A few films from Spain I like quite a bit:
El Verdugo (Luis García Berlanga, 1963)
Tesis (Alejandro Amenábar, 1996)
Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (Pedro Almodóvar, 1980)
of course, Costa should have his own corner here, a version of his theoretical “Fontainhas TV” station. and yes, OUT 1 is made for online streaming video…
You already know this since I wrote about it for the Notebook, but the “Tous les garçons et les filles de leur âge…” series that Arte put together in 1994 is perfect material for the site… start with the Akerman!
Since we’re mentioning Out 1, I might as well through Tih-Minh on the list of holy-grail serials.
How about Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind?
or some films by Wang Bing?
Thanks to RWK for mentioning A Brighter Summer Day, Chung Kuo Cina, Straub-Huillet. On all 3 counts, YES!
(And for his “Fuck yes: Fountainhas TV!” – seriously, someone should just email Pedro and make that happen).
Je vous salue, Sarajevo is a truly epic elegy for the living (an early ’90’s short, it’s a true masterwork). La Chinoise captures the necessity and the impossibility of radical action. I’m excited to see Contempt in the next few days (for the 1st time!). 2 or 3 Things is also great but perhaps a bit academic. I’m interested in – but have yet to see – Weekend, Tous Va Bien, his cine-tracts from the Dziga Vertov Group.
Guerín, India Song – great calls both. More Duras in general, for that matter.
some directors to add to the list:
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Kira Muratova, Ritwik Ghatak, Glauber Rocha?
and one of the most beautiful color schemes! Contempt has jumped to near the top of my list, preceded only by Je vous salue Sarajevo. Looking forward to catching up with some of his radical ’60’s work at the Film Forum retro… especially his politically radical later ’60’s work.
I just spotted this via a philosophy journal’s article on Duras:
“A dedicated feminist, [Delphine] Seyrig directed militant films, that are currently being restored by the Centre Simone de Beauvoir in Paris: Maso et Miso vont en bateau (1975, Maso and Miso Go Boating), Scum Manifesto (1976) and the documentary Sois belle et tais-toi (1981, Be Seen and Not Heard) in which she interviews actresses.”
Marionn, you didn’t like Tesis? I think it’s a truly great film. The way Amenabar slowly reveals information to change your apprehension of how the facts fit together is masterful at the level of Hitchcock.
As for what I’m watching now, my next will probably be Ozu’s I Was Born But… on the new Eclipse dvd, but perhaps not for a few days.
I just saw “Mes petites amoureuses” last night and it was charming and terrific. I agree that it’s remarkable and very near perfect; it (along with some of Eustache’s also-unavailable shorts) would make a great addition to The Auteurs.
the last three: Eustache’s Mes Petites Amoureuses (lovely), Godard’s Le Gai Savoir (terrific!) and Ozu’s I Was Born But… (masterful)
Jake, I like Asfalto but agree it’s not of great depth. And I also agree that Nimri is better in Sex and Lucia (Calparsoro certainly likes to show off her beauty in Asfalto, though, huh?).
Umbrellas of Cherbourg popped into my head first, but I could also have gone with Je Vous Salue Sarajevo, Portrait of a Young Girl at the End of the 1960’s in Brussels, or La Jetee (and possibly also To Be Or Not To Be, Army of Shadows, The Rules of the Game, The Searchers, Contempt).
Angela Carter – yes! My favorite book (ever) is The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman.
I recently read Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives, which was terrific. I’ll probably read some Juan Goytisolo next, or start on some nonfiction books (econ/globalization/poverty/development) for a project I’m researching.
Some other favorites include Ignazio Silone’s Bread and Wine, Godel Escher Bach, Everything Is Illuminated, “The Bride from Odessa”, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s La Maison de Rendez-Vous, Martin Heidegger’s “The Origin of the Work of Art”, Gilgamesh, Oryx and Crake, and of course Bresson’s on the Cinematographer.
Toby, I agree with you that the statement’s ironic, and that his work shares many formal structural elements with ‘modern’ classical music.
