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This group is dedicated to discussing film as art
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15301
From: jaketwilson
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 5:50pm
Subject: What's so bad about feeling good?
> I agree, especially about Playtime. I'd add Liliom and Homework to
> that. Also Kafka's novel Amerika (because of the last chapter, even
> though the novel is incomplete) but not Straub/Huillet's film
version
> of it, Class Relations, which fails as hope (unlike most of their
> films).
>
> Lost in Translation, anything by the Andersons, Sun Shines Bright
> (but not all of Ford), Fahrenheit 9/11, Life is Beautiful, and in a
> pinch Oh! I've made another list instead of a qualification...well
> an affirmation of "life" (if you consider it living) beyond the
> trials and tribulations (cliched)...maintainance of order,
> established like a shot. In feel good movies there's usually a
moment
> when offscreen space is treated stoically yet superficially.
A modest proposal, suggested partly by the above examples, both
positive and negative: a particular cinematic ¡§feelgood effect¡¨
kicks in whenever our pleasure as viewers is bound up with sharing
the joy or happiness experienced by characters on screen. Musicals in
particular often rely on this: I¡¦m hard put to think of a successful
musical that doesn¡¦t contain sequences devoted to the expression of
euphoria. In memory at least, some (e.g. ON THE TOWN) contain little
else. Even PLAYTIME, where character psychology barely exists, would
surely fall flat if the citizens of Tativille remained glum and rigid
to the end. ¡§Feelgood¡¨ sequences in this sense aren¡¦t confined to
what we might call feelgood movies, since plots can also move in the
other direction, from an idyll to harsh reality -- e.g. SUMMER WITH
MONIKA, or even LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL up to a point. Again, I don't think
these movies work if we don't participate imaginatively in the
characters' happiness to begin with.
Earlier discussions on this list have revealed profound disagreements
about the link or break between aesthetics and empathy with fictional
characters (never mind ¡§identification¡¨). Coincidentally, a few
hours ago I went and saw THE LAST LAUGH, which ruthlessly parodies
the kind of ¡§feelgood¡¨ storytelling Adam described in an earlier
post. Films like that one or LE BONHEUR, which make deliberately
unsettling use of ¡§feelgood¡¨ devices, are interesting here, because
they force us to think more precisely about why we accept or reject
the invitation to imagine that good fortune is our own. It could be
said that some films create aesthetically pleasing representations of
happiness while others merely dangle it like a carrot, but that begs
the question, or at least forces the word ¡§aesthetic¡¨ to do more
work than it can manage by itself.
Often when so-called ¡§feelgood¡¨ films are attacked, I get the
feeling that the basis of the criticism is a moral stance, explicit
or otherwise: the filmmaker is accused of being manipulative, or
dishonest, or narcissistic, words which carry a certain moral weight
even when used by avowedly ¡§pure¡¨ aesthetes. I've talked this way
myself about films I didn't like, but it's tricky, as once the claim
becomes ¡§my pleasure is more noble than your pleasure¡¨ the spiral is
never-ending. Say someone likes a film because it makes them feel
superior. Don¡¦t we like feeling superior too? Or are we too good for
that?
JTW
15302
From: hotlove666
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 6:35pm
Subject: Parade
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, ptonguette@a... wrote:
> Andy Rector wrote:
>
> I don't know if I would make the case that "Parade" is a greater
film than
> "Playtime," but I can speak to my personal response: I love it just
as much and
> sometimes a bit more.
Daney told me he regretted not writing on Parade because of the
magazine's exclusively political focus at the time. He had seen Tati
on stage as a child, and was moved by the "No Age for Rhythm" number.
15303
From: hotlove666
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 6:38pm
Subject: Re: Brown Bunny, our groiup, and politics (OT)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, ptonguette@a... wrote:
"I think Shakespeare was
> greatly preoccupied, as I am in my humble way, with the loss of
innocence. And I
> think there has always been an England, an older England, which was
sweeter and
> purer
He told Bazin the same thing in '58 -- that's the passage that
enabled me to understand the nostalgic aspect of his political
engagement in Brazil. Capitalism, Marx said, is constantly destroying
the very values it creates. That's where the nostalgia of leftists
comes in.
15304
From: hotlove666
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 6:41pm
Subject: Re: Jost, etc
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "thebradstevens"
wrote:
> "He de-politicises Capra, too, but so does everyone else."
>
> I've never quite understood why so many people insist that Carney
de-
> politicises the filmmakers he writes about. His attacks on
formalist
> approaches can certainly be subjected to criticism, but not to the
> criticism that they reject politics. Here's what he says in the
Capra
> book:
>
> "Ed Meese's or Ronald Reagan's implicit belief that whereas
politics
> is serious business, art is a frivolous game played by sissies in
> which nothing is really at stake and in which nothing that matters
is
> actually affirmed or denied, ironically meets contemporary
> deconstructionist efforts to insulate the text within the hermetic
> boundaries of its own margin of textuality and the attempts of
> formalist and most genre critics of film to treat the text as
> existing within a self-contained artistic realm of self-referential
> signification".
That's not the kind of political comment I was thinking about. I LIKE
the politics of Capra's films, which have nothing to do with
deconstruction and everything to do with economics.
15305
From: Ruy Gardnier
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 6:49pm
Subject: Re: Syberberg (and Maddin's Heart of the World)
> Personally, I'm less down on German Romanticism than a lot of recent
> graduates, perhaps because the Romantic revival was just starting to
> explode in American universities when I came along. I should also
> note, for what it's worth, that the Straubs have been filming
> Holderlin's works, and that Holderlin, as far as I know, was a
> communist. Zizek has also done a fairly recent book on German
> Romantic philosophy that is far from negative.
You'd like to check Jacques Taminiaux's "Le Thêatre des philosophes",
accounting on how romantic german philosophers viewed and commented on greek
tragedy, Plato's refusal, etc. VERY VERY good. By reading it, you also get
great lessons on Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger...
> To some extent the problem he has enunciated -- I await with some
> apprehension the quotes proving that he has since lost his mind -- is
> not all that different from the problem confronting Derrida vis a vis
> Heidegger, who was a Nazi and sounded National Socialist themes -- or
> something very like them -- in his most important works. I only
> understand a litle of Heidegger, but what I've gleaned so far is
> pretty cherce, so I'm going to wait till I understand more before I
> decide to throw the baby out with the bath water.
The best account on Heidegger's nazism by a heideggerian that I have read
(not that I've read all) is Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe's "La Fiction du
politique". There's a chapter on Syberberg's "Hitler" in it.
The best by a Heidegger-loather is "The narrative reason" by Jean-Pierre
Faye.
15306
From: hotlove666
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 7:01pm
Subject: Re: Welles' nostalgia (was: Brown Bunny...)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "jaketwilson"
wrote:
> commentators of both left and right have seen the cinema itself as
> the epitome of alienating, mechanical inauthenticity, and I have to
> wonder if Welles (and maybe other filmmakers of his generation)
felt
> conflicted for this reason about the principal medium he worked in -
-
> a bit like Eugene Morgan's relation to the motorcar in THE
> MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. >
Yes and no. In a paper on the Shakespeare films that I presented at a
Venice conference I quoted extensively from Welles' introduction to
the Everybody's Shakespeare volumes, which traces the decline of
drana thru the change in the form of the stage, from the Globe in the
round to the modern proscenium stage. The next step in the decline is
clearly film, and I concluded that Welles' attitude was paradoxical:
Everything he does in film is based on his awareness that it is an
alienating medium, but his response to the devolution that produced
that alienation is not a return to simplicity, as the Everybody's
Shakespeare introduction seems to imply, but baroque excess -- in his
stage productions as well as his films.
The paradoxes in his thought closely parallel the writings of Bazin
on filmed theatre in many respects. Bazin was also concerned with how
to recover what Northrop Frye would call the "radical of
presentation" of live theatre in film (co-presence of cahracters and
audience, absence of author).* The key Welles film for this is
Macbeth, and the key scene (which is on the cover of Bazin's Film and
the Other Arts volume) is the Banquo scene.
Welles' highly "visible"
> stylistic rhetoric, and his use of voiceover, often suggest a kind
of
> direct address to the viewer; the pathos of this could be seen as
> bound up with a quixotic attempt to re-establish the immediate
> contact between artist and audience which is present in theatre or
> oral storytelling, but which cinema necessarily lacks.
I also wrote on this subject in "Welles, Television and the Essay
Film," printed in the catalogue of the AFI's Video and Television
Festival years ago, and reprinted in German in a collection on essay
films. The "radical of presentation" of epos, the art of the
storyteller, is audience and author co-present, characters absent.
The essay film, which is the other strand of Welles' oeivre, is an
attempt to recreate that existential situation on film, for which he
first looked to tv before giving up on it as a medium that addresses
no one and making F for Fake and Filming Othello for showing in
multiplexes. His remarks about the essay film scattered throughout
our interview in CdC's Orson Welles book and Stefan Droessler's The
Unknown Welles all speak to these issues.
*Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism ("Theory of Modes").
15307
From: peckinpah20012000
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 10:36pm
Subject: Re: The Movies That Are Worth Seeing (ie. The Basics,no particular order)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "thebradstevens"
wrote:
> "where can one now see OUT ONE: SPECTRE"
>
> The 13-hour version (which is simply called OUT 1) has played on
> Italian, German and French television within the last few years.
This is not suprising. As we both know, the fallen British
television system would never do that. Five years ago when the
abbreviated part of Louis Malle's INDIA was screened on BB2, the
announcer mentioned that they days were long gone when British
television would dare screen the full version.
Tony Williams
15308
From: Adrian Martin
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 11:46pm
Subject: Heidegger & co.
Picking up on Ruy's helpful references: any A FILM BY members around the
world interested in all these issues around German Romanticism and its
complex legacy should definitely look out for the remarkable Australian
essay-film (on video) called THE ISTER (2004) directed by David Barison &
Daniel Ross. 3 hours long, it addresses Holderlin's poetry (his cycle called
'The Ister") and Heidegger's commentary on it, via a history of the Danube -
and it contains extensive interviews with Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-Luc Nancy,
Bernard Stieger, and ... Hans-Jurgen Syberberg himself!!
Thanks, Ruy, for the reference to Jacques Taminiaux's LA THEATRE DES
PHILOSOPHES - I'll chase it up.
15309
From: Frederick M. Veith
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 0:21am
Subject: Re: Heidegger & co.
A small, hopefully not too pedantic, correction to Adrian's post: The
Ister is a single 72 line poem, not a cycle.
Fred.
On Thu, 9 Sep 2004, Adrian Martin wrote:
> Daniel Ross. 3 hours long, it addresses Holderlin's poetry (his cycle called
> 'The Ister") and Heidegger's commentary on it, via a history of the Danube -
15310
From: Adrian Martin
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 1:34am
Subject: re: Heidegger & co.
That's not pedantic at all, Fred! Thanks for the exactitude! PS: I also
misspelt Stiegler!
BTW, an excerpt from THE ISTER (featuring Stiegler) is in the current issue
of ROUGE (www.rouge.com.au).
Adrian
15311
From:
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 9:33pm
Subject: Re: Maddin's Heart of the World
Put a little note on my web site, trying to identify as many influences in
Maddin's short film as possible:
http://members.aol.com/MG4273/maddin.htm
This film seems to amaze everyone who sees it!
By the way, Lang did not just influence people like Hitchcock, Eisenstein and
the film noir creators. Just saw "Il Posto" (Ermanno Olmi, 1961). In an
interview on the DVD, Olmi talks about how much he loved seeing Siegfried and the
Dragon when he was a small child. So Lang inspired at least one neo-realist,
too.
Mike Grost
15312
From: Matthew Clayfield
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 3:27am
Subject: Re: Heidegger & co.
"any A FILM BY members around the world [. . .] should definitely
look out for the remarkable Australian essay-film (on video) called
THE ISTER (2004)..."
And if you're unable to catch a festival screening of "The Ister"
[which, as Adrian says, truly *is* a remarkable picture], Barison
and Ross are going to be making NTSC and PAL DVD copies of the film
available later this year through their website:
http://www.theister.com/dvd.html
[It's definitely worth seeing on the big screen if you get a chance
though; the website has a helpful calendar/list of upcoming
sceenings.]
15313
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 4:25am
Subject: Re: Syberberg (and Maddin's Heart of the World)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "hotlove666"
wrote:
> Just sticking to literature, I don't see any fundamental
differences
> between German and British Romantic poetry, for example. And I'm
not
> ready to give up Blake, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Coleridge (so
> German, Coleridge!), Byron, Browning, Tennyson, Pater, Wilde,
> Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, Stevens, Crane, Ashbery or Ammons, so I
> can't blame H-JS for clinging to Holderlin or even Wagner.
>
Actually I like Wagner's music. When I wrote that "some Romantic
values are questionable," I didn't mean to reject Romantic
art. Instead, I would think all values are open to question, and in
particular what I wanted to question were some of the ideas
in Syberberg's Hitler film: the primacy of the aesthetic and the
idealist approach to history -- especially the almost complete
absence of (pre-1970's) economics and politics, and notably
the absence of the Holocaust. I'm also suspicious of attempts
to define ethnic or national traits -- of Germanism.
