"Digger" is the box office flop of the year

"Digger" is the movie flop of the year – and in all the best company Cultural history is full of misguided attempts to create masterpieces. Failure is part of the artist's risk. That's good! Those who want to watch one of the most ambitious films of the year fail gloriously must hurry, because "Digger" by Alejandro González Iñárritu probably won't stay in the cinema for much longer. The tone of the critics is almost unanimously devastating. Out of the 180 million dollars that the work cost, only 36 have been filmed. Warner Bros. Pictures is already tempting audiences with the slogan "You decide!" Indeed, in "Digger," hubris and an absolute will for a social critique masterpiece join hands to plunge into the abyss together. Astonishing and fascinating is how a director collapses under his ambitions here, to whom we owe magnificent films like "Birdman" or "The Revenant." And yet, the mockery that now falls upon Alejandro González Iñárritu is not fair. The path to the magnum opus is a narrow, smooth path. Few reach the goal. Iñárritu worked for ten years on his monumental tragedy of the downfall of a world about greed, power, and political failure, which should not have been less than "Dr. Strangelove." He succeeded in creating a spectacular ruin full of meta-layers and fall doors, grotesque twists, and absurd dialogues. Even Tom Cruise, John Goodman, and Sandra Hüller can hardly find their way here. What makes "Digger" an event nonetheless? The film reminds us that failure is part of art and that culture is full of unfortunate attempts to create masterpieces. Some are granted late recognition, others are probably beyond saving. You decide! Michael Cimino: "Heaven's Gate" "Digger" is not the only film that broke under unattainable demands. Michael Cimino also dared to create a magnum opus after receiving five Oscars and the blessing of Hollywood for "Deer Hunter" in 1978. For his new project, the epic anti-western "Heaven's Gate," the studio gave him free rein. A bet on Cimino's genius – and his manic perfectionism. He wanted to tear down and rebuild the scenery of a western town because the distances between the houses were too close to him. He waited for hours for the perfect angle of sunlight. He experimented with extras for weeks, dancing and driving carriages historically correctly. The first version lasted five and a half hours and horrified the studio bosses. Instead of a masterpiece, they saw a disaster. When "Heaven's Gate" came to the cinema in 1981, it had consumed 44 million dollars. The reviews were devastating, the audience stayed away. In the end, the film played for 3.5 million. Cimino never recovered from this fiasco. At least: Today, "Heaven's Gate" is considered a cult film among failed masterpieces. Frank Heer Mario Botta: Casinò di Campione No Swiss architect has failed so magnificently. The casino that Mario Botta built in the Italian enclave of Campione on Lake Lugano in 2007 defies every measure: 55,000 square meters, nine above-ground and three underground floors, a natural stone facade from Tuscany, 28 elevators, 500 slot machines – and 450 parking spaces. It is as if an orc has trampled into paradise. The 13 million Swiss francs building is the stone monument of hubris. The residents of Campione had lived for many decades under the golden blessing of the casino, which they wanted to reward with a magnificent building. In 2018, the fairy tale ended; within thirty minutes, bailiffs sealed the entrances. Mismanagement, corruption. Since 2022, the monster is receiving players again. Alone, one has no impression that the business is flourishing. And Mario Botta, he apparently curses himself today, having brought his own sense of grandeur into a fatal interplay with that of the community. Peer Teuwsen Goethe: "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" This thick volume is considered the ideal educational novel. But in the course of the arduous 650 pages, one must admit: the idea is better than the execution, and many have done it even better according to Goethe, describing the development of a person who gradually educates themselves "through the interplay of inner inclinations and external circumstances" and becomes an individual. Goethe carried the material with him for twenty years until the book was published in 1796. Wilhelm's life story offers little plot, much wandering in a strangely unplaceable world, some stereotypical figures, and much talk about ideas. Love is theorized; there is nothing to feel about the passion that pulses through Goethe's "Werther" novel. "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" was not a popular success, unlike "Werther." Goethe's literary associate Novalis considered it a "fatal and silly book." A concept is not yet a good novel – even if the author is Goethe. Martina Läubli Guns N’ Roses: "Chinese Democracy" The guitarist demanded a chicken coop. And because that was not a problem for the record company executives, a chicken coop was set up in the studio where the songs were to be recorded, as desired. Then the dog of Axl Rose, the singer, wandered through the coop – and jumped in. This act was not an annoyance, but a pleasant event for the guitarist, who called himself Buckethead and was known for a conspicuous hat, a kind of bucket. Buckethead insisted that the jump stay in the enclosure. He liked the smell. When a search team arrived days later, he became angry. This is how a representative of the record company later told. Yes, this is how questionable it was when the hard rock band Guns N’ Roses tried to record their album "Chinese Democracy" and preserve their fame from the late eighties. The chicken coop incident was just one of many escapades of a production process that got out of hand. The recordings began in 1998 and stretched over years, the costs went into the millions, musicians like Buckethead came and went, and the expectations of the unsuspecting public grew immeasurably. Only at the end of 2008 did a pathetic embarrassment and knot emerge. And above all, the feeling that the times of hairspray shock rock were finally passé. Linus Schöpfer Florentina Holzinger: "Seaworld Venice" When the Viennese choreographer Florentina Holzinger lets naked women climb the stage, the irritation in some is as great as the enthusiasm in others. Blood and other bodily fluids belong just as well as pain and violence. Her productions are considered a contemporary mixture of dance, performance, splatter, and stunts. Some are crude special effects, others celebrate the questioning of gender images through female self-empowerment. What works on stage in the sense of a spectacle of high and low shrinks to flatter acrobatics at the Venice Biennale. A naked woman hanging herself on a church bell rope, or a performer on the lagoon swinging through hooks in the flesh: This may inspire Tom Cruise for his next action film, but as a work of art, it remains banal. Gerhard Mack An article from the "NZZ am Sonntag"