In spite of the irony, I think Godard also self-consciously straddles the two forms of music as formal concepts in his work. The Mozart influence seems to me based on Mozart as a composer who exemplified a reintroduction of polyphony after the grand simplification of galant music. In filmic terms, we can think about this as being a recomplexifying of form after certain simplifications (both those of Hollywood B pictures, and also of the early New Wave). In music as in film these simplifications were reactions against a certain kind of complexity: J.S. Bach and the composers of the baroque in the case of music; for film, Hollywood sword-and-sandal epics, perhaps? [Not that Godard necessarily disliked these huge Hollywood films, but he and much of the New Wave seemed more invigorated by the ‘simplified’ films of, say, film noir].
When I’m talking about Godard’s form here, I mean a number of things, including his approach to narrative structure on the level of the film as a whole and the use of recurring musical motifs as anchoring devices.
JLG’s Brechtianism isn’t just 4th-wall-breaking; instead it’s the creation of an unfamiliarity with the image through illusion-breaking techniques. His ‘modern’ music influence is a great example; or his play between diegetic and non-diegetic sound (a great example is the scene in Pierrot le fou where Belmondo and Karina drive with the radio on, and then Godard takes what you thought was a dietetic music source and playfully undercuts that assumption). Another great reminder are the scenes in Weekend where characters complain about the quality of the film, or are asked if they are in a film or in the real world.
“He ran toward her. And when he recognized the man who’d trailed him from the camp, he realized there was no escape out of time, and that that moment he’d been granted to see as a child, and that had obsessed him forever after… was the moment of his own death.”
– La Jetee
“That’ll be the day”
- Ethan (John Wayne), The Searchers
If people start writing about May ‘68 here, they’ll really get me going… looking forward to your thoughts. I’d get the ball rolling myself, but I’m currently finishing up an essay on cusp-of-‘68 Godardian notions of work and revolution as contrasted with notions of work and revolt in Chantal Ackerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
Just to clarify: the timeline is polyphonics (Bach) [leads to] reaction/simplification (galant) [leads to] recomplexification (Mozart). this seems an important notion to keep in mind re:Godard’s post-’68 thoughts on the need for a “return to zero” in filmmaking practice, and a building forth from there…
Cidade dos Homens is a great show, though episode-to-episode the results are somewhat inconsistent (visual style, for one thing, seems to change as episodes have different directors who are given relative creative freedom). I’ve seen some truly stunning work on the show, though, and it’s on the short list of my favorite TV shows. My favorite episode, “It’s Gotta Be Now,” really brings to life the weird mix of love and lust that swallows (teenagers) in the presence of the opposite sex
There’s also much to be said about Godard’s use of dialectical montage to create tension, opposition, and thus a synthesis that can only come from work put in by the audience. This is especially true of his post-‘68 work. Prime examples (in totally different ways) would be Le gai savoir and Un film comme les autres. Now I’ll need to explain those ways, I guess… soon.
Gina – yes to all of the above. Though could I really watch “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” on a small screen? maybe we’ll find out. Still, I’d love to see Cluny Brown on here, and more Lubitsch in general… The Man I Killed is a pretty interesting and grossly-underseen Lubitsch as well (though not quite a masterpiece, and with a strange tone for Lubitsch…).
I would especially love to see more Yang and Portabella!
for anyone interested in my Ackerman article referred to above, it was published in the most recent issue of Kino Fist, and is available online here:
http://kinofist.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-womans-work-chantal-ackermans.html
Trailer for Kore-Eda's latest film over 4 years ago
Did Kore-eda just make a samurai romantic comedy?
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Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? over 4 years ago
A few films from Spain I like quite a bit:
El Verdugo (Luis García Berlanga, 1963)
Tesis (Alejandro Amenábar, 1996)
Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (Pedro Almodóvar, 1980)
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Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? over 4 years ago
oh, what the hell, I might as well mention it:
OUT 1
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Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? over 4 years ago
of course, Costa should have his own corner here, a version of his theoretical “Fontainhas TV” station. and yes, OUT 1 is made for online streaming video…
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Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? over 4 years ago
You already know this since I wrote about it for the Notebook, but the “Tous les garçons et les filles de leur âge…” series that Arte put together in 1994 is perfect material for the site… start with the Akerman!
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Feedback over 4 years ago
I’d like to be able to change the order of favorite directors on my profile.
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Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? about 4 years ago
Danny, I am going to ignore that last “practical” comment and keep mentioning the Ackerman at every opportunity.
