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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Maximalism of screen liberty

@ 3/12/2008 04:41:00 PM By HarryTuttle
Robert Koehler (at the Guadalajara festival) wrote a very interesting article on Lisandro Alonso and the new (minimalist) world cinema. Read the full article at FilmJourney. Here is an excerpt:
A solid survey of recent Argentine films, which starts for me with Lisandro Alonso's La libertad, the film that actually launched a whole new way of making post-narrative films. My Cinema Scope colleague Mark Peranson (...) has noted that La libertad was also one of the first films of its era to break down the division between documentary and fiction. This, more than any other single thing, is what distinguishes the new world cinema, whether it's by Raya Martin, Jim Finn, Pedro Costa or Albert Serra (and others). Alonso didn't start what gets commonly called "New Argentine Cinema" (there were at least two previous "new" periods), but he radicalized it, and offered a new way.

As far as I know (...) La libertad has never screened in Los Angeles. Not a surprise perhaps (it took a while before Alonso's next, Los muertos, made it to Los Angeles). But this means that the most seminal film of the most important film movement of the past seven years hasn't played in the would-be film capital of the world. But its context in Guadalajara is even more important, since La libertad is placed alongside other key films like Martel's La cienaga and Carri's Los rubios as a way of defining what a national film movement actually looks like. The irony is that there's nothing absolutely Argentine about La libertad. Its freedom is a freedom from nationality, time-space, narrative laws, camera laws and the expectations that audiences instinctively impose on themselves. But pay attention to the actual translation of the Spanish title: "Liberty"--a harder, more profound word than "freedom," a word pointing to a greater leap, a commitment to an ideal, an identifier for an equation that even describes its opposition--oppression. Liberty is harder-won. Liberty is that thing that the films that really matter aspire to. This one just has the balls to take it as its own name.

A film about Misael, who cuts trees and shapes them into logs for sale. A film, really, about what Misael does--searching for his trees, wandering, taking a shit, finding, chopping, shaving, napping, stacking, moving them to a distribution point, returning to his base camp labeled "Los errantes," finding an armadillo for dinner, killing it, cutting it up, building a fire for the grill, grilling it, stacking the loose brush from his woodcutting, burning the brush, finishing the grilling, eating the armadillo (the hard shell forms a dish, as the dead tail wags back and forth), looking into the camera as lightning approaches. Active progressive verbs for an active progressive film that moves forward at every moment, considers every moment precious and immediate and the one thing right now--right. now.---that matters and nothing else. There are few films that encompass a world, a state of existence so purely and totally. Many have noted that Alonso's film is one of those ultimate affirmations of Andre Bazin's ideal cinema, the emphatic assertion of the real on screen. It allows the eye to pay absolute attention to what Misael is doing, because what he's doing not only is what counts, but what defines him. So in that sense, you have the essence of character. But there's the matching factor that almost nothing is even close to being "acted." Certainly not "written." La libertad is arranged and choreographed, an attentive contemplation on a human in nature. The big lie, by the way, is that this is ''minimalism." (The same way we hear Apichatpong Weerasethakul described as ''minimalist.") No--this is maximalism, a cinema containing everything needed for its own value and purpose, and that has the effect of growing in the mind, either as the viewer recalls it, or sees it again.

Robert Koehler
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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Pleasures of Contemplation

@ 3/11/2008 09:55:00 AM By HarryTuttle
At OffScreen, this is a film review by Michael Crochetière about Robin Schlaht's first dramatic feature "Solitude" (2001). Here is my selection of highlights typically depicting the contemplative aspect of filmmaking :
(...) the fragmented, ambiguous backstories and paradoxical motivations of the lead characters, the idea of emotional detachment, the motif of observation and the folly of trying to understand the heart of another. At its heart, Solitude is about personal journeys, about everyday lives filled with small victories and moments of what Henry David Thoreau called "quiet desperation".

Solitude is a film without an inciting incident (unless one considers the arrival of Michele at the abbey, an event which occurs before the film begins). The film's structure is episodic, consisting of highly resonant privileged moments spelled by intervals of quiet reflection. Schlaht believes that these negative spaces - moments of uneasy stasis, hesitation or indecision - ultimately define his characters. (...)
Without the advantage of interior monologue Michele is most dependent upon a subdued yet charged environment which speaks eloquently for her in a language drawn from the rhythms, sounds and images of monastic life and the natural world.

With a confluence of elemental images (e.g. glass, water), Solitude speaks eloquently of dark metaphysical forests, personal boundaries and the invisible barriers that divide us. (...) We watch through the windshield as Michele engages in small talk with Geraldine, the bursts of dialogue separated by long uncomfortable silences. (...) As in Yasujiro Ozu's silent codas, these transitional sequences draw meaning and weight from the scenes that precede and follow them, speaking volumes for the characters which inhabit them.