Stephen Brockmann's essay in the German Review commented on how
despite the enthusiastic reception "Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland"
received outside of Germany, it was mainly dismissed within Germany,
and the 1979 NBC TV series, "Holocaust," had a much deeper
effect on German audiences, since despite the TV series' limitations,
it put "Jewish suffering at its center" -- whereas Syberberg "shied
away from the presentation of any kind of reality, even in a
fictional form. Whereas 'Holocaust' was immediately accessible to a
general American or German audience, 'Hitler' resonated with a vast
array of material gleaned from German high and low culture,
past and present, and therefore demanded -- indeed, could hardly be
understood or even endured without -- expert interpretation."
> To some extent the problem he has enunciated -- I await with some
> apprehension the quotes proving that he has since lost his mind --
is
> not all that different from the problem confronting Derrida
vis-à-vis
> Heidegger, who was a Nazi and sounded National Socialist themes --
or
> something very like them -- in his most important works. I only
> understand a little of Heidegger, but what I've gleaned so far is
> pretty cherce, so I'm going to wait till I understand more before I
> decide to throw the baby out with the bath water.
I wouldn't say "he has since lost his mind," since, at least
according
to the articles I've read, these have been his views all along, and
they are widely shared. Brockmann notes that Syberberg is eccentric
and that he sees himself in the role of Parsifal, "the holy fool,"
but he argues that that "Syberberg matters." Brockmann writes,
"The fact that he has explicitly defended and associated himself
with the new German conservatism that has emerged since 1989/90,
and in turn been recognized as an important thinker by his
fellow conservatives, underlines his importance. In his successful
portrayal and positioning of himself as an outsider in
contemporary German life, he not only prefigures the larger
conservative attack on excessive uniformity and "political
correctness" in postwar German discourse, but also continues a
tradition that dates back to Nietzsche's Unzeitgemässe
Betrachtungen
and Thomas Mann's Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen, as well as
to the spirit of the 'Conservative Revolutionaries' of the
Weimar Republic, all of whom also portrayed themselves as
nonconformists in a world of cultural regimentation and
homogenization."
Brockmann also discusses Syberberg's associations with postmodernism,
Anton Kaes in "From Hitler to Heimat: The Return of History as Film"
lists four links between Syberberg and postmodernism: "the
rejection of narrativity, the specularization of history, the
proliferation of perspectives, and the affirmation of nostalgia."
Incidentally, a few months ago I mentioned Jean-Luc Godard's
friendship with the late François Furet, who had some associations
with Ernst Nolte and the German New Right. I'm curious
about that friendship. Godard did discuss it briefly in the book by
Youssef Ishaghpour.
>
> I just had my mind blown by several viewings of Guy Maddin's Heart
of
> the World, the 2000 short that melds Lang and Eisenstein in a
single
> mad rush for Kino glory. I'm not sure that the operation Maddin is
> performing in that masterpiece is worlds apart from H-JS's Hitler
> film, because the Eisenstein part is mostly out of Ivan and the
Lang
> part, Metropolis -- two films deeply implicated in the national and
> political ideologies of monstrous totalitarian regimes.
As I've noted before, I don't consider the two states equivalent.
I'll also opine that I wouldn't consider Nazi Germany totalitarian,
though I'm not sure if I'm being pedantic or making a useful point.
Hans Mommsen wrote in Kershaw's "The Nazi Dictatorship", "The
totalitarianism theory is the myth which stands in the way of
any real social historical explanation of Nazism." The totalitarian
model, among other faults, ignores the relative independence of the
military and big business, the factions within the National
Socialist Party (Heidegger vs. Rosenberg, for example), the
widespread popularity of, and complicity with, the regime, as
well as the existence of significant resistance throughout
the 1930's. It's also been said that the totalitarian model allowed
the German elite to present themselves as victims of the Nazi regime
rather than as its beneficiaries. I'll quote Mathias Bröckers,
"In 1964 Hannah Arendt supplied the required explanation
[in the form] of her theory of 'banality of evil'...
The responsibility for Nazi terror did not lie with the
abject character and morals of the Germans, but
with their having been enlisted in the totalitarian bureaucratic
apparatus. Stereotypes of the 'desk criminal' who signs with
equanimity orders of murder and deportation, and of a 'book-keeper
mentality' of underlings ensconced in their routines -—
these stereotypes made a career as explanatory models and
in this fashion the evildoer and the ugly German disappeared ...
This explains the lasting popularity of Arendt's thesis in
Germany; elsewhere hardly anyone took this banality nonsense
seriously because evil is never banal."
As an alternative to totalitarian theories of Nazism and to Marxist
theories, as well as to Germanist theories like Syberberg's,
you might be interested in this article by Wolfgang Sauer,
"National Socialism: Totalitarianism or Fascism?"
http://66.108.51.239/sauer.pdf
15314
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 4:19am
Subject: Re: Maddin's Heart of the World
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, MG4273@a... wrote:
Lang influenced Bunuel too -- Destiny was his "Eureka" film. He was
as nervous as a schoolboy meeting his hero when he met Lang in H'wd
in the 70s.
15315
From: Noel Vera
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 5:12am
Subject: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al
> Altman's wonderful "Popeye"
Couldn't help spotting this. As a shameless purveyor of the
disreputable genre of comic-book movies, this is perhaps my second-
favorite example, and screw Peter Parker's hormonal angst.
15316
From: Noel Vera
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 5:25am
Subject: OT: Pale Fire, Re: "How do I know which movies are worth seeing" (was Ozon)
> Nabokov follwoing the salacious Lolita, which mad him a best-
seller,
> with Pale Fire was a bit like Bunuel sticking it to the raincoat
> brigade by following Belle de Jour with The Milky Way.
True, but the prurient portions, beautifully written they may be
(that apple striking the palm with a polished plop!) keep taking the
backseat to the love story. Which seems relegated, like a forgotten
raincoat, to one corner of the baggage compartment for most of the
novel, or that's the way Nabokov intended it; actually, it's the only
thing we take away after reading the whole thing.
It's so unutterably sad--Humbert harping on his great obsession when
the truth of the matter is that they're like two hunted criminals
stuck with each other in a noir nightmare, their only real bond being
this unholy thing between them; Lolita's attempts to escape him are
really attempts to have a normal life. And the only reason why
Humbert loves Lolita is because she's the only nymphet who has really
hurt him--sexually precocious allure is a good basis as any for
sexual obsession, but there's nothing like suffering to give root to
love.
Kubrick could only sketch and make it obvious in the film
(that "Lolita" theme music is a dead giveaway--but he needed that
theme, I think otherwise there's just too few clues as to Humbert's
true state of mind).
15317
From:
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 2:33am
Subject: Re: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al
I love Altman's "Popeye," Noel, and vastly prefer Lester's "Superman II" to
what I took to be its pale imitation, Raimi's "Spider-Man 2." Lester said
somewhere that he wasn't a comic book fan, and that he wished they'd - whoever
"they" may be - let Resnais do one instead, but maybe that's why his two
"Superman" films are so darn good. In not going for the obvious, he brings to the
fore the dimensions which interest him - in "2," the Lois/Clark romance; in "3,"
Superman/Clark's internal conflict.
But Altman's evocation of the town in "Popeye" surely merits placement
alongside the L.A. of "The Long Goodbye" and the ice age of "Quintet" in great
Altman locations.
Peter
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
15318
From:
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 3:27am
Subject: Re: Syberberg
Once again, the idea that the Syberberg's analysis of German culture is taken
"seriously" floors me.
German Romanticicism was NOT the creation of non-Jewish Germans. It was the
product of German Jews and non-Jews working TOGETHER. Key contributors to
romantic era culture, such as Heinrich Heine, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Felix
Mendelssohn, were German Jews.
There IS no German culture created exclusively by non-Jewish Germans. It is a
complete fantasy, something that does not exist. ALL German culture has both
Jewish and non-Jewish contributors.
The statements by Syberberg posted to a_film_by are complete nonsense.
Question to my fellow auteurists. I have not seen Syberberg's films. Are they
really so good aesthetically, that there is some (VERY partial and dubious)
justification for interest in this man? I for one would cringe to be associated
with Syberberg in any way. He looks like a moral and intellectual nadir.
Mike Grost
15319
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:07am
Subject: OT: Pale Fire, Re: "How do I know which movies are worth seeing" (was Ozon)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Noel Vera"
wrote:
A Hungarian friend who's a cross between Humbert (the nymphets) and
Kinbote (the lost kingdom) pointed out that Humbert Humbert -- a fake
name of course -- is modelled on the name of the hero of The
Stranger: Mersault Mersault.
15320
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:11am
Subject: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, ptonguette@a... wrote:
> I love Altman's "Popeye," Noel, and vastly prefer
Lester's "Superman II" to
> what I took to be its pale imitation, Raimi's "Spider-Man 2."
I haven't seen Spidey 2, which everyone says is better than 1, but
re: 1 I felt rather as I did about Ghost World: what's the point of
producing a perfect imitation of a good comic book? It's really
someone else's film then. The Hulk showed that a comic superhero can
be recreated for the screen and made the filmmaker's own, but Popeye
will always be the great example of that, pending a second visit to
Peter's beloved Superman series.
15321
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:13am
Subject: Re: Syberberg
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, MG4273@a... wrote:
> Question to my fellow auteurists. I have not seen Syberberg's
films. Are they
> really so good aesthetically, that there is some (VERY partial and
dubious)
> justification for interest in this man?
Emphatically yes, re: the Hitler film. You might also enjoy Parisfal
more than I did because you're an opera fan.
15322
From: Matthew Clayfield
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:24am
Subject: Re: QT on the Q.T.
> According to Jeanette Walls, this
>
> http://qtdiary.blogspot.com/2004/08/qts-casino.html
>
> is a fake Quentin Tarantino website. I don't believe
> her. Seems quite authentic to me.
According to Roger Avary [who *should* know] it is indeed a
fake:
"A lot of people have been emailing me about this alleged Quentin
Tarantino Blog, which is obvious bullshit. It's a fun read, and
should be looked at as entertainment, but it's not genuine in any
way whatsoever. How can you tell? Well, for example, Quentin would
never in a gazillion years use the term "editing suite" and then
know or care enough to guide someone to specific P2P client
software. He's retarded when it comes to things like that, and
simply doesn't care."
He has a little more to say about it as well. Here's the full post:
http://www.avary.com/rogeravary/journal/archive/2004_08_01_journalarc
hive.php#'109337015506114454'
15323
From: Matthew Clayfield
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:51am
Subject: Re: Film and Video
> As I've said before the Brakhage DVD has opened an
> entirely new audience to his work -- much larger than
> the one he had in his lifetime. Moreover there's
> something rather marvelous about having a Brakhage
> work in this intimate form to look at over and over
> again. I can't help but think it won't aide Brakhage
> appreciation immeasurably.
There was a small retrospective of James Benning pictures at this
year's Brisbane International Film Festival, which the filmmaker
himself attended [he's a very nice guy], but when he mentioned his
disdain for DVDs [he said that for him it's film or it's nothing], I
couldn't help but think of the sizeable audience he *could* be
reaching -- much in the way that Brakhage has done posthumously --
if only he would allow his pictures to be distributed on DVD.
Benning quite literally became one of the festival's talking points
["11 x 14" (1977), for example, had the highest average audience
score of any film at the festival] but I couldn't help but feel that
so many people were missing out on [what I believe to be] his
genius, simply because of his desire to remain such a celluloid-
centric purist. It's his decision, of course, and I totally respect
that, but DVD has become such a viable means of distribution, and a
filmmaker like Benning really deserves to have his work seen as
widely as possible, even if not on the big screen.
I agree completely. The "full impact" of any given film --
especially like those of Benning or Brakhage or *any* filmmaker --
can really only be measured in a theatrical setting, but something
has to be said for allow the films to *be seen,* and by as many
people as possible.
In short, as far as I'm concerned, DVD has been like manna from
Heaven, simply in terms of *access* to cinema; especially for those
of us who don't live in thriving hubs of cinéphilia...!
15324
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 9:39am
Subject: Re: Syberberg
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, MG4273@a... wrote:
> Question to my fellow auteurists. I have not seen Syberberg's films.
Are they
> really so good aesthetically, that there is some (VERY partial and
dubious)
> justification for interest in this man? I for one would cringe to be
associated
> with Syberberg in any way. He looks like a moral and intellectual nadir.
>
> Mike Grost
If you have a fast web connection, you can view some of his films
online at http://www.syberberg.de
It's a beautiful web site. The complete "Hitler, a Film from
Germany" is available with English subtitles. It's definitely
interesting, and it has had many admirers. Susan Sontag is one
of the most enthusiastic. She praised it as "one of the great
art works of the 20th century" and divided film history between
Syberberg's film on one side and all other good films on the other,
and she was inclined to attack anyone who disagreed. But Syberberg
himself apparently contradicts her central thesis that the film
expresses mourning over Hitler and Nazism.
