n Hers is the best Irish film i’ve seen in some time. Great to see it doing well in the midst of all the summer turds we get bombarded with.
Whoever captured that image captured something precious — happiness……….a child in between………. a pale pink rose……….and a ruby necklace………..no conceit……….but it’s the clearly defined line where the child’s chubby little cheek meets the left corner of her smile-in-progress that gets me right between the eyes.
If something is worth it (as His & Hers clearly is) then the word spreads like wildfire one way or another
Am I the only one who thought that this documentary painted a sad view of the midlands women? Defined solely by the men in their lives, they talk of their fathers, boyfriends, husbands, sons and are then left alone and without self definition when the men are gone. I wonder where the women who exist outside the domestic sphere were. They do exist, even if this film wanted us to think that they don’t. I’m not saying the film wasn’t touching and funny in parts, but why can’t the spectrum of women be shown? Why is their happiness measured only by the men in their lives?
ps………….she could be a little minx, though
Bridget. Though I may have given the wrong impression above, Wardrop did not intend the film to represent the “spectrum” of women in that area. He was attempting a portrait of one particular class of woman: one like his mother. He said this in my interview with him:
““I was ready to say: ‘It’s based on my mum’s life. So, forget the fact that, say, there’s no gay couple in it.’ I have tried to hone in on one particular story. The kitchens do all look the same. But I understand there is a richness beyond what I have created. I never wanted it be a comprehensive picture. Still, though I see it in terms of a template of my mum’s life, others do see it as a portrait of the Irish mammy. It’s a hard film to explain.”
Inception (the movie) seems like it’s pretty good (Screenwriter’s review, Ticket Friday 17th) but I suspect it might be a little unnerving/unsettling which is not a bad thing unless it’s Hollywood desperately trying to be trop avant-garde in a futuristic psychtastic kind of way……….’ll probably give it a miss since I hate anything even vaguely ‘matrixy’’ but would be very interested in seeing Rapt on account of the good word re Rapt from Screenwriter (Ticket, Friday 17th). Tell No One (2006) was quite thrilling and gripping……….my only gripe being that it seemed like le directeur (Guillaume Canet) was trying to be a little too Hollywood in a Dustin Hoffman deadpan cool as cucumber kind of way — but it worked in spite of that. I think what I have said here is that it’s ok for the French to be a little too American but not ok for Americans to be too French……….ridiculous
Attention Scénariste Monsieur Clarke! Je m’excuse, mais il faut écrire “la” plume de ma tante……….”le” plume de ma tante — ça n’existe pas
Hang on, do I sense an Exorcist reference? Plume de ma tante?
@9 Franchement, take the plank out of your own eye firstly!
Anyway, interesting point from Bridget @ 5. Some similar thoughts did cross my mind when I watched it. However, given that this film is focused on a specific theme, that it is so heavily edited, and that each interviewee has such little screen time, I think that it is rather rash to draw such in-depth conclusions from the work such as “defined soley by men” and “without self definition when the men are gone”. Look, you could show 5 different people 5 different 2-minute clips from the same personal interview and they would all then arrive at different conclusions as to what that person’s life was about!
Also, one of the advantages of filming all of the subjects at home (apart from the obvious convenience of it as a meeting point) is that it visually enhances the segues that this work thrives on.
Bridget, it is interesting though that you imply that these women have no lives outside of the domestic sphere. Why would you automatically presume such a thing?!
Well noted, Donald. The release will be studied closely as a possible model for other Irish titles. H&H went ‘wider’ from 10 to 15 sites and much of its success was built in the broad ‘midlands’ area in part-time film exhibition venues and the Cinemobile, rather than conventional cinema screenings. Also notable that all the Dublin ‘arthouse’ venues took it on at the same time. They’ve previously been reluctant to do that. It has also gained from soft competition up to the weekend before last. Mind you, the SATC2 ‘dust’ you refer to tots up to approx €3.25m in the Republic so far. It’s the palpable hit of the Summer to date, despite all the desparaging notices.
@ 12 — Yes but the mob……….er the mainstream cinema-going public probably went to see that sic2 horror movie BECAUSE of the disparaging notices and the figures only prove that a lot of people throw a lot of money away on thrash — what else is nouveau. Anyway truth is not only much stranger but also much more interesting than fiction and if you can capture that in a movie format which people find irresistibly appealing they you are on to a winner. I think this director (Ken Wardrop) is on to the next best thing
ps Can’t believe I googled Maurice Snooty-Hack…
Interesting blog topic Donald; myself and ‘un Amie’ (well everyone else seems to be at it!) were only discussing same in one of Dublin’s premiere hostelries at the weekend.