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Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? about 4 years ago
Also: HOUR OF THE FURNACES.
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VILLAINS. about 4 years ago
Game, set, match to DKAZ.
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Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? about 4 years ago
Since we’re mentioning Out 1, I might as well through Tih-Minh on the list of holy-grail serials.
How about Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind?
or some films by Wang Bing?
Thanks to RWK for mentioning A Brighter Summer Day, Chung Kuo Cina, Straub-Huillet. On all 3 counts, YES!
(And for his “Fuck yes: Fountainhas TV!” – seriously, someone should just email Pedro and make that happen).
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Your Favorite Godard Film? about 4 years ago
Je vous salue, Sarajevo is a truly epic elegy for the living (an early ’90’s short, it’s a true masterwork). La Chinoise captures the necessity and the impossibility of radical action. I’m excited to see Contempt in the next few days (for the 1st time!). 2 or 3 Things is also great but perhaps a bit academic. I’m interested in – but have yet to see – Weekend, Tous Va Bien, his cine-tracts from the Dziga Vertov Group.
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Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? about 4 years ago
Guerín, India Song – great calls both. More Duras in general, for that matter.
some directors to add to the list:
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Kira Muratova, Ritwik Ghatak, Glauber Rocha?
Go to Comment
Your Favorite Godard Film? about 4 years ago
and one of the most beautiful color schemes! Contempt has jumped to near the top of my list, preceded only by Je vous salue Sarajevo. Looking forward to catching up with some of his radical ’60’s work at the Film Forum retro… especially his politically radical later ’60’s work.
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? about 4 years ago
I just spotted this via a philosophy journal’s article on Duras:
“A dedicated feminist, [Delphine] Seyrig directed militant films, that are currently being restored by the Centre Simone de Beauvoir in Paris: Maso et Miso vont en bateau (1975, Maso and Miso Go Boating), Scum Manifesto (1976) and the documentary Sois belle et tais-toi (1981, Be Seen and Not Heard) in which she interviews actresses.”
Let’s add those to the list.
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Who's looking for eachother? about 4 years ago
project forthcoming…
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What are you watching now? about 4 years ago
Marionn, you didn’t like Tesis? I think it’s a truly great film. The way Amenabar slowly reveals information to change your apprehension of how the facts fit together is masterful at the level of Hitchcock.
As for what I’m watching now, my next will probably be Ozu’s I Was Born But… on the new Eclipse dvd, but perhaps not for a few days.
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? about 4 years ago
I just saw “Mes petites amoureuses” last night and it was charming and terrific. I agree that it’s remarkable and very near perfect; it (along with some of Eustache’s also-unavailable shorts) would make a great addition to The Auteurs.
Go to Comment
What are you watching now? about 4 years ago
the last three: Eustache’s Mes Petites Amoureuses (lovely), Godard’s Le Gai Savoir (terrific!) and Ozu’s I Was Born But… (masterful)
Jake, I like Asfalto but agree it’s not of great depth. And I also agree that Nimri is better in Sex and Lucia (Calparsoro certainly likes to show off her beauty in Asfalto, though, huh?).
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Your Favorite Godard Film? about 4 years ago
having just seen it for the first time, I think the the radical montage / revolutionary theory / temporality of Le Gai Savoir is flat-out brilliant.
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When I say "A Perfect Film", What One Film Pops Into Your Head First? about 4 years ago
Umbrellas of Cherbourg popped into my head first, but I could also have gone with Je Vous Salue Sarajevo, Portrait of a Young Girl at the End of the 1960’s in Brussels, or La Jetee (and possibly also To Be Or Not To Be, Army of Shadows, The Rules of the Game, The Searchers, Contempt).
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Who do you read? about 4 years ago
Angela Carter – yes! My favorite book (ever) is The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman.
I recently read Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives, which was terrific. I’ll probably read some Juan Goytisolo next, or start on some nonfiction books (econ/globalization/poverty/development) for a project I’m researching.
Some other favorites include Ignazio Silone’s Bread and Wine, Godel Escher Bach, Everything Is Illuminated, “The Bride from Odessa”, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s La Maison de Rendez-Vous, Martin Heidegger’s “The Origin of the Work of Art”, Gilgamesh, Oryx and Crake, and of course Bresson’s on the Cinematographer.