Paul
15325
From: jess_l_amortell
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 3:25pm
Subject: OT: Pale Fire, Re: "How do I know which movies are worth seeing" (was Ozon)
> A Hungarian friend who's a cross between Humbert (the nymphets) and
> Kinbote (the lost kingdom) pointed out that Humbert Humbert -- a fake
> name of course -- is modelled on the name of the hero of The
> Stranger: Mersault Mersault.
It's been years, but wasn't it a mere "Monsieur" Meursault? (which is mellifluous/obsessive enough). But there's no way Humbert's name cannot reflect Sternberg's Lola Lola (Lola-Lola?) -- wondering now if that's acknowledged in the novel?
15326
From: samfilms2003
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 3:42pm
Subject: Re: Film and Video
I think it's a taste of manna, the apetizer but not the maim course yet.
i.e. does not quite stand on its own. (I finally saw "Millenium Mambo" -
it's out on DVD in the US via Palm; I think my ability to appreciate it
in this form is predicated on the fact I have seen other Hou films in
beautiful 35mm prints i.e. I can view it already knowing something a
about 'Hou Space' -- it surprised me though it could work this well;
by comparison "The Wind Will Carry Us" failed for me on DVD).
It's all transitional, I think. DVD and current electronic viewing is good
for small magnifications, but getting larger, the simulation of the kind
of filmlike screen space we need, it falls apart in terms of undersampled
color, sufficient greyscale, sharpness.
>>Moreover there's
> > something rather marvelous about having a Brakhage
> > work in this intimate form to look at over and over
> > again. I can't help but think it won't aide Brakhage
> > appreciation immeasurably.
No argument from me there.
BTW I saw 11x14 - or was it another one with that kind of chapter-like
form ? ("Speak, Memory, Dammit" :) on TV (PBS ?) long ago.
> but when he mentioned his
> disdain for DVDs [he said that for him it's film or it's nothing],
> ["11 x 14" (1977), for example, had the highest average audience
> score of any film at the festival]
THAT'S interesting........
-Sam Wells
15327
From: Kevin Lee
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 3:58pm
Subject: Graphic novels as films (was: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "hotlove666"
wrote:
>
> I haven't seen Spidey 2, which everyone says is better than 1, but
> re: 1 I felt rather as I did about Ghost World: what's the point of
> producing a perfect imitation of a good comic book? It's really
> someone else's film then.
I don't think GHOST WORLD is an "imitation" of Daniel Clowes' graphic
novel. For one thing the Steve Buscemi character is major expansion
of a character who only appears in one page of the novel. I think
this is key because it's Zwigoff's way of entering what's otherwise a
girl's world and making a mutual connection in the private joys of
indulging in cultural detritus. He uses the Buscemi character as a
stand-in for himself, and his unapologetically sadsack life gives the
Thora Birch character a new perspective on her personal crisis of
values that's not in the novel.
Watching BAD SANTA further helped me get a sense of Zwigoff as an
auteur of male curmudgeonhood... I'm not entirely convinced of the
direction he's taken his ideas and how his treatment of his
protagonists is getting softer and less critical (CRUMB > GHOST WORLD
> BAD SANTA) but it's obvious that he and his characters don't
apologize for their misanthropic compulsions, and somehow he's able
to wring more pathos out of this worldview than the Coens.
How many out there would love to see a movie of JIMMY CORRIGAN: BOY
GENIUS, or PERSEPOLIS, or some of Lynda Barry's work?
Kevin
15328
From: Matthew Clayfield
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 3:58pm
Subject: Re: Film and Video
> > ["11 x 14" (1977), for example, had the highest average audience
> > score of any film at the festival]
>
> THAT'S interesting........
Yeah, it was.
Unfortunately, when they were compiling an audience top ten list at
the end of the festival, they decided to go off the total number of
positive votes as opposed to off the mean average of the votes [if
that makes any sense at all] meaning that, in other words, it was a
procedure that was ultimately more reliant on the audience's size
than it was on the film's overall impact.
Thus, "11 x 14" got swept away by films that had larger audiences
[the number one film was ultimately "Zatoichi"] even though they
probably received a greater number of lower scores than it did.
15329
From: samfilms2003
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 4:01pm
Subject: Re: Syberberg
Well in "Hitler" as I recall Syberberg did manage to associate Irving Thalberg
with the Nazis by virtue of the fact of destroying Stroheim's version of
"Greed" .... I mean I guess I'm not an Irving Thalberg fan club member
but that's quiiiiiiite a stretch... !
One sort of jaw dropper I remember from the film was Syberberg's suggestion
that, as Hitler's military campaigns were fairly thoroughly photographed and
Hitler supposedly wanted to see as much footage as he could, then Hitler
was a film director, an auteur of WWI as it were, and the war was creating
his dailies.
Is there a Situationist in the House ? !
-Sam
15330
From: samfilms2003
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 4:07pm
Subject: Re: Syberberg
I wrote ->an auteur of WWI as it were,
Typo, or some kinda slip ?
World War: The Dictator's Cut
Grimly,
-Sam
15331
From: samfilms2003
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 4:13pm
Subject: An extra N for Millennium Mambo (Re: Film and Video)
I'm not having a gud day for tiping.
Can I say then, I thought it was on a par with any other Hou film I've seen ?
-Sam
15332
From: Robert Keser
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 4:41pm
Subject: Graphic novels as films (was: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Kevin Lee"
wrote:
> How many out there would love to see a movie of JIMMY CORRIGAN: >
> BOY GENIUS, or PERSEPOLIS, or some of Lynda Barry's work?
The one I'd like to see is the surpassingly strange JULIUS KNIPL:
REAL ESTATE PHOTOGRAPHER. Apparently it has already been adapted
into a "radio cartoon", but I love the visuals that are at once
matter-of-fact in b/w yet always slightly "off" , a good match for
its alternative universe. The framing always reminds me of PSYCHO.
--Robert Keser
15333
From: Craig Keller
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 5:47pm
Subject: Re: OT: Pale Fire, Re: "How do I know which movies are worth seeing" (was Ozon)
>
> It's been years, but wasn't it a mere "Monsieur" Meursault? (which is
> mellifluous/obsessive enough). But there's no way Humbert's name
> cannot reflect Sternberg's Lola Lola (Lola-Lola?) -- wondering now if
> that's acknowledged in the novel?
Not explicitly, but the suggestion of Sternberg's film is right there
on the opening page of Part One, when Humbert writes, "She was Lola in
slacks." There are other allusions to the Sternberg film elsewhere in
the novel, if I recall correctly -- and, of course, the German Romantic
Ideal is always lingering in the back of Humbert's mind (often by way
of 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' or warped into "Märchen"-territory by
way of, as one example, the fairy-tale nightmare of 'Der Erlkönig,'
which will return of course in full force with 'Pale Fire'), even
though he notes that he himself is "a salad of racial genes."
-- yet perhaps not even as much as "Dr. Blanche Schwarzmann (verbal
communication)"! (p. 5) The anthropology/classification theme (and,
extended to an animal-anthropological sense, "Humbert Humbert" isn't
too unlike a fun moniker some zoologist might give to a shadowy chimp)
runs from the onset, and culminates in the Foreword in the punchline of
the author's sign-off -- "John Ray, Jr., Ph.D." -- a name that
undoubtedly suggests how Charlotte would botch-pronounce that ol'
French word "genre." (Additionally, John Ray, in history, was a
seventeenth-century botanist who devised an early system of
classification for plant life.)
craig.
15334
From: Craig Keller
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 6:06pm
Subject: Re: An extra N for Millennium Mambo (Re: Film and Video)
> I'm not having a gud day for tiping.
>
> Can I say then, I thought it was on a par with any other Hou film I've
> seen ?
>
> -Sam
I think 'Millennium Mambo' is up there with the rest too. (Great
interview, too, with Hou on the new R1 disc, btw.)
And you put your finger on one of my two Ultimate English Language Pet
Peeves --
(1) The misspelling of "millennium" as "millenium," as though it were
pronounced "milleenium." Can you believe that The Millennium Hotel
(new'ish huge hotel in NYC) actually had their big corporate logo,
smack on the front of the place and on bus-stop ads and other print
venues done up as The Millenium Hotel?? I thought I was hallucinating
the first time I saw it, and then the second and third time I realized
it was no phantasy -- The MilleNium Hotel. Shocking. However, more
recently, I saw another ad for The Millennium Hotel Group, and I'm
assuming this is the same organization -- but as you can see, -two
N's-. The shit must have hit the fan. How it ever happened to begin
with is way beyond me.
(2) The refusal by 90% of the English-writing population to capitalize
the word "is" in titles. 'A Woman is a Woman'; 'Woman is the Future of
Man'; "Cake is Love" -- ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! 'A Woman Is a Woman' --
'Woman Is the Future of Man' -- "Cake Is Love"!!!!!! The word "is"
might only be two letters, but it's a verb, not a preposition, not even
(tricky area) a comparative subordinate clause ("as," "than," etc.).
We capitalize "prognosticate," so we should also capitalize "is"!
craig.
15335
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 6:20pm
Subject: Re: What's so bad about feeling good?
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "jaketwilson"
wrote:
> characters (never mind ¡§identification¡¨). Coincidentally, a
few
> hours ago I went and saw THE LAST LAUGH, which ruthlessly parodies
> the kind of ¡§feelgood¡¨ storytelling Adam described in an
earlier
> post. Films like that one or LE BONHEUR, which make deliberately
> unsettling use of ¡§feelgood¡¨ devices, are interesting here,
because
> they force us to think more precisely about why we accept or reject
> the invitation to imagine that good fortune is our own. It could be
> said that some films create aesthetically pleasing representations
of
> happiness while others merely dangle it like a carrot, but that
begs
> the question, or at least forces the word ¡§aesthetic¡¨ to do
more
> work than it can manage by itself.
>
I think you're correct about "Le Bonheur." (When I saw it, I was
very confused about the ending. But I got over it and got on with my
life. Just like François.)
However, Claire Johnston had particular scorn for "Le Bonheur,"
and I wonder whether she has a point concerning European art
film. Syberberg's work would provice another example of the art
cinema's retreat from history and susceptibility to mythology.
And Johnston's has an interesting perspective that overall Hollywood
films may take a more critical stance toward the dominant
ideologies than European art films do.
"Perhaps something should be said about the European art film;
undoubtedly, it is more open to the invasion of myth than the
Hollywood film. This point becomes quite clear when we scrutinise
the work of Riefenstahl, Companéez, Trintignant, Varda and others.
The films of Agnes Varda are a particularly good example of an oeuvre
which celebrates bourgeois myths of women, and with it the apparent
innocence of the sign. Le Bonheur in particular, almost invites a
Barthesian analysis! Varda's portrayal of female fantasy constitutes
one of the nearest approximations to the facile day-dreams perpetuated
by advertising that probably exists in the cinema. Her films appear
totally innocent to the workings of myth; indeed, it is the purpose of
myth to fabricate an impression of innocence, in which all becomes
'natural': Varda's concern for nature is a direct expression of this
retreat from history: history is transmuted into nature, involving the
elimination of all questions, because all appears 'natural'. There is
no doubt that Varda's work is reactionary: in her rejection of culture
and her placement of woman outside history her films mark a retrograde
step in women's cinema."
http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cine_img//www_imgs.16/7598.p4.gif
15336
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 6:32pm
Subject: Gerd Oswald Outer Limits episode
Those at home right now might want to watch an episode of
the Outer Limits, "Corpus Earthling," directed by Gerd Oswald,
photographed by Conrad Hall. It's on the Sci-Fi cable channel at
3:00 pm.
Paul
15337
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 6:36pm
Subject: Re: Re: Syberberg
--- samfilms2003 wrote:
>
> Is there a Situationist in the House ? !
>
You rang?
Syberberg is, as usual, full of it.
As I have pointed out on more than one occasion,
Hitler's favorite film was "Broadway Melody of 1940"
with Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell and George Murphy.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
15338
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 6:44pm
Subject: Re: Re: What's so bad about feeling good?
--- Paul Gallagher wrote:
>
> However, Claire Johnston had particular scorn for
> "Le Bonheur,. . ."
> "The films of Agnes Varda are a particularly good
> example of an oeuvre
> which celebrates bourgeois myths of women, and with
> it the apparent
> innocence of the sign. Le Bonheur in particular,
> almost invites a
> Barthesian analysis! Varda's portrayal of female
> fantasy constitutes
> one of the nearest approximations to the facile
> day-dreams perpetuated
> by advertising that probably exists in the cinema."
Johnston is a complete stranger to irony.
> Her films appear
> totally innocent to the workings of myth; indeed, it
> is the purpose of
> myth to fabricate an impression of innocence, in
> which all becomes
> 'natural': Varda's concern for nature is a direct
> expression of this
> retreat from history: history is transmuted into
> nature, involving the
> elimination of all questions, because all appears
> 'natural'.