I think the main reason for the takings difference between professional critics v word of mouth is because fans of ‘cinema’, in its fullest, broadest sense tend to have a level of interest can that can benefit from the multi-levelled breakdown you come to expect from a detailed, professional review e.g. one that features a rich plot synopsis, analysis of the director, why the genre’s getting jaded etc. I think the majority of people (well a fair few I know anyway) who like their cinema going to be mainly of the sit back, relax and munch the popcorn variety put more faith in the word of mouth because they consider the professional take to be preaching and elitist. Unfair I know, but it’s a response I’ve gotten a number of times when I’ve mentioned a line from a review here and there.
As regards the wonderful success His & Hers, it seems to me to have acquired the benevolent effects of honest well wishing more than any other domestic film I’ve seen (barring the Jordan/Sheridan super epics). It really is the little film that could and I don’t in the slightest mean that in a patronising sense. During the Q&A session which followed the IFI premiere, Wardrop and co pleaded with us to spread the word because they so badly needed the returns. Looks like It worked.
And for the record, I loved Le Plume de Ma Tante.
@14 prepare yourself for a spellcheck…comin’ your way any time soon!
Bridget @ 5, no, you weren’t the only one to think that. This particular miseryguts found the visual style, (intentionally?), acted as a counterpoint to what I had, (perhaps erroneously) presumed to be a benign celebration of ‘ordinary life’, (whatever that means).
The majority of the women interviewed are framed in the extremities of either vertical margin and the remaining depopulated spaces threaten to turn homes into deserts. Most other occasions they go about their domestic rituals hemmed in by doorways, forever on a threshold or arrested in seeming ascent on stairways. The soft light thrown from the windows shifted from a Vermeer-like beatific illumination to the cold, interrogatory glare artificially cast by Kubrick in a simulation of snow-bounced sunshine in ‘The Shining’. Hallways were bent into the occult and ominous perspectives hinted at by the corridors of the Overlook hotel.
The tar-black clod I hesitate to call my heart almost crumbled with the shot of the young one, first raking leaves in the back garden, (Daddy always gives them jobs to do, you see), then she discovers a ball and begins kicking it about the lawn. The concluding scene, (and I won’t reveal it, for those who haven’t yet seen it), I thought so desolate that it could have been filmed by Ulrich Seidl lurking about outside among the Leyandii.
But sure, as JD has suggested, anything could mean anything and I am probably rather flamboyantly and melodramatically codding myself, as usual. I should really have properly put away childish things by now. Time for a spot of ironing.
@10 — you’re not wrong Conor — that yoke that was talking through Regan in The Exorcist said something that sounded like “le” plume de ma tante, which only goes to prove you can’t get proper French lessons in Hell
Yes the doorway as a…ermm…frame for the shot and God knows what else is a common motif in moderen fillum… one only has to consider Rainer Werner Fassbinder Jacques Tourneur or Carl Theodor Dreyer…I would go on but I’m boring myself…
Forsooth, a mocking, sardonic, acerbic, mordant, derisive — altogether sarcastic review of His & Hers by Nam — v(erm)eering on a sneer — but what else to expect from a self-proclaimed black-hearted sarcophagus-dweller who only raises the lid occasionally (as he more or less intimated previously) — to get some phlegm off his chest?
(ok, it was EXTREMELY witty)
[btw @ 14 -- can't resist -- un ami (masc.) -- une amie (fem.)]
Went to see His & Hers last week or the week before with my oldest before she went off on holidays. We turned up well in time at Dundrum cinema to buy our tickets shoulda booked online was sold out every seat so we went to see Shrek 3 brilliant except the 3D glasses I got (about the tenth pair I’ve paid for) had a burry plastic seam annoyed the bridge of my nose. Absolutely want to see His & Hers. Hopefully not in 3D altho’ you could argue every Irishman gets to see it in 3D for o about 70 years of his life if he lives that long.
Xx @ 19, you’re very nearly there, except that whatever mockery or derision inhabiting my last comment is directed only towards my ridiculous self, not Mr. Wardrop’s fine film.
I have to say Elastic Man’s comments made me want to go and see His & Hers even more. Which I will as soon as my oldest comes back from her holliers in Spain. If she ever comes back seems to be having way too good a time there ah no I’m only joking no such thing as way too good a time.
ctually he gets to see it in 4-D. The fourth being of course time.