OPINION: The X-factor

I’ve seen a lot of movies. From the weekly releases to the festival favorites to the backlog of cinema history, I’ve seen far too many.

Because of this, I find myself subconsciously comparing movies to each other in the middle of watching them. For example, a few weeks ago I watched “Strange Darling,” a thriller which plucks on themes of gender dynamics through a female serial killer preying on arrogant men.

Yet, as I was watching, my mind drifted to the much better “Promising Young Woman,” which had felt exciting while dealing with similar features as “Strange Darling.” What was missing?

What truly makes a movie unique? Are there hidden elements which make a movie better than others? Especially while occupying similar genres? I’d argue yes, and it’s what I like to call the “X-factor.”

The X-factor is a way of describing a movie’s breakout features, how different it is compared to the rest of the market. It could be how a movie looks, the themes it deals with, the manner it goes about dealing with potentially controversial subjects or anything else. It’s what typically allows for a movie to stand out among its peers.

My favorite movies are all about X-factor. “Swiss Army Man,” a ridiculous buddy comedy where one of the buddies is a farting corpse, is built entirely around X-factor. It’s taboo, palette-destroying, but earnest and sweet. There is nothing like it.

X-factor isn’t just how wacky or weird you can make a movie, it applies to any well-realized concept. I’d argue that a film series like “Lord of the Rings” or “Harry Potter” is dripping with X-factor based entirely around the large-scale requirement of producing a series like it. Dedicating as much production value to the look and world of the movies uses the exorbitant budget in a calculated way, and both series has since reaped critical praise and financial rewards in the time since.

Musicals are often the easiest movies to spot the X-factor, often because they rely so intensely on sensory experiences through colorful visuals and choreography and auditorial performance. Take “La La Land,” produced at a time when original musicals were almost always dead in the water, yet found success through a precision of concept which called back to the musicals of classical Hollywood.

Film history has seen over a century of period pieces, disasters, fantasies, wars, coming-of-ages, sci-fis, romances, thrillers, comedies, horrors and dramas. On the conceptual level, how can a movie stand out when it has to fight against history?

What’s been more frustrating is seeing when the industry releases something with plenty of X-factor, sows financial rewards and proceeds to release as many imitators as possible. A point to superhero movies feels obvious but looking at horror movies post-Blumhouse might be the best microcosm of this concept. Think of how many mob movies were made after ”The Godfather.”

It’s also not to say a movie needs X-factor to be good, but it does often elevate a movie to exceptional heights by its presence alone. In my mind, the X-factor is what makes a movie memorable.

I also wish to clear up is how I don’t think the X-factor has anything to do with “style.” It’s the biggest trap filmgoers can fall into, especially in regards to popular directors. “Argylle,” a flashy but convoluted action thriller directed by Matthew Vaughn has all of his stylistic tendencies, such as colorful and over-the-top action choreography, but lacks anything to emotionally attach to. Style is not substance.

So, where is X-factor found? I think it’s easy to look at the foreign film market for the best examples, especially with cultural differences. “Parasite” is great for exemplifying X-factor as a heist comedy thriller which underscores its concept and script with a frustration of economic inequality. Or the recent “Anatomy of a Fall,” which uses its court procedural drama to make points about the depiction of reality through testimony and storytelling.

It’s rarely found in remakes and sequels, where an original idea has to be strung up again for another round. Sometimes it still kicks, but more often than not it’s only a bankrupt reminder of what came before.

Simply put, the X-factor is how unique and realized a movie’s basic concept is, and how well does this concept provide entertainment value to package a deeper and sometimes universal idea.