Bullshit! "Le Bonheur" is utterly terrifying -- a work
of complete pessimism.
In light of the Scott Peterson case it ought to be
revived nationwide.
There is
> no doubt that Varda's work is reactionary: in her
> rejection of culture
> and her placement of woman outside history her films
> mark a retrograde
> step in women's cinema."
>
>
MORE bullshit! "Cleo from 5 to 7" is precisely ABOUT
woman's place in history -- specifically the Algerian
war which was in progress at the time and is all over
the damned film -- from reports on the radio, to
newspaper headlines to Antoine Boursellier as the
soldier who may be the only person Cleo has ever truly
loved.
Academics can be complete dolts.
>
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Shop for Back-to-School deals on Yahoo! Shopping.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/backtoschool
15339
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 6:46pm
Subject: An extra N for Millennium Mambo (Re: Film and Video)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Craig Keller
wrote:
>
> (1) The misspelling of "millennium" as "millenium," as though it
were
> pronounced "milleenium." Can you believe that The Millennium Hotel
> (new'ish huge hotel in NYC) actually had their big corporate logo,
> smack on the front of the place and on bus-stop ads and other print
> venues done up as The Millenium Hotel?? I thought I was
hallucinating
> the first time I saw it, and then the second and third time I
realized
> it was no phantasy -- The MilleNium Hotel. Shocking. However,
more
> recently, I saw another ad for The Millennium Hotel Group, and I'm
> assuming this is the same organization -- but as you can see, -two
> N's-. The shit must have hit the fan. How it ever happened to
begin
> with is way beyond me.
That noticed that also. I used to look down on that hotel from
work, and even though I'm not an especially good speller, it bothered
me to see the "MILLENIUM HOTEL" sign each day. I think it was partly
because I wondered whether I was wrong and didn't know how to spell
"millennium" and partly because I kept rereading the sign because
I couldn't imagine a major corporation would mispell their name.
Paul
15340
From: Noel Vera
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:10pm
Subject: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, ptonguette@a... wrote:
> I love Altman's "Popeye," Noel, and vastly prefer
Lester's "Superman II" to
> what I took to be its pale imitation, Raimi's "Spider-Man 2."
Why yes, I like Spidey 2 just fine, but it IS a pale imitation of
Supes 2.
> But Altman's evocation of the town in "Popeye" surely merits
placement
> alongside the L.A. of "The Long Goodbye" and the ice age
of "Quintet" in great
> Altman locations.
Great 'created' worlds that comic-book movies seem to specialize in
(Batman comes to mind, uh Judge Dredd and LXG are piss-poor attempts)
15341
From: Noel Vera
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:14pm
Subject: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al
-
> I haven't seen Spidey 2, which everyone says is better than 1, but
> re: 1 I felt rather as I did about Ghost World: what's the point of
> producing a perfect imitation of a good comic book?
Hopefully, so Raimi can have enough clout to do something really
interesting. It's filler, but not insultingly stupid, slipshod filler.
> The Hulk showed that a comic superhero can
> be recreated for the screen and made the filmmaker's own
I respect Ang Lee's attempt to break the mold, but I can't say I like
it. Hulk calls out for the opera treatment, not soap-opera treatment,
and I've always thought of Ang Lee as an expert at portraying middle-
class angst than a real filmmaker (despite his attempts at other
genres). Spiderman is more his speed (tho I suspect I would prefer
Raimi's attack, given the chance to compare).
15342
From: Noel Vera
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:20pm
Subject: Graphic novels as films (was: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al)
> The one I'd like to see is the surpassingly strange JULIUS KNIPL:
> REAL ESTATE PHOTOGRAPHER. Apparently it has already been adapted
> into a "radio cartoon", but I love the visuals that are at once
> matter-of-fact in b/w yet always slightly "off" , a good match for
> its alternative universe. The framing always reminds me of PSYCHO.
Throw in MAUS as an anime, and talking of anime, I'd love to see a
full adaptation of Miyaraki's entire Nausicaa, of the Valley of the
Wind.
15343
From: Noel Vera
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:42pm
Subject: Re: Welles' nostalgia (was: Brown Bunny...)
> The next step in the decline is
> clearly film, and I concluded that Welles' attitude was
paradoxical:
> Everything he does in film is based on his awareness that it is an
> alienating medium, but his response to the devolution that produced
> that alienation is not a return to simplicity
Interesting observations, but may I ask why simplicity would have
been the predicted response? It feels right but I guess I need a
little connect-the-dotting.
As for the baroque response--wouldn't you say this is partially due
to his fascination for the process, the changing texture of decay,
ending in death? I've always thought that was one of the main themes
of his films...
15344
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:42pm
Subject: An extra N for Millennium Mambo (Re: Film and Video)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher"
wrote:
> I couldn't imagine a major corporation would mispell their name.
>
> Paul
Uh, that should be, "misspell its name."
Paul
"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"
15345
From: Aaron Graham
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 8:52pm
Subject: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Noel Vera"
wrote:
> -
> > I haven't seen Spidey 2, which everyone says is better than 1,
but
> > re: 1 I felt rather as I did about Ghost World: what's the point
of
> > producing a perfect imitation of a good comic book?
>
> Hopefully, so Raimi can have enough clout to do something really
> interesting. It's filler, but not insultingly stupid, slipshod
filler.
I've read somewhere that Raimi is actually penning the script to the
third installment of "Spider-man", alongside his doctor brother,
Ivan. Although I'm sure that's not what you meant as "something
really interesting", I'm remaining hopeful that this will enable the
third one in the series to have much more of Raimi's stamp all over
it.
-Aaron
15346
From: Nick Wrigley
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 9:23pm
Subject: Re: Graphic novels as films
> How many out there would love to see a movie of JIMMY CORRIGAN: BOY
> GENIUS
Chris Ware is a world cinema fan and a very interesting chap. I helped
him obtain Kieslowski's Polish DEKALOG set (superior to Facets two
attempts at releasing it). His work would make an interesting film (or
two), but perhaps his artwork is the ultimate form for his ideas?
-Nick>-
15347
From: Nick Wrigley
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 10:06pm
Subject: Re: Re: What's so bad about feeling good? / THE LAST LAUGH
> Coincidentally, a few hours ago I went and saw THE LAST LAUGH, which
> ruthlessly parodies the kind of feelgood¡¨ storytelling Adam described
> in an earlier post.
Didn't Erich Pommer insist Murnau tack on a happy ending? Murnau wanted
Jannings' character to die (like most Kammerspiel films), but when
Pommer insisted, Murnau shot an outrageously feelgood ending. The film
went on to be more successful than all the other Kammerspiels which
ended in death. That's what I heard anyway. Anyone?
-Nick>-
15348
From: Robert Keser
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 11:45pm
Subject: Re: What's so bad about feeling good? / THE LAST LAUGH
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Nick Wrigley
wrote:
> > THE LAST LAUGH, which ruthlessly parodies the kind of feel good
> > storytelling Adam described in an earlier post.
>
> Didn't Erich Pommer insist Murnau tack on a happy ending? Murnau
> wanted Jannings' character to die (like most Kammerspiel films), >
> but when Pommer insisted, Murnau shot an outrageously feelgood
> ending. The film went on to be more successful than all the other
> Kammerspiels which ended in death. That's what I heard anyway.
Anyone?
Rahul Hamid's piece on the film in Senses of Cinema at
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/04/32/der_letzte_mann.htm
takes up the problem in terms of the title(s) and whether or not
the intention was comedic:
"Film scholar Bert Cardullo writes that this epilogue is generally
considered to be an aberration, added on to what is meant to be a
tragic tale. He goes on to argue that it is integral to the film,
which he reads as parody of German attitudes about one's profession
and its connection to one's social standing. The German and American
titles of the film are often discussed in the debate about this
ending. The Last Laugh emphasizes the epilogue, while Der Letzte
Mann or The Last Man seems to have more tragic implications. In his
famous book, which seeks to find a connection between Weimar cinema
and the rise of Nazism, Siegfried Kracauer writes that the film's
intent is tragic. Nevertheless, he argues that the hotel's treatment
of the doorman is rather humane and that it his obsession with
having power that betrays a more general German fixation on
authority. He sees the conclusion as Carl Mayer's sarcastic send-up
of "the Hollywood ending" and American cinema more generally."
--Robert Keser
15349
From: Maxime Renaudin
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 11:50pm
Subject: Re: Syberberg
Mike wrote
>I have not seen Syberberg's films. Are they really so good
>aesthetically, that there is some (VERY partial and dubious)
>justification for interest in this man?
Yes. Definitely.
Not for the man, for his movies.
Parsifal. I shall say that, Syberberg or not, I believe that
Wagner's Parsifal is one of the most beautiful things ever brought
on Earth; but there is no need to appreciate Wagner, or even opera,
to enjoy this wonder. Crazy enterprise, improbable sketch of "art
total" ("Silent film with music, melodrama in its worst distress and
its higher triumphs, opera, film, theatre, painting, architecture,
language, sung culture, music, poetry and drama, myth and epop...").
Edith Clever is amazing, but no, no, David, you can't say: "Without
Edith Clever and Harry Baer he's nothing". This is not Edith Clever,
this is the dislocated body of Edith Clever, the voice of Yvonne
Minton, a light without equal, a space invested for a world that is
not ours. Pascal Bonitzer started his passionate review of the film
with these words: "it's one of the most splendid things which ever
were on a screen". I won't contradict him.
I believe that there is a dvd somewhere, but, of course, that's no
the best way...
I'm sorry that the sensational and provocative remarks by fool and
megalomaniac HJS shall overshadow the work. The films shall speak by
themselves. As for or the others, I haven't seen his later work, but
Ludwig, Karl May and Hitler make an impressive piece.
Hitler. How is that possible to make a 7 hours film about Hitler
without showing the camps. Paul, I believe, made that point already.
Syberberg answers: "One does not fight Hitler with statistics of
Auschwitz, or making the sociology of his economy, but with Richard
Wagner and Mozart.". The nauseous innuendo is there. This absence
(the camps) is heavy; but yes, this Elsewhere (the myth,
the "irrationalism"), is incredible.
15350
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 0:08am
Subject: Re: Re: Syberberg
--- Maxime Renaudin wrote:
> Edith Clever is amazing, but no, no, David, you
> can't say: "Without
> Edith Clever and Harry Baer he's nothing". This is
> not Edith Clever,
> this is the dislocated body of Edith Clever, the
> voice of Yvonne
> Minton, a light without equal, a space invested for
> a world that is
> not ours.
I haven't forgotten Minton. But it's the very fact
that Clever's body is de-voiced that makes her
performance so compelling.
And have you seen "Die Nacht"? That's all Clever with
her own voice.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
15351
From: Maxime Renaudin
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 0:22am
Subject: Re: Syberberg
>I haven't forgotten Minton. But it's the very fact
>that Clever's body is de-voiced that makes her
>performance so compelling.
Very true.
Don't forget also the bi-devoicing of Parsifal!
>And have you seen "Die Nacht"? That's all Clever with
>her own voice.
No. I haven't seen anything from Syberberg after Parsifal.
I admit I can't remember much of her all-in-one performance in
Rohmer's Marquise.
15352
From: Elizabeth Anne Nolan
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:20am
Subject: Re: Syberberg -- can be seen on internet
Hitler, A film from Germany
can be seen on the internet, about a 4 x 5 image;
not ideal but quite clear. At least I now have some
sense of of what you are talking about.
Subtitles easy to read
http://www.syberberg.de/Syberberg2/Hitler_full_Part1_QT2.html
Elizabeth
15353
From: Richard Modiano
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:48am
Subject: Re: What's so bad about feeling good? / THE LAST LAUGH
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Robert Keser" wrote:
"...In his famous book, which seeks to find a connection between
Weimar cinema and the rise of Nazism, Siegfried Kracauer writes that
the film's intent is tragic. Nevertheless, he argues that the
hotel's treatment of the doorman is rather humane and that it his
obsession with having power that betrays a more general German
fixation on authority..."
This seems to have been Hitchcock's interpertation as well. I
remember a television interview he gave to William K. Everson in
which he discussed Murnau's importance to him in general and THE LAST
LAUGH/DER LATZE MANN (he used both titles) in particular, and then
talked about "the German obsession with the uniform" and its bestowal
of status and power to the wearer.
Richard
15354
From: Programming
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:48am
Subject: Oswald and Wendkos in Chicago
Hi All,
Since there are some Gerd Oswald and Paul Wendkos fanatics on the list,
thought I'd bring these to everyone's attention.
The Gene Siskel Film Center is presenting:
THE BURGLAR
1957, Paul Wendkos, USA, 90 min.
With Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield
Overlooked stylist Paul Wendkos made a stunning debut with this tale of
a jewelry heist and its complicated aftermath. Plot is secondary to
character study, focusing on the semi-incestuous relationship between a
smalltime thief (Duryea) and his stepsister (Mansfield), but the real star
is Wendkos¹s jazzy, Wellesian technique, with a spectacular final chase
across Atlantic City¹s Steel Pier. New archival 35mm print courtesy of Sony
Pictures Repertory. (MR)
Monday, October 4, 8:00 pm;
Thursday, October 7, 6:15 pm
CRIME OF PASSION
1957, Gerd Oswald, USA, 84 min.
With Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden
Our series pairs two neglected 1950s films (see WITNESS TO MURDER below)
that feature nonpareil noir actress Barbara Stanwyck (DOUBLE INDEMNITY) and
a rich dose of the era¹s sexual politics. CRIME OF PASSION casts Stanwyck
as a successful journalist who tosses aside her career for marriage to an
unambitious cop (Hayden). When domesticity drives her daffy, she vents her
frustrations by becoming the Lady Macbeth of the LAPD. 35mm. (MR)
Monday, October 18, 8:00 pm;
Thursday, October 21, 6:15 pm
In October they also have some Mann and Ray; Los Angeles Plays Itself; and
the Murnau series begins.
Of course, all the local people should regularly come to Chicago Filmmakers
as well!! (this fall includes work by Harun Farocki, Hollis Frampton,
George and Mike Kuchar, Stan Brakhage, Sidney Peterson, Robert Frank, and
the previously mentioned "George Bataille's Story of the Eye"). Will post
the Onion City festival schedule separately.
Best,
Patrick F.
15355
From: Programming
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:49am
Subject: The 16th Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival - Sept. 23-26
Chicago Filmmakers Presents
The 16th Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival
September 23-26, 2004
Curated by Patrick Friel and Rebecca Meyers
Festival Judges: Abina Manning (Associate Director, Video Data Bank), Thomas
Comerford (filmmaker), James Fotopoulos (film/video maker)
Thursday, September 23 - 8:15 pm Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State
St.)
Opening Night Program
This program features an exciting selection of new works by celebrated
avant-garde artists. In Gunvor Nelson¹s Trace Elements (2004, 9 mins.),
lush digital images, an intricate soundscape, and a constantly searching
camera create a work of mystery. Chateau/Poyet (2004, 6 mins., 16mm), master
collage animator Lawrence Jordan's first film in several years, is a dynamic
reworking of Poyet's engraved illustrations. Bruce Conner¹s Luke (2004, 22
mins.) is a new digital video based on a never-released short film Conner
shot on the set of Cool Hand Luke. Su Friedrich¹s The Head of a Pin (2004,
21 mins.) is a wry observation on what happens when city dwellers encounter
a country spider. Sharon Lockhart¹s NO (2003, 34 mins., 16mm) frames
minimally choreographed actions of Japanese agriculture within the visual
tradition of 19th-century American landscape painting. Video except where
noted.
Friday, September 24 - 7:00 pm Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark St.)
Program Two
Judge¹s Show James Fotopoulos
James Fotopoulos in Person!
We are pleased to present this program of World Premieres of several new
films and videos by local artist James Fotopoulos.
Twins (2004, 1 min.)
The Other Half (2004, 1 min.)
Inside and Outside (2004, 1 min.)
Places (2004, 11 mins.)
The Lighthouse (2004, 10 mins.)
Hidden Objects (2003, 39 mins., 16mm)
The Hand (2003, 11 mins.)
Video except where noted.
Friday, September 24 - 9:00 pm Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark St.)
Program Three
((())) (2004, 9 mins.) by Luis Recoder
ws.2 (2004, 8 mins.) by Seoungho Cho. ³Precise camera movement and hypnotic
post-production techniques deliver an enigmatic tour, not simply of stark
landscape and sky, but also of our status as viewers and our relation to
what we perceive.² (SC)
Black White & Green - the way of pie (2003, 8 mins., UK) by Ian Bourn.
³Inside a traditional London eel and pie house, solitary diners meditate
upon their steaming dinners, each glimpsing a personal landscape within the
food on their plate.² (IB)
Ma: The Stones Have Moved (2004, 7 mins.) by Takahiko Iimura. In this
animated video, Iimura electronically ³traces² over images from his 1989
film Ma: Space/Time in the Garden of Ryoan-ji using Ippitsu-ga, the one
stroke drawing within a breath, a traditional Japanese painting technique.
Marsa Abu Galawa (2004, 10 mins., The Netherlands) by Gerard Holthuis. ³In
a visual exploration of the underwater world of the Red Sea, the film
bombards the senses with vibrant images and features the music of the
Egyptian performer Abdel Basset Hamouda.² (GH)
Cake and Steak (2004, 20 mins.) by Abigail Child. ³A comedy of manners and
movement [which] excavates Œgirl training¹ in the legacy of home movies and
post-war American suburban culture.² (AC)
The Self Portrait: Part 2 (2004, 1.5 mins.) by Songyi Kim. An exploration
of identity through a pencil drawing self-portrait made and erased daily.
Tabula Rasa (2004, 8 mins.) by Vincent Grenier
Palm (2003, 3.5 mins., Super-8mm) by Sandra Gibson. ³Blades of a palm tree
against a monochrome sky.² (SG)
Postcard #2: Weather, Channel (2004, 4 mins.) by Carolyn Faber
Untitled (2004, 12 mins.) by Luis Recoder
Part 1, 2, 3 (2004, 19 mins.) by Yun Chel Kim. A video journal in which the
artist contemplates an uncertain future and a return to Korea for mandatory
military service.
Nuée (2003, 3 mins., Canada) by Myriam Bessette
Video except where noted.
Saturday, September 25 - 6:30 pm Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark
St.)
Program Four
Total Power: Dead, Dead, Dead! (2004, 3.5 mins.) by Stephanie Barber.
Audience participation required.
Souvenir from Africa (2002, 7 mins., The Netherlands) by Arianne Olthaar and
Marjolin van der Meji. ³In quarantine, the protagonist leads a lonely
immigrant existence.² (AO and MM)
Test Process for Human and Non-Human Subjects Outside a Space of War (2004,
10 mins.) by Todd Mattei. ³A short sci-fi documentary on the nature of
information that travels by way of any technological image.² (TM)
The World Is All That Is the Case (2003, 2.5 mins., Germany) by Eva Teppe
stumble then rise on some awkward morning (2004, 6 mins.) by Kurtis Hough.
³An organic, dreamlike journey spiraling from life to death.² (KH)
Ash Wednesday (2004, 70 mins.) by Brent Coughenour. ³Ash Wednesday features
episodic vignettes which offer a long stare into the gray night of Russia.
It is a movie which is at once large and small, drawn from a daily routine.
But at the same time its mosaic of fragments and sternly won attentions
conjures some larger question about what it means to hope and live and die
and fall in love in a place like this which is to say, the place of the
body, bent down beneath the weight of remembranceŠ.Here we are again,
between requiem and celebration.² (Mike Hoolboom)
All video.
Saturday, September 25 - 8:30 pm Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark
St.)
Program Five
Perhaps the Singer Is Dead (2004, 6 mins.) by Mary Billyou. Found footage
and text excerpted from Jean-Paul Sartre¹s Nausea accuses the audience:
³You¹d make a terrible witness.²
Anaconda Targets (2004, 11 mins.) by Dominic Angerame. ³On March 4, 2002
more than 2000 U.S. led troops were engaged in Œclose in¹ combat with small
pockets of al Qadea and Taliban fighters in the rugged terrain of
northeastern Afghanistan as part of an offensive called Operation Anaconda.
This is de-classified footage of this operation.² (DA)
Land of the Khmer (2003, 2 mins., Canada) by Kiley Fithen
Travis (2004, 12 mins.) by Kelly Reichardt. Travis was a soldier killed
clearing mines in Iraq just after President Bush declared the end to major
combat.
History of the Sea (2004, 14 mins.) by Alfred Guzzetti
The Tawny (2003, 11 mins.) by Ben Russell. ³The Tawny Frogmouth is not an
owl. Here is its actual call: hrr hrrrm hrr hrrrm hrr hrrrm.² (BR)
Call to the Dark Side (2003, 3 mins.) by Barbara Klutinis. ³Innocence
called to arms. Hesitation before a feared moment.² (BK)
110303 (2003, 18 mins.) by Robert Daniel Flowers. ³A symphony of data,
computations, and architecture at the micro level; where circle and line
form grids which collide, overlap, intersect, and co-exist.² (RDF)
Anoxi (2003, 4 mins., Canada) by Robin Dupuis
The Problem of Possible Redemption (2003, 13 mins.) by Harrell Fletcher. A
video adaptation of James Joyce¹s Ulysses shot at the Parkville Senior
Center, Connecticut, with the seniors reading the lines from cue cards. The
piece addresses society, war, and personal mortality.
All video.
Sunday, September 26 - 6:00 pm Cinema Borealis (1550 N. Milwaukee
Ave.)
Program Six
Robert's Place (2004, 6 mins.) by Adele Friedman
Stable (2003, 7 mins.) by Robert Todd. ³This multi-layered film portrait of
an old-fashioned New England farm offers a chance to live with it, get lost
in it, and move beyond it.² (RT)
Floating Heavily (2004, 6 mins.) by Robert Mead
From Memory (2003, 15 mins., UK/Canada) by Riccardo Iacono. ³A poetic
meditation on time and light formed through an exploration of the material
and illusory properties of paint and film, movement in counterpoint and
miniature.² (RI)
Deliquium (2004, 15 mins.) by Julie Murray
The Burning Bride (2003, 6 mins., 35mm, The Netherlands) by Eveline
Ketterings. ³A one-shot movie, documentation of a jumping girl. Absurd
realism. There is no past and no future. An exceptional moment in Hong Kong.
A film about persistence and the question, Œwhy?¹² (EK)
Berlin in Winter (2003, 6 mins., Japan) by Ichiro Sueoka
Plate #23 (songs) (2003, 4 mins., Japan) by Ryusuke Ito. This found-footage
film, which also incorporates flower petals, was made for a major Stan
Brakhage retrospective in Japan.
Fragrant Portals, Bright Particulars and the Edge of Space (2003, 12 mins.)
by David Gatten. ³Early and late Wallace Stevens translated into Ogham (the
5th century ³tree alphabet² derived from a notational system used by
shepherds to record notes on their wooden staffs), and carved a letter at a
time into a piece of semi-transparent flexible wood (black leader).² (DG)
Memories of Green (2004, 2.5 mins.) by Luke Sieczek. ³A landscape still
life simple and fleeting like memory.
Apollo (2003, 6 mins.) by Tomonari Nishikawa
Empire: Studies in Contrast #2 (2004, 3 mins., Canada) by Ian Toews. A
formal architectural study combined with talk radio. American culture in a
nutshell.
#3: (bicycle) (2004, 3 mins.) by Ariana Hamidi. A Netherlands travelogue,
of sorts, from an on-going series about transportation.
16mm except where noted.
Sunday, September 26 - 8:00 pm Cinema Borealis (1550 N. Milwaukee
Ave.)
Program Seven
If Only (2003, 7 mins.) by Fred Worden. ³Inside the bubble head, bubble
universes spawn ad infinitum and the only passable direction is directly
into the steady headwinds of an ever-advancing infinity of veils.² (FW)
Thunder (2004, 11 mins.) by Robert Todd. ³The presumed disposability of
nature in our urban environments is the tragic backdrop to this visual love
affair between camera and tree.² (RT)
Elements (2003, 7 mins.) by Jim Jennings
Light Is Calling (2004, 8 mins., 35mm) by Bill Morrison. ³A meditation on
the random and fleeting nature of life and love, as seen through the roiling
emulsion of an ancient film.² (BM).
N.Y., N.Y. (1957, 15 mins., 35mm) by Francis Thompson
Enid's Idyll (2004, 17 mins.) by Lawrence Jordan. ³Jordan has used 46
engraved Dore illustrations to Idylls of the King as settings for his
extravagantly romantic saga. As Enid, the protagonist, is seen in a vast
array of scenes from deep forests to castle keeps, her champion is sometimes
with her, sometimes fighting archetypal foes.² (LUX)
Quick's Thicket (2004, 7 mins.) by Diane Kitchen
Rolling in My Ears (2002, 8 mins.) by Barry Gerson. Gerson¹s first film in
twenty years is an elegant study of light, color, geometry, and perspective.
Flower (2004, 6 mins., Japan) by Yuiko Matsuyama
Penumbra (2003, 9 mins., UK) by Nicky Hamlyn. Shot in the filmmaker¹s
bathroom, this film follows the grid formed by tiles and the various
irregularities and interruptions the camera encounters.
Two Minutes to Zero (2004, 1 min.) by Lewis Klahr. A collage animation bank
heist filmŠin the blink of an eye.
16mm except where noted.
Sunday, September 26 - 9:30 pm 12:00 am BuddY (1542 N. Milwaukee
Ave., 2nd Floor)
Closing Night Party
Visuals provided by local experimental filmmaker Carolyn Faber and music
DJ¹ed by Enos Williams and others.
