In My Skin
Marina De Van’s 2002 directorial debut
though not necessarily everyday
Buster Keaton’s “THE GENERAL”
Cornel Wilde’s “THE NAKED PREY”
Oliver Hirschbiegel’s “DER UNTERGANG” (In English, “DOWNFALL”)
Julian Schnabel’s “THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY”
You may argue that none of these titles deal with “everyday gestures” because THE GENERAL is a silent film, so naturally all physical movement is exaggerated. THE NAKED PREY is about a man running for his life – not exactly an everyday gesture. Bruno Ganz in DOWNFALL depicts a crazy man’s body language and THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY deals with the absence of body language – neither of which are everyday gestures.
Helpful to you specifically or not – in their own ways, these movies are all testaments to body language in some shape or form.
Love,
Marty.
Colleen Moore’s Ella Cinders, you should see her eyes in that one.
I love Isabelle Adjani in pretty much everything. In the movie Bon Voyage I saw it without subs and didn’t know much French. She is sooo expressive. I knew what she meant practically every time.
I would recommend you to check out all films by Maya Deren, especially “Meditation on Violence” and “A Study in Choreography for Camera”. For everyday gestures might Tsai Ming-liang´s films be interesting to have a look at.
Get a hold of Criterion’s release of “Kind Hearts and Coronets”. Among the supplementals is a 60-minute interview of Sir Alec Guiness. A fair amount of time is focussed on the body language he employs in creating characterizations. He studies animals and subtly mimics their movements in his portrayals. He offers physical examples during the interview. It’s fascinating and may be what you’re seeking in terms of how actors imbue everyday gestures with clues to character.
Eric Rohmer films, for the small gestures and details. Bresson famously concentrated on hands, feet etc in single shots as part of his pared down minimalism. The great Japanese director Mizoguchi liked to keep enough distance to capture body language in relation to others and setting, rather than close ups.
As for Alec Guinness i’ve tended to think of him as a chameleon
Everything by Bresson and Sternberg.
Watch the good doctor. Strangelove, that is.
Ben Gazzara had this gesture, maybe an Italian thing, with his arms opening, like the subtle beginnings of an embrace, as if to say “embrace what I say.” I noticed it in Anatomy of a Murder and the Cassavetes films.
Last year at Marienbad
A great example, Javier. Resnais as well as Cocteau focussed a lot on gestures which seemed to resemble those of ancient statues.
What about “The perfect human (Det perfekte menneske, 1967)” from Jørgen Leth?.
It focuses on bodies, gestures, objects and language. All of those, as rituals.
I think it’s a powerful example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIjNv2b5C8Q&feature=related
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I’ve been interested in films studying movement for some time, but I haven’t made much headway. I’m looking for films particularly studying human gestures of the everyday, though not mostly through the face.