The film's penultimate scene consists of another remarkable long take. In the forest, Michele breaks down beneath the weight of her solitary struggle. As the shot progresses, we come to understand that these are tears of redemption, that we are witnessing a deeply transformative moment. (...) In a film dominated by tableau framings, Schlaht saves one of his few close-ups for a moment when two emotionally isolated characters finally make contact. He elects to shoot Michele's epiphany in shallow focus as a means of 'isolating the character from the outside world and directing our attention towards her internal emotional process.' The scene becomes almost impressionistic, its use of tonal gradients and iridescent light conveying her fragile emotional state.

By design, Solitude is the antithesis of the tightly constructed narrative. The characters' backstories are fragmentary, the exposition gradual and ambiguous. Schlaht derives his strategy from the film's location: "It was partly due to the nature of being on retreat at the abbey. The asking of questions is not encouraged. Very few questions are asked in Solitude and even fewer are answered. The characters are so involved in the process of observing and interpreting or misinterpreting ... that it seemed appropriate to invite the audience into that same process. Not knowing keeps one engaged."

For Schlaht, the movie screen is a contemplative and cognitive space, a philosophy that's grounded in his background as a documentary filmmaker. Films such as Sons and Daughters (1994) and Moscow Summer (1996) are deeply affecting social documents that resonate with an intrinsic respect for his subject, the exquisite black and white imagery (often shot in slow motion) inviting the viewer to consider the importance of the gestures and inflections of everyday life. His move from documentary to narrative fiction is marked by a less formalized approach to the same humanistic values and concerns. The episodic structure remains, as do the meditative non-verbal sequences. (...) However, Solitude ultimately achieves a transcendence for its characters by other means, primarily through, as Andrei Tarkovsky writes, "a poetry born of pure observation...that does not signify or symbolize life, but embodies it."
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Saturday, March 08, 2008

LINKS :: Pedro COSTA

@ 3/08/2008 10:52:00 PM By HarryTuttle
Pedro COSTA (born 1959, Portugal) = 49 yold in 2008
12 films/ 4 screenplays (1st film:1984/latest film:2007)
INSPIRED BY : Straub/Huillet, Jean Rouch, John Ford, Nouvelle Vague, Duras, Murnau, Charles Laughton, Jacques Tourneur, António Reis
C.C.C. films (strict model in red) : Ne Change Rien (2009)v; Tarrafal (2007)v; Juventude Em Marcha/Colossal Youth (2006)v; Où gît votre sourire enfoui? (2001)v; No Quarto da Vanda/In Vanda's Room (2000)v; Ossos/Bones (1997)v; Casa de Lava (1994)v; O Sangue/Blood (1989)v
INFLUENCE ON : ?


Ne Change Rien (2009) Cannes 2009
Rabbit Hunters (2007) short segment from omnibus : Memories IMDb
  • video on YouTube (CineLuso) part 1 - 2 - 3 21'06"
  • (add link here)