15356
From:
Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 9:53pm
Subject: Re: What's so bad about feeling good? / THE LAST LAUGH
The way the camera flies through the air in Hitchcock's "Young and Innocent",
"Notorious" and all of "Rear Window" defintely recalls this Murnau film.
Mike Grost
15357
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 2:11am
Subject: Re: What's so bad about feeling good?
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, David Ehrenstein
wrote:
> "Le Bonheur" is utterly terrifying -- a work
> of complete pessimism.
> In light of the Scott Peterson case it ought to be
> revived nationwide.
>
It's been a long time since I've seen "Le Bonheur," but, as I
remember, I was confused by it, and I'm sure I misunderstood it.
At first I thought it was endorsing François' viewpoint as
liberating. The ending is shocking, but I wasn't sure whether
it was meant to show amorality and conformism or a kind of
Sadean liberation. I would guess the former (and maybe in the
end the Divine Marquis amounts to nothing more than amorality
and conformism?), but looking at the comments on imdb.com,
people understand it in different ways.
Anyway, I'll add "Le Bonheur" to the the list of films I need to
see again.
Paul
Paul
15358
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:29am
Subject: Re: Syberberg and Sirk
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher"
wrote:
Paul - Thank you once more for syoiur useful erudition, and some very
useful fine distinctions.
I was asked by H-JS, who was editing an hors-serie about himself for
CdC in 198x (?), to interview Sirk, who was in Berkeley, about his
defense of H-JS in Germany, where he had stuck his neck out a bit to
champion Hitler, A Film from Germany. I'm in an uproar w. carpet-
layers, but be able to lay hands on it soon and quote some comments
by Sirk.
15359
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:40am
Subject: The Wind Will Carry Us (Was: Film and Video)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "samfilms2003" wrote:
>
"The Wind Will Carry Us" failed for me on DVD).
Just watched the video and quite enjoyed it, although the first film
viewing, but for a bored, recalcitrant date and a late arrival, would
no doubt have been more overwhelming. In compensation I understood
some fairly mimple plot points that might have gotten lost in
contemplative pleasures: eg the fact that the director happens to be
there to save the well-digger because of the whole chain of events
leading to the ironic failure of his mission. I don't think you can
read the AK of this period without taking into account spiritual and
eschatlogical themes, so clearly marked here -- as well as by the use
of Sufi poetry throughout the country films. The most recent films
are a return to the political engagement of the earlier ones. That
dimension is not absent in Wind, but as emphatically and harshly as
some commentaries suggest.
15360
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:45am
Subject: Re: Gerd Oswald Outer Limits episode
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher"
wrote:
> Those at home right now might want to watch an episode of
> the Outer Limits, "Corpus Earthling," directed by Gerd Oswald,
> photographed by Conrad Hall. It's on the Sci-Fi cable channel at
> 3:00 pm.
>
> Paul
Just bought it. Creepy.
15361
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:54am
Subject: Re: Welles' nostalgia (was: Brown Bunny...)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Noel Vera"
wrote:
> Interesting observations, but may I ask why simplicity would have
> been the predicted response? It feels right but I guess I need a
> little connect-the-dotting.
Get any Everybody's Shakespeare edition and read the fascinating
intro. From Welles' precocious purist theorizing yo uwould ewxpect
his treatment of Shakespeare on stage and film to go against the
devolution from Globe to proscenium by a return to simplicity, no
sets, letting the poetry paint the world, not the production
desigfner, etc. The exact opposite of what he did, although his Lear,
had they let him film it, would have sought to achieve an Elizabethan
scenic spareness.
Welles, of course, was a full-blown Romantic artist, which puts his
practice in a wholly different perspective than his theories, just as
you describe it. But the suspicion of the alienating power of the
mdium is always there -- the encounter between the Brechtian
Blitzstein and Welles dressed up as Faust at the start of Cradle is
quit emblematic. Brecht, by the way, saw Around the World in 80 Days
at an out of town matinee and came backstage to tell Welles (who was
going broke with it) that it was the most exciting theatre production
he had ever seen.
15362
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:55am
Subject: Re: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron Graham"
wrote:
I'm remaining hopeful that this will enable the
> third one in the series to have much more of Raimi's stamp all over
> it.
>
> -Aaron
It's been a while since we've seen that stamp.
15363
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:45am
Subject: Re: Syberberg and Sirk
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "hotlove666" wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher"
> wrote:
>
> Paul - Thank you once more for your useful erudition, and some very
> useful fine distinctions.
Thank you. Most of credit is due to the excellent libraries
that are nearby me, the New York University Library and the New York
Public Library. And I hope I'm not being too annoying with the
nit-picking.
>
> I was asked by H-JS, who was editing an hors-serie about himself for
> CdC in 198x (?), to interview Sirk, who was in Berkeley, about his
> defense of H-JS in Germany, where he had stuck his neck out a bit to
> champion Hitler, A Film from Germany. I'm in an uproar w. carpet-
> layers, but be able to lay hands on it soon and quote some comments
> by Sirk.
That would be fascinating. I didn't know there was an issue devoted
to Syberberg.
Paul
15364
From: Aaron Graham
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:07am
Subject: Re: Raimi; was: Anderson, Jost, Ozon, Ford, et al
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron Graham"
> wrote:
> I'm remaining hopeful that this will enable the
> > third one in the series to have much more of Raimi's stamp all
over
> > it.
> >
> > -Aaron
>
> It's been a while since we've seen that stamp.
Indeed. Despite a few flourishes of his unique camera style in the
last few pictures, he's continued to disappoint me since "A Simple
Plan".
-Aaron
15365
From: Andy Rector
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 7:21am
Subject: Re: What's so bad about feeling good? / THE LAST LAUGH
>Robert Keser wrote
> "Film scholar Bert Cardullo writes that this epilogue is generally
> considered to be an aberration, added on to what is meant to be a
> tragic tale. He goes on to argue that it is integral to the film,
> which he reads as parody of German attitudes about one's profession
> and its connection to one's social standing. The German and
American
> titles of the film are often discussed in the debate about this
> ending. The Last Laugh emphasizes the epilogue, while Der Letzte
> Mann or The Last Man seems to have more tragic implications. In his
> famous book, which seeks to find a connection between Weimar cinema
> and the rise of Nazism, Siegfried Kracauer writes that the film's
> intent is tragic. Nevertheless, he argues that the hotel's
treatment
> of the doorman is rather humane and that it his obsession with
> having power that betrays a more general German fixation on
> authority. He sees the conclusion as Carl Mayer's sarcastic send-up
> of "the Hollywood ending" and American cinema more generally."
I appreciate it for its didactic quality, "how a good man deals with
winning the lottery".
15366
From:
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:03am
Subject: Las Hurdes (Bunuel)
Just saw this remarkable film.
It shows what the narrator describes as a surviving remnant of primitive
life. There is even a map of Europe at the beginning, marking such pockets of
primitivism, but I was not able to translate this back into a clear list of such
areas.
The film intelligently and creatively depicts a whole life style, or
"culture" in the anthropological sense. In many ways, it represents human life in its
"pre-modern technology" phase. It strongly reminds one of descriptions of what
ALL life in medieval Europe (AD 1100 - 1400) was like for average people
(non-aristocrats). The depiction is truly horrifying - a nightmare look at the
human life from which we are all trying to escape in the modern world. It
certainly makes a contrast with all the anti-technology beliefs of some people today.
Presumably, as an extreme leftist (Bill Krohn says Bunuel was a Communist)
Bunuel would have been strongly pro-modern technology. The lack of chimneys in
the houses is medieval. Their lack of knowledge of bread making or modern
farming practices is pre-technology - and horrifying. So are the awful medical
problems. The goiter the woman has used to be common in inland regions, before
iodized salt.
The film is also clearly a plea for the world to DO SOMETHING about such an
atrocious situation for the Hurdanos.
On the narration. I saw a half hour version of the film on videotape, with
English narration. It had maps of Europe, then Spain at the beginning. But there
was no close up of the chicken heads being torn off. IMHO, was relieved ( I
have never been able to warm to Un Chien Andalou's eye scene at all, although
the rest of the film is interesting).
The narrative strategy seemed sincere to me. It did not come across as an
unreliable narrator, etc.
But it did remind me of the FitzPatrick Travelogues, in its approach. The
film used "we" to refer to the film crew, as in the FP T's. and it used a
narrative convention of "as we were walking up the mountain, we encountered this
group of wandering children" or goatherds or whatever. Or "evening brings out the
villagers", etc - sort of travel notes describing what happened to the film
crew. In both Bunuel and the FP T's, this can sound a bit faked - more like a
harmless but artificial convention to impose a bit of narrative thread on the
material, rather than an actual desciption of real events.
In some ways, the film had a tone of a nightmarish "parody" of the FP T's.
The FP T's specialized in beauty spots, and the world's most "advanced" cities -
New York, London, Hong Kong, etc. "Las Hurdes" looks at the world's most
horrifying and primitive community.
Have little idea about the development of the "travel documentary", of which
this film and the FT P's are a part. Have seen "South" (1919), the silent
feature about the Shackleton Expedition.
The film has remarkable drive. It soon builds up narrative "flow" - the sense
that an unfolding argument is being created, a strong logical succession of
both pictures and ideas. This is very hard to achieve, and shows Bunuel's
artistry.
Mike Grost
15367
From: cairnsdavid1967
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 0:31pm
Subject: Re: What's so bad about feeling good? / THE LAST LAUGH
> > > THE LAST LAUGH, which ruthlessly parodies the kind of feel
good
> > > storytelling Adam described in an earlier post.
The tacked on ending is a good parody of the happy ending, and even
thought he intertitle introducing it spoils the purity of the film
without title cards, it's great idea.
It's a truly Bokononist ending - like Vonnegut's invented religion of
Bokononism, it invites us to believe a lie, while knowing it to be a
lie at the same time. Bittersweet and painful, but warming. It
reminds me of Preston Sturges' wildly implausible endings, which
invite us to question their likelihood.
> Nevertheless, he argues that the hotel's treatment
> of the doorman is rather humane
Not really - he arrives at work one day to find another man in his
place. While his employers do fix him up with an alternative position
suited to his declining strength, they take no account of his
feelings.
Jannings finding the new doorman is a great moment - passing him in a
revolving door is the perfect metaphor for the employers' use and
discarding of human beings, and it's a bit like the popular German
doppelganger myth, as jannings sees another in his place.
15368
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:38pm
Subject: Re: Las Hurdes (Bunuel)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, MG4273@a... wrote:
> Just saw this remarkable film.
> It shows what the narrator describes as a surviving remnant of
primitive
> life.
I assume your English narrator had a British accent -- there aren't
any mistranslations in that one. In the book that inspired Bunuel it
is mentioned that Georges Sand heard of Las Hurdes as a child and
dreamed of it as a land living out a Rousseauist Golden Age, an
opinion she held on to in maturity. The other thing about the region,
not well conveyed by the words, is that this isn't just primitive --
the Hurdanos inhabit a region that is literally uninhabitable for
various reasons of soil, climate and ecology. That they have survived
at all is remarkable. But I didn't come to love the film by
listening; if you shut off the sound, it is even more stunning. As
you rightly note, the powerful narrative flow of the images is the
film's greatest achievment, all the more so if it was indeed edited
on a kitchen table (by LB himself) with a razorblade and a magnifying
glass! It has become one of my favorite films, but I watch it now
with the sound off to experience the unmediated imapact of the images.
15369
From:
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 0:28pm
Subject: Re: Welles' nostalgia (was: Brown Bunny...)
In a message dated 9/8/04 12:00:21 PM, jaketwilson@y... writes:
> Welles' highly "visible" stylistic rhetoric, and his use of voiceover,
> often suggest a kind of direct address to the viewer
>
I understand how the use of voiceover can be construed as direct address but
I'm confused about the former. Can you be more specific about the highly
"visible" stylistic rhetoric and then show how it suggests a kind of direct address
?
Kevin John
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
15370
From: samfilms2003
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:34pm
Subject: Re: The Wind Will Carry Us (Was: Film and Video)
I think I might better have written "on a certain level the DVD failed to
deliver"; "The Wind Will Carry Us" certainlt does not fail !
Certainly the crisis in the hole to which the Director becomes, well reading
your response I'm not sure I'd want to say 'inadvertantly' hmmm -
a part of, has some sense of mini-apocalypse....
It does puzzle me though that he sees the rescue as the task of others,
is he analyzing the meaning of fire instead of helping to put it out,
to borrow from another thread here ?
Anyway got to confess I feel inadequately informed, culturally, to get into AK
films at a level I'd like to.
BRW, Have you, or anyone here, seen the film by Foroogh Farrokhzaad ?
Is it available in any form ?
-Sam
15371
From: Programming
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:44pm
Subject: The House Is Black
On 9/10/04 11:34 AM, "samfilms2003" wrote:
> BRW, Have you, or anyone here, seen the film by Foroogh Farrokhzaad ?
> Is it available in any form ?
The House Is Black - Terrific film.
It seems to be available on dvd from some company like Iran Film or
something (US based I believe). Do a google search on the director (that's
how I found the site). I don't think it is subtitled, though.