Go to Comment
Godard: Marx and others who influenced his films about 4 years ago
Toby, I agree with you that the statement’s ironic, and that his work shares many formal structural elements with ‘modern’ classical music.
In spite of the irony, I think Godard also self-consciously straddles the two forms of music as formal concepts in his work. The Mozart influence seems to me based on Mozart as a composer who exemplified a reintroduction of polyphony after the grand simplification of galant music. In filmic terms, we can think about this as being a recomplexifying of form after certain simplifications (both those of Hollywood B pictures, and also of the early New Wave). In music as in film these simplifications were reactions against a certain kind of complexity: J.S. Bach and the composers of the baroque in the case of music; for film, Hollywood sword-and-sandal epics, perhaps? [Not that Godard necessarily disliked these huge Hollywood films, but he and much of the New Wave seemed more invigorated by the ‘simplified’ films of, say, film noir].
When I’m talking about Godard’s form here, I mean a number of things, including his approach to narrative structure on the level of the film as a whole and the use of recurring musical motifs as anchoring devices.
JLG’s Brechtianism isn’t just 4th-wall-breaking; instead it’s the creation of an unfamiliarity with the image through illusion-breaking techniques. His ‘modern’ music influence is a great example; or his play between diegetic and non-diegetic sound (a great example is the scene in Pierrot le fou where Belmondo and Karina drive with the radio on, and then Godard takes what you thought was a dietetic music source and playfully undercuts that assumption). Another great reminder are the scenes in Weekend where characters complain about the quality of the film, or are asked if they are in a film or in the real world.
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Film quotes you love about 4 years ago
Halim, that’s terrific.
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Film quotes you love about 4 years ago
“He ran toward her. And when he recognized the man who’d trailed him from the camp, he realized there was no escape out of time, and that that moment he’d been granted to see as a child, and that had obsessed him forever after… was the moment of his own death.”
– La Jetee
“That’ll be the day”
- Ethan (John Wayne), The Searchers
Go to Comment
Godard: Marx and others who influenced his films about 4 years ago
If people start writing about May ‘68 here, they’ll really get me going… looking forward to your thoughts. I’d get the ball rolling myself, but I’m currently finishing up an essay on cusp-of-‘68 Godardian notions of work and revolution as contrasted with notions of work and revolt in Chantal Ackerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
Just to clarify: the timeline is polyphonics (Bach) [leads to] reaction/simplification (galant) [leads to] recomplexification (Mozart). this seems an important notion to keep in mind re:Godard’s post-’68 thoughts on the need for a “return to zero” in filmmaking practice, and a building forth from there…
Go to Comment
Godard: Marx and others who influenced his films about 4 years ago
[I wish I could figure out how to type an arrow without creating crossed-out text!]
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Any Fans of "City of Men" the TV Series? about 4 years ago
Cidade dos Homens is a great show, though episode-to-episode the results are somewhat inconsistent (visual style, for one thing, seems to change as episodes have different directors who are given relative creative freedom). I’ve seen some truly stunning work on the show, though, and it’s on the short list of my favorite TV shows. My favorite episode, “It’s Gotta Be Now,” really brings to life the weird mix of love and lust that swallows (teenagers) in the presence of the opposite sex
Go to Comment
Godard: Marx and others who influenced his films almost 5 years ago
There’s also much to be said about Godard’s use of dialectical montage to create tension, opposition, and thus a synthesis that can only come from work put in by the audience. This is especially true of his post-‘68 work. Prime examples (in totally different ways) would be Le gai savoir and Un film comme les autres. Now I’ll need to explain those ways, I guess… soon.
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? almost 4 years ago
Gina – yes to all of the above. Though could I really watch “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” on a small screen? maybe we’ll find out. Still, I’d love to see Cluny Brown on here, and more Lubitsch in general… The Man I Killed is a pretty interesting and grossly-underseen Lubitsch as well (though not quite a masterpiece, and with a strange tone for Lubitsch…).
I would especially love to see more Yang and Portabella!
Go to Comment
Godard: Marx and others who influenced his films almost 4 years ago
for anyone interested in my Ackerman article referred to above, it was published in the most recent issue of Kino Fist, and is available online here:
http://kinofist.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-womans-work-chantal-ackermans.html
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