jose luis guerin
Yes, I wouldn’t mind some José Luis Guerín although there are very good (and English friendly) R2 DVDs + sets of his films available already.
Innisfree/Tren de Sombras/Tren de Sombras/En Construcción in Spain
En la Ciudad de Sylvia in Spain and UK (Axiom Films)
Only seen IN THE CITY WITH SYLVIA but that’s a masterpiece and I have no idea why it’s not being distributed in the US. (Well, actually, I know exactly why it’s not being distributed in the US…)
Luis Garcia Berlanga should be considered too…
Personally I think that Tren de sombras is the best Guerin’s film, it’s full of love for the cinema… There is something primitive, ancestral, in Guerin’s conception of the filmic time. He looks at the movement of a leaf in a tree with the same curiosity that Melies one century ago…
berlanga its such a fine filmmaker…an really nice one to have in criterion
tren de sombras its one of the best movies of all time
I’m reviving this thread knowing that we may have potential Jose Luis Guerin write-ups and discussions sooner or later. I’ve yet to see any of his films myself but I’m quite anticipating the Sylvia films and Berta’s Motives. I hope we see a lot of comments about his work from people like Laali and twodead who are experienced I’d say with him and from others I’ve yet to read opinions too.
I didn’t know there even was a Jose Luis Guerin thread myself, so this will be saved on my directors’ threads lists.
What about the nearly unknown José Val Del Omar? His “Triptico Elemental de España” is truly an amazing achievement.
comments? dim, this is me! comments? i hope everyone else has something to say because..ack…his delicacy deserves more than my slack-jawed drooling…i can’t do him justice…the proper write-ups, we’ll see, i won’t hog this thread, yet. (actually i’m hoping javier pops up because from his ratings, he really doesn’t like guerin, and i’m pretty curious…)
anyway, who says you’re even getting the sylvia films? ;) he’s got others, he’s got ‘range’….and there’s only so much unhealthy stalking that i want to encourage…
is it worth pointing out here his exciting new collaboration with another cup director, jonas mekas? yum.
About Berta’s Motives:
one of the most stunning, dauntingly perfect debut features in the history of european cinema, made more shocking by the fact that the director was only 22 when he made it. that makes it vie with Herzog’s miraculous debut Signs of Life made when he was 24. an oneiric, hypnotic Anti-Pastoral. sublime, eminently Bressonian use of sound, not to mention the ethereal Arielle Dombasle clad in white on a white horse, the shadow of a film within a film, a collection of dead butterflies and a landscape suicide. a bildungsroman and a profound, gorgeous film about waiting – buried and unseen for over two decades. don’t miss it for anything on earth!
P.S. Mekas makes an appearance in Guest as well. Hoping Guest becomes available soon!
^what he said.
thank you, CB. i’ll just get some screenshots.
its interesting that Guerin’s only film that is highly controlled and scripted down to the last little patch of light on the landscape is up against Murnau , a director who is vaunted for his total control of every little detail. as guerin says, much of later work plays on the dialectic between control and chance, the scripted and the accidental.
According to Amazon.com In The City of Sylvia will be coming out on the 24th of May, so I’m looking forward to that.
That upcoming DVD of In the City of Sylvia is scheduled to feature the film’s equally terrific companion piece, Unas fotos en la ciudad de Sylvia, as an extra. Great news, indeed.
The Jeonju Digital Project 2011 promises to be fascinating – Jean-Marie Straub, Claire Denis and Jose Luis Guerin. Since these films will be showcased at the Pusan Festival as always in April-May, chances are that the DVD will be released by JDP sometime later this year. Can’t wait!
Here’s the short synopsis of the film Guerin is making:
José Luis Guerin
1900, A Neighborhood Story (working title) (1900, Historia de Vecinos)
2011 / 40 min / Color / HD
The window of my house frames the façade of a nineteenth century building with a date in large numbers: “1900”. Since I moved to my place 10 years ago, I started to record images of the changing seasons over the tree that interferes between the two buildings. Sometimes, through the autumn leaves or the bare branches, I discover some movement in the windows. These observations of the neighborhood through the tree had the accompaniment of a dissonant violin notes. The violinist neighbor, who doggedly rehearsing in the front window, it was becoming an everyday presence. On the morning of January 21st, 2008 he committed suicide by jumping naked from his window. He was my age and the only think that I have known about him, is that recently prepared a new translation of “Werther” by Goethe, the main story of my adolescence. That date “1900” does not refer here to the origin of a century –mine, the cinema’s one- but the end of the previous century.
More info about all the films here: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=501982876126&id=353609889432
Missing our resident expert on and ardent champion of Guerin, Laali, the person all of us non-Catalan speakers owe a huge debt to for subbing both Berta’s Motives and Unas fotos. Laali come back!
well really nice to see more people are becoming interested in Guerin, to my tastes its the only living director who can challenge Malick…would love to know what Guerin thinks of the tree of life.
the cinema guild edition of both Guerin s movies about loneliness and hope is very good!
would love to know what Guerin thinks of the tree of life
not a lot, apparently.
To be honest I haven’t seen The Tree of Life yet. I would like to, but I’d rather see a new Guerin more.
:D
juan jose namnun
spanish films needs more representation on the criterion collection and guerin is the ideal director to start with( also more from saura)