Facets is apparantly going to be releasing it at some point subtitled, but
in a slightly shorter version (by a couple of minute I believe).
Was very lucky to see it in a gorgeous 35mm print several years ago at the
Film Center. My understanding is that this print is in a Swiss archive and
is all but impossible to get.
Jonathan, though, is certainly the closest person to an expert on the film
and likely knows much more than I do.
Patrick F.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
15372
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:59pm
Subject: Re: The Wind Will Carry Us (Was: Film and Video)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "samfilms2003" wrote:
> I think I might better have written "on a certain level the DVD
failed to
> deliver"; "The Wind Will Carry Us" certainlt does not fail !
>
> Certainly the crisis in the hole to which the Director becomes,
well reading
> your response I'm not sure I'd want to say 'inadvertantly' hmmm -
> a part of, has some sense of mini-apocalypse....
>
> It does puzzle me though that he sees the rescue as the task of
others,
> is he analyzing the meaning of fire instead of helping to put it
out,
> to borrow from another thread here ?
>
> Anyway got to confess I feel inadequately informed, culturally, to
get into AK
> films at a level I'd like to.
>
> BRW, Have you, or anyone here, seen the film by Foroogh
Farrokhzaad ?
> Is it available in any form ?
>
> -Sam
I probably misused "eschatalogical"-- the idea would be better
conveyed by plain old "providential." But I'm interested in how
certain religions, because they see all human life as part of an
overarching narrative with a well-defined ending, can read mini-
events providentially -- and end films better than other cultures.
It's one of Shyamalan's strengths, for example, in contrast to
Spielberg, whose endings (except for AI) always suck.
I didn't feel that the director's failure to jump into the whole
meant that AK was criticizing him. Getting the guy out was a big job,
and the director is a beanpole intellectual. He gets the right people
for the job and saves a life, that's all. I'd have done the same
thing.
The House Is Black is a great film -- subtitles courtesy of the
authors of the indiana Press Kiarostami book. I saw it at Locarno
during a complete AK retro organized by Marco Muller and bumped into
AK coming out of a screening -- he was amazed too. He had never seen
it.
In talking with him after seeing the films I got the impression that
he knows Marx and Freud, as well as Iranian culture. Don't be afraid
to read him with westermn intellectual grills. He's quite
sophisticated.
15373
From: Jonathan Takagi
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:07pm
Subject: RE: The House Is Black
> It seems to be available on dvd from some company like Iran Film or
> something (US based I believe). Do a google search on the
> director (that's
> how I found the site). I don't think it is subtitled, though.
If you read French you can purchase the journal "Cinema".
Its seventh issue includes a DVD of the film. Apparently
the eighth issue will include a DVD of John Ford's
"Bucking Broadway".
Jonathan Takagi
15374
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:35pm
Subject: This Sunday at 5 PM
"Performance and "The Devils" will be screened at the
American Cinemathque in L.A.
http://www.laweekly.com/calendar/content/film_all.php
Those screenings will be intorduced by me.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail is new and improved - Check it out!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
15375
From: Craig Keller
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:01pm
Subject: Murnau / Cimino
I'd attend if I were in LA, David! In NYC (and I'm not even there for
the time being), a two-week Murnau retrospective begins tonight at Film
Forum, kicking off with 'Sunrise.' Then, on October 8-14, also at Film
Forum -- the complete, uncut 'Heaven's Gate.'
http://www.filmforum.com/films/heavens.html
craig.
15376
From: Craig Keller
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 7:05pm
Subject: assorted / disposable in an archival scope
And in a thieving fit of cross-posting news gleaned from folks on the
Godard listserv over the last few days (Sophie Forrester and Gloria
Monti) --
-Spielberg is presented with the Legion of Honor by Jacques Chirac
(although you've probably already seen this in any number of news
sources)
-Godard is given the FIPRESCI Grand Prix for 'Notre musique'
-Tomorrow at Lincoln Center, the Walter Reade --
Saturday September 11, 2004
3:00pm at Walter Reade Theater
The Personal Is Political — Cinema According to Jean-Pierre Gorin
Part of the weekend-long program The Next Generation of Film, with this
year's focus on Politics and Film. Discussion with Gorin followed by
screening.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
15377
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 7:58pm
Subject: Five Dedicated to Ozu (was Re: The Wind Will Carry Us)
On the Usenet newsgroup, rec.arts.movies.international, we
were discussing the lukewarm critical response to "10 on Ten"
and "Five Dedicated to Ozu." None of us had seen these works,
and we probably won't get a chance to see them for a long time to
come. Has anyone on the group seen them?
I thought Serge Kaganski's remark in Les Inrocks was cute. Kiarostami
films ducks in "Five." "Palmé" means "webbed" but it also means
to receive a prize, the Palme d'Or, at Cannes. "Quoi qu'il en soit,
un canard est au moins sûr et certain d'être palmé." "Be
that as it may, a duck is at least certain to be palmé."
Paul
15378
From:
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:39pm
Subject: Re: This Sunday at 5 PM
Break a leg, David E!
Were I in LA instead of far off Detroit, would be there!
Mike Grost
15379
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:34pm
Subject: Re: Re: This Sunday at 5 PM
To those here in L.A. I have four passes to the event
so let me know if you want to go.
--- MG4273@a... wrote:
> Break a leg, David E!
> Were I in LA instead of far off Detroit, would be
> there!
>
> Mike Grost
>
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Shop for Back-to-School deals on Yahoo! Shopping.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/backtoschool
15380
From: Adam Hart
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:53pm
Subject: Re: What's so bad about feeling good?
>
> Bullshit! "Le Bonheur" is utterly terrifying -- a work
> of complete pessimism.
> In light of the Scott Peterson case it ought to be
> revived nationwide.
>
Agreed. Le Bonheur is one of the most pessimistic films I've ever
seen, and a pessimism that's infinitely more interesting and
affecting than... oh, what's something pessimistic... dammit, my
brain isnt working so well today. let's say that it's just as
pessimistic as 'vagabond' and leave it at that.
15381
From: Adam Hart
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:02pm
Subject: Re: The Wind Will Carry Us (Was: Film and Video)
> > Anyway got to confess I feel inadequately informed, culturally,
to
> get into AK
> > films at a level I'd like to.
> >
> Don't be afraid
> to read him with westermn intellectual grills. He's quite
> sophisticated.
In light of AK's conception of half-formed cinema, in which the
viewer provides the other half, it would not be inappropriate for
anyone, of any intellectual/academic/cultural experience level, to
read his films however they'd like. And I think that, from reading
interviews with him, he'd probably be interested to hear how someone
with a completely different perception responded to his films.
The best books in English are probably Hamid Dabashi's CLOSE-UP, on
Iranian cinema in general, and the Rosenbaum/Saeed-Vafa one. The
latter has the virtue of being very explicitly an introduction,
first and foremost. That is, it tries to guide a viewer towards ways
to begin approaching Kiarostami rather than to make definitive
interpretations.
15382
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:04pm
Subject: Re: Re: What's so bad about feeling good?
Indeed. And "Vagabond" shows that it's impossible for
a woman to live outside history -- despite the
elaborate attempt made at doing so by this character.
--- Adam Hart wrote:
> Agreed. Le Bonheur is one of the most pessimistic
> films I've ever
> seen, and a pessimism that's infinitely more
> interesting and
> affecting than... oh, what's something
> pessimistic... dammit, my
> brain isnt working so well today. let's say that
> it's just as
> pessimistic as 'vagabond' and leave it at that.
>
>
>
>
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Shop for Back-to-School deals on Yahoo! Shopping.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/backtoschool
15383
From: samfilms2003
Date: Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:16pm
Subject: Re: The Wind Will Carry Us (Was: Film and Video)
> > Don't be afraid
> > to read him with westermn intellectual grills. He's quite
> > sophisticated.
Well no, I'm not afraid to - after all I'm not afraid to read a bit of
Alice In Wonderland in "Millennnium* Mambo" (start with the end of
the opening shot and proceed from there -- with caution ;-)
Still.... I have the feeling there's a BIT more to the precense of military
veterans, soldiers, in "Taste of Cherry" than I'm picking up.
Thanks for those references, I've heard of the Rosenbaum/Saeed-Vafa
book. I have some homework to do I think.
And I'll look out for "The House Is Black" If it's anything like the few
poems of hers I've read - I mean they're hair-raising.
Maybe the first thing to do would be to order a copy of "Rebirth"...
-Sam
* not taking any chances
15384
From: Matt Teichman
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 3:40am
Subject: Re: THE LAST LAUGH
One version I saw renders the film's only intertitle--the one explaining
that "what follows wouldn't really happen but the author wanted to go
easy on the protagonist"--as voiceover, making _Mann_ a truly
intertitle-free film. Was this an instance of the sort of thing Chaplin
did to his films in the 40s? I wonder...
-Matt
Robert Keser wrote:
>Rahul Hamid's piece on the film in Senses of Cinema at
>http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/04/32/der_letzte_mann.htm
>takes up the problem in terms of the title(s) and whether or not
>the intention was comedic:
>
>
15385
From: hotlove666
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 4:15am
Subject: Re: THE LAST LAUGH
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Matt Teichman
wrote:
> One version I saw renders the film's only intertitle--the one
explaining
> that "what follows wouldn't really happen but the author wanted to
go
> easy on the protagonist"--as voiceover, making _Mann_ a truly
> intertitle-free film. Was this an instance of the sort of thing
Chaplin
> did to his films in the 40s? I wonder...
>
> -Matt
No, but the same intertitle could go at the end of Belle de Jour.
15386
From: jaketwilson
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 7:16am
Subject: Re: What's so bad about feeling good? / THE LAST LAUGH
David Cairns wrote:
> It's a truly Bokononist ending - like Vonnegut's invented religion
of
> Bokononism, it invites us to believe a lie, while knowing it to be
a
> lie at the same time. Bittersweet and painful, but warming. It
> reminds me of Preston Sturges' wildly implausible endings, which
> invite us to question their likelihood.
The crazy endings in Sturges are exhilarating and moving, but not at
odds with the crazy plots that lead up to them. My reaction to THE
LAST LAUGH was a bit different, because the change in tone is so
drastic, and because the sequence goes on and on (and on), to the
point where the sight of Jannings beaming, feasting, benevolently
handing out marks, etc, becomes almost insufferable. On one reading
at least, the ending works to direct our attention away from just
sympathising with him as an individual – I'd agree with earlier posts
suggesting that the film's aim isn't just to exploit pathos arising
from a chance event, but to criticise a system which equates human
dignity with external status. Seemingly the doorman has thoroughly
internalised that worldview, and the contingent fact of his becoming
a millionaire does nothing to change this. Rather the reverse! One
could call this "Brechtian" (cf the end of THE THREEPENNY OPERA)
although I don't know how historically correct it would be to do so.
A different but related attack on "feelgood" formulae is the
devastating and prescient sequence in IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER where
the coming-together of the three old army buddies (who now can't
stand each other) is restaged as a grotesquely fake television event.
(TV, here, plays the role of cinema's evil double, rather as it does
in GINGER AND FRED.) It's a sequence that speaks to an issue touched
on in earlier posts, but rarely acknowledged seriously by Hollywood:
the psychological violence inflicted by commercial sentimentality
when it travesties and threatens to erase the complexities of
emotional experience. Of course the critique is all the more powerful
because it's mounted from within by a team whose names are synonymous
with "entertainment".
JTW
15387
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 7:30am
Subject: Gilberto Perez on NOSFERATU
Since both Murnau's and Heidegger's names have come up, I thought
I'd mention Perez's interesting thoughts on "Nosferatu." (Maybe
Murnau reveals as much about Heidegger as Heidegger reveals
about Murnau? I'll note that "Nosferatu" was released before
"Being and Time." I'm not at all familiar with Heidegger, however.)
Perez relates "Nosferatu" to Heidegger's existentialism.
Nosferatu personifies, at first, fear of the idea of death; then,
in the plague scenes, "the indefinite certainty of death";
and finally, "a figure of the individual's death." The woman,
Ellen, personifies the existentially authentic human
being. Perez sees in the final scene, in which she chooses to
sacrifice herself to destroy the vampire and end the plague,
"a metaphor for the self embracing, anxious yet free, condition
of 'being-toward-death.'" Perez writes, "Hers is not an atoning
sacrifice... but a brave human taking upon herself of the death
that awaits her." He notes that, unlike Bram Stoker's novel and
most vampire tales, there is almost no religious aspect to
"Nosferatu." As in Heidegger's works, in "Nosferatu" religion
is absent and science is shown to be of little use confronting
the anxiety of being.
Perez also describes how the plague scenes are naturalistic,
but "vertiginously subjective": "the distant camera disperses
attention over a whole that yet lies outside our grasp... there
being no object that stands out and holds the consciousness...
we are tremblingly thrown back on our own subjectivity and our
own fear of death. Death seen to dwell in the heart of the
everyday, when the false reassurance of the familiar falls apart
from our eyes, brings on the anxiety that for Heidegger inheres
in our being-in-the-word."
Paul
15388
From: jaketwilson
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 8:04am
Subject: Re: Welles' nostalgia (was: Brown Bunny...)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, LiLiPUT1@a... wrote:
>
> In a message dated 9/8/04 12:00:21 PM, jaketwilson@y... writes:
>
>
> > Welles' highly "visible" stylistic rhetoric, and his use of
voiceover,
> > often suggest a kind of direct address to the viewer
> >
> I understand how the use of voiceover can be construed as direct
address but
> I'm confused about the former. Can you be more specific about the
highly
> "visible" stylistic rhetoric and then show how it suggests a kind
of direct address
There's no single Wellesian style, but in general I associate Welles
with a kind of filmmaking which is the opposite of "transparent",
which continually draws attention to itself through dramatic angles,
surprising cuts, a whole panoply of "visible" techniques. One of the
organising principles for this style is announced in KANE –- the idea
that "reality" in cinema is not automatically available: rather than
a story just unfolding naturally before our eyes, we see it being
actively constructed or pieced together. This happens not just
through the different flashbacks, but literally from shot to shot
(with the newsreel at the start as a parody version of this). So it's
the ACT of storytelling which is foregrounded, and this naturally
calls attention to the storyteller himself (where other
more "classical" directors might strive to erase overt signs of their
controlling presence). In other Welles films this ties in with the
use of voiceover, as in the opening of AMBERSONS, where a series of
audiovisual fragments are unified by an authoritative narration –-
delivered by Welles more or less in his own person –- that gives them
rhythm and order, shapes them into the elements of a tale. So he's a
montage filmmaker -- but really his whole method is dialectical, as
he's equally concerned with undermining his own claim to authority,
and allowing each fragment to retain its own "truth".
JTW
15389
From: Matthew Clayfield
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 9:39am
Subject: Re: Welles' nostalgia (was: Brown Bunny...)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "jaketwilson"
wrote:
>There's no single Wellesian style, but in general I associate
>Welles with a kind of filmmaking which is the opposite
>of "transparent", which continually draws attention to itself
>through dramatic angles, surprising cuts, a whole panoply
>of "visible" techniques.
In other words, Welles' films *feel* directed, and his presence as
director -- his puppetmaster-like omnipotence -- has as much of an
impact upon the way that the audience views the film as anything
else does. Even when he's not actually *in* the film, it's an almost
tangible element.
The same thing can be said for Hitchcock especially, but also for
Godard and even [though perhaps to a lesser extent] Woody Allen.
However, whether or not this is a by-product of the audience's
knowing that the filmmaker may actually "appear" in the film [as a
central character, in a cameo appearance or in voiceover], I don't
know.
15390
From: jaketwilson
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 10:38am
Subject: Five Dedicated to Ozu (was Re: The Wind Will Carry Us)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher"
wrote:
> On the Usenet newsgroup, rec.arts.movies.international, we
> were discussing the lukewarm critical response to "10 on Ten"
> and "Five Dedicated to Ozu." None of us had seen these works,
> and we probably won't get a chance to see them for a long time to
> come. Has anyone on the group seen them?
Both are vital, though together they suggest that AK has reached an
aesthetic crossroads and paused to reflect. TEN ON 10 is a
declaration of principles done seemingly straightforwardly as a
lecture to camera; on one viewing, I'm not sure how far it succeeds
as a film rather than a manifesto (though the ending is great). FIVE
on the other hand is gorgeous and typically sly –- while the long
takes may at first give the impression of unmediated reality, they're
anything but.
JTW
15391
From: Nick Wrigley
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 4:58pm
Subject: Speeling errors (was An extra N for Millennium Mambo)
Further to Craig's spelling peeves, has anyone seen any howlers on the
front of major company DVD covers? (back cover doesn't count, there's
usually lots):
MGM are rechristening Joseph Cotten for their new release of Dieterle's
*marvellous* PORTRAIT OF JENNIE:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002KPHYC.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
(Anchor Bay's disc was OOP and fetching over $100 on eBay)
and Warner UK get creative with Moreau's first name on Welles' THE
TRIAL:
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0001FYQ5O.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
-Nick>-
15392
From: Fred Camper
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 5:54pm
Subject: The meaning of the word "documentary" (& OT, oxymorons today)
In today's "New York Times," a photo caption reads:
"A re-enactment of the British burning of the White House in the History
Channel documentary 'First Invasion : The War of 1812."
So for how long has it been acceptable to refer to films and videos that
include re-enactments as "documentaries"?
I sometimes argue with editors against calling something a "documentary"
in a capsule review on the grounds that the word has become meaningless,
or sometimes on the grounds that this one really *is* a documentary, so
we shouldn't degrade it by calling it a documentary.
I wonder if others have a problem with the idea of calling something
that includes re-enactments a "documentary." I can't think of another
word for it, though; if there isn't one, maybe we need one.
Pseudo-documentary is not going to catch on, I suspect.
It has long amused me to observe the common usage of phrases that are
oxymoronic, that is, inherently self-contradictory. Some of my personal
favorites:
fresh frozen
military intelligence
smart bomb
just war
...and
President George W. Bush
I know I have other favorites but I can't think of any just now.
Fred Camper
15393
From: hotlove666
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:30pm
Subject: It's Always Fair Weather (Was: What's so bad about feeling good? )
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "jaketwilson"
wrote:
> A different but related attack on "feelgood" formulae is the
> devastating and prescient sequence in IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER
where
> the coming-together of the three old army buddies (who now can't
> stand each other) is restaged as a grotesquely fake television
event.
> (TV, here, plays the role of cinema's evil double, rather as it
does
> in GINGER AND FRED.)
Television IS cinema's evil double.
It's a sequence that speaks to an issue touched
> on in earlier posts, but rarely acknowledged seriously by
Hollywood:
> the psychological violence inflicted by commercial sentimentality
> when it travesties and threatens to erase the complexities of
> emotional experience. Of course the critique is all the more
powerful
> because it's mounted from within by a team whose names are
synonymous
> with "entertainment".
I love that film too. Peter Wollen's BFI book on Singin' in the Rain
puts the team's left-wing politics in perspective vis a vis that
seeming pure entertainment. Fair Weather (consciously referencing the
title of Singin') is the logical outgrowth of its predecessor. Two of
the key films of the era.
15394
From: hotlove666
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:35pm
Subject: Re: Gilberto Perez on NOSFERATU
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher"
wrote:
Fantastic -- I must read that article. Without disagreeing at all,
let me mention that Hans Jonas's The Gnostic Religion -- the seminal
work on the subject by a great scholar, before the present trendiness
set in -- contains a fascinating appendix comparing Gnosticism and
Existentialism point by point. What were Murnau's intellectual roots?
there was a lot of esoteric mysticism floating around Germany, and
Annette Michelson tells me that Lang was into Rosicrucianism at the
time. All worth mentioning, IMO. But Heidegger is a fascinating
parallel.
15395
From: jess_l_amortell
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:35pm
Subject: NY Times: Godard AR watch
Even before locating the byline (on another page), I suspected an a_f_b hand (Dave Kehr's) in this listing for NOTRE MUSIQUE in the "New Season/Film" section of tomorrow's NY Times: "...Showing at Film Forum [Nov. 24], where they are sure to respect Godard's strict 1.33 aspect ratio."
On the same page in the print edition, in one of several production-error truncations I noted, Nathan Lee's excellent Tsai Ming-liang piece leaves us hanging in midsentence with: "And what you find there is your self, in the act of watching a movie -- and maybe the cute"
I had to look it up online to find the unexpurgated version: "and maybe the cute person checking you out across the aisle."
The Scott-Dargis conversation seems unusually unbuttoned, however. (DARGIS: "...Nichols makes smart movies that a certain kind of adult likes." SCOTT: "You say that with such contempt.") They are described as "The Times's chief film critics, Manohla Dargis and A. O. Scott." Not that I claim to understand these things, but has she been awarded parity? I thought Scott's "promotion" was the reason Mitchell, famously, left in the first place.
15396
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:44pm
Subject: Re: It's Always Fair Weather (Was: What's so bad about feeling good? )
--- hotlove666 wrote:
>
>
> I love that film too. Peter Wollen's BFI book on
> Singin' in the Rain
> puts the team's left-wing politics in perspective
> vis a vis that
> seeming pure entertainment. Fair Weather
> (consciously referencing the
> title of Singin') is the logical outgrowth of its
> predecessor. Two of
> the key films of the era.
>
>
Yet completely different. "Singin' in the Rain" brims
with optimism. "It's Always Fair Weather" pulsates
with pessimism. Comden and Green were inspired by
Dumas' "Vingt Ans Apres" to create this portrait of
post-war disillusionment and the sometimes severe
limits of friendship. No question it inspired
Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along."
As the PBS show on Gene Kelly pointed out his
friendship with Stanley Donen had begun to unravel
right at the time of the movie. Worse still, Dore
Schary didn't like it either -- releasing it wide
rather than at the Radio City Music Hall. I saw it at
the Valencia theater in Jamaica, Queens -- quite
surprised that we didn't have to go downtown for a
"first-run" movie.
Groucho Marx loved it, and showed it to friends at his
parties for years afterwards.
What's so desperately moving about it is the way it
acknowledges the fact that people change over time --
even though they're linked forever. In this sense the
film's heartbreaking last scene isn't all that far
removed from the finale of "Those Who Love Me Can Take
the Train" (specifically for the characters of Claire
and Jean-Marie, who can't live with each other or
without each other.)
The central moment is the triple-solo split-screen
dance to "Once Upon a Time I Had Two Friends." I've
rarel seen a dramatic non-musical film this
insightful.
All this AND Dolores Gray!
15397
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:48pm
Subject: Re: NY Times: Godard AR watch
--- jess_l_amortell wrote:
>
> The Scott-Dargis conversation seems unusually
> unbuttoned, however. (DARGIS: "...Nichols makes
> smart movies that a certain kind of adult likes."
> SCOTT: "You say that with such contempt.") They are
> described as "The Times's chief film critics,
> Manohla Dargis and A. O. Scott." Not that I claim
> to understand these things, but has she been awarded
> parity?
Yes.
I thought Scott's "promotion" was the
> reason Mitchell, famously, left in the first place.
>
>
>
It's fairly obvious that Elvis was shown the door. No
one at the NYT is about to admit that, however.
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15398
From: Craig Keller
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:50pm
Subject: Re: NY Times: Godard AR watch
> The Scott-Dargis conversation seems unusually unbuttoned, however.
> (DARGIS: "...Nichols makes smart movies that a certain kind of adult
> likes." SCOTT: "You say that with such contempt.")
And when A. O. Scott gets unbuttoned, all his obnoxious bourgeois
cretinism comes bursting out in full-force, as that article
demonstrates. What's up with the "One-Minute Video Reviews" on the
Times' site now? Have you guys watched any of the Scott pieces yet?
Yikes.
Besides Film Forum, I've heard Wellspring is ensuring that the film be
projected at 1.37 wherever it shows. Good job on noting the proper AR
in print, Mr. Dave Kehr!!
craig.
15399
From: hotlove666
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:57pm
Subject: Re: Speeling errors (was An extra N for Millennium Mambo)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Nick Wrigley wrote:
> MGM are rechristening Joseph Cotten for their new release of
Dieterle's
> *marvellous* PORTRAIT OF JENNIE:
> http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002KPHYC.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
> (Anchor Bay's disc was OOP and fetching over $100 on eBay)
Scott McQueen, who did that restoration at Disney before leaving for
Eastman House, can presumably spell better than the folks at MGM-UA
Video. I assume it's Scott's restoration, which would not be the same
as the Anchor Bay. Did that have the green reel and stereo?
>
> and Warner UK get creative with Moreau's first name on Welles' THE
> TRIAL:
> http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0001FYQ5O.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
They are the most clueless of all the major vid outlets -- and yet
Bryon Jamison funded the Red One restoration, so there's someone w.
brains at the top.
15400
From: hotlove666
Date: Sat Sep 11, 2004 7:04pm
Subject: Re: The meaning of the word "documentary" (& OT, oxymorons today)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Fred Camper wrote:
> In today's "New York Times," a photo caption reads:
I once asked a waitress in Lubbock what it meant when the menu said
the fish was fresh. "Fresh off the bus this morning!" she replied.
Many documentaries of the silent era and much later are or include
reenactments -- see Flaherty, or my posts on Terre sans pain. Or for
that matter, see Four Men on a Raft in It's All True, which is also a
mix.
Burnett's Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property is a mix, with the
reeanactments of different versions of Turner the key parts. In that
case it's pretty easy to just call it an essay film, but it certainly
is doing the job of a didactic documentary, as opposed to a fiction
film. Welles defined the essay as "a film which turns its back on
fiction without being a true documentary." I love 'turns its back on
fiction'!
These are mystical and mystifying waters -- it'll be interesting to
see what the CdC come up with in their October all-documentary issue.
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