Tarrafal (2007) IMDb

Juventude Em Marcha/Colossal Youth (2006) - Cannes 2006 IMDb

Où gît votre sourire enfoui? (2001) IMDb

No Quarto da Vanda/In Vanda's Room (2000) - Locarno 2000 - Cannes 2002 IMDb

Ossos/Bones (1997) - Venice 1997 IMDb

Casa de Lava (1994) - Cannes 1994 (Un Certain Regard) IMDb

O Sangue/Blood (1989) IMDb

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
  • "Pedro Costa, de Lisbonne au Cap-Vert" By: Frédéric Strauss (Cahiers du cinéma n° 490, Avril 1995) [FRENCH]
  • "La sorcière et le rémouleur" By: Thierry Lounas (Cahiers du cinéma n° 538, Sept 1999) [FRENCH]
  • "L'image en chantier" By: Stéphane Delorme (Cahiers du cinéma n° 584, Nov 2003) [FRENCH]
  • "Pedro Costa : Whispering in distant chambers" (Sendai Mediatheque, Japan, 2005) [JAPANESE]
  • "Pedro Costa : Film retrospective in Sendai 2005" By: Shigehiko Hasumi & François Albéra & Nobuhiro Suwa & Frederic Bonnaud (Sendai Mediatheque, Japan) [ENGLISH] [JAPANESE]
  • "Un cinéaste punk / Pedro Costa" (Cahiers du cinéma n° 603, juillet-août 2005) [FRENCH]
  • "STILL LIVES: THE FILMS OF PEDRO COSTA" By: James Quandt (Sept 2006, Artforum) online excerpt here
  • "Mon regard et celui des acteurs étaient le même" By: Emmanuel Burdeau & Thierry Lounas (Cahiers du cinéma n° 619, Jan 2007) [FRENCH]
  • "Pedro Costa. A Portuguese maverick looks back at film history and forward to its future" By: Thom Andersen (Film Comment, Mar/Apr 2007)
  • Portugese edition of the films of Pedro Costa By: Ricardo Matos Cabo & Shigehiko Hasumi & Jacques Rancière & Bernard Eisenschitz (coming soon) [PORTUGUESE] [ENGLISH]
  • "Mr. Costa Goes to Vienna" By: Quintín (Cinema Scope #25)
  • Hughes, Darren. "Pedro Costa’s 'Vanda Trilogy' and the Limits of Narrative Cinema as a Contemplative Art", Chapter 12, in the collective book Faith And Spirituality In Masters Of World Cinema, 2008, Ed. Cambridge Scholar's Publishing, pp. 160-174 (excerpt here)
  • Dossiê: Pedro Costa, special issue of Devires (Jan-Jun 2008, v5 N°1) with articles by: Jair Tadeu da Fonseca, Mateus Araújo Silva, Jacques Lemière, Oswaldo Teixeira, Stella Senra, Jacques Rancière, Cyril Neyrat, Maurício Salles Vasconcellos, Bárbara Barroso, Daniel Ribas, Francesca Azzi [PORTUGUESE] (abstract here)
  • "Man with the Mini-DV Camera" By: Kim West (Site Magazine, #24, p.6, 2008) PDF
  • "Editorial : Necesidad de Pedro Costa" By: Carlos F. Heredero (Cahiers du cinéma España, #23, 8 May 2009) [SPANISH]
  • "Actitud ‘Punk’" By: Eulàlia Iglesias (Cahiers du cinéma España, #23, 8 May 2009) [SPANISH]
  • "Introduccion : Resistencias" By: Glòria Salvadó Corretger (Cahiers du cinéma España, #23, 8 May 2009) [SPANISH]
  • "Filmografia commentada : Un cine en marcha" (Cahiers du cinéma España, #23, 8 May 2009) [SPANISH]
  • "Resistir en la memoria" By: Lourdes Monterrubio (Cahiers du cinéma España, #23, 8 May 2009) [SPANISH]
  • "De la disolución al monumento" By: Carlos Losilla (Cahiers du cinéma España, #23, 8 May 2009) [SPANISH]
  • "Hacia un hiperrealismo de la imagen digital" By: Àngel Quintana (Cahiers du cinéma España, #23, 8 May 2009) [SPANISH]
  • "La audacia es bella" By: Jaime Pena (Cahiers du cinéma España, #23, 8 May 2009) [SPANISH]
  • "Serenidad" By: Miguel Gomes (Cahiers du cinéma España, #23, 8 May 2009) [SPANISH] [EN]
  • (add reference here)
GENERAL ONLINE ARTICLES
INTERVIEW
TEXT BY PEDRO COSTA
WEBSITES
DOCUMENTARY ON PEDRO COSTA
  • Tout refleurit: Pedro Costa, cinéaste (2006/Aurélien Gerbault/France) IMDb
Please complete, correct info when needed, fix broken links. This is an ongoing resource page to be updated.
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Friday, March 07, 2008

arte povera

@ 3/07/2008 03:35:00 PM By HarryTuttle
Adrian Martin's letter (6-30-1997) in chapter 1 of Movie Mutations, the changing face of world cinephilia (2003), talking about Cassavetes' Love Stream (1984) and Philippe Garrel's Les Baisers de Secours (1989), snipet :
"Cassavetes and Garrel stand for one sort of extreme that I love and cherish in cinema : a kind of arte povera fixed on the minute fluctuations of intimate life, on the effervescence of mood and emotion, and the instability of all lived meaning. A cinema which is a kind of documentary event where the energies of bodily performance, of gesture and utterance and movement, collide willy-nilly, in ways not always forseen or proscribed, with the dynamic, formal, figurative work of shooting, framing, cutting, sound recording. A cinema open to the energies and intensities of life - and perpetually transformed by them."

Read also:
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Tarr's universe

@ 3/07/2008 12:57:00 AM By HarryTuttle
"Out of Tarr's universe"
A poetic look at the work of Hungarian film director Béla Tarr.
By Nadine Poulain (in filmwaves #34, Autumn 2007)

excerpts (my emphasis) :

[foreword]
"Instead of deconstructing Bela Tarr's films the following essay aims to capture the uniqueness and intensity of his work. Meaning and interpretation is left to the individual. Film as experience.

Endless rain
Mud's soft embrace
Gravity, weight, physical being
Black and white
or rather an infinite graduation of greys"
(...)
"Tarr's universe, where the story is bare, a secondary thing. It provides the structure for the subtle to unfold. Locations are equal to characters. We contemplate them, have time to become familiar with their peculiarities. Often we arrive at a location before the characters enter the frame, stay there after they have left. Temps mort, our breeding ground, has never been more alive. Scenery and natural elements tell their own stories, in their own time. Breathing still lives that sometimes get invaded by the characters. We do not have to follow, as they walk in and out. Off-screen noise, off-screen action, reminds us of the world beyond the frame. A camera that reveals, while at the same time denying. Attention is drawn to what escapes our gaze. It is self-conscious directing. The frame always also refers to what lies outside of it, to the subjective nature of cinematic reality."
(...) [describing the scene in Damnation with the couple in the room at the break of dawn] :
"Content with one frame, we rest. We become familiar with this side of the room, while we wonder how the rest looks, who the woman is. A reversed opening shot, leaving us in a state, where we cannot locate ourselves. We experience a slight tension from being denied, rather than exposed. The singularity of the shot refers to all there could be. It speaks of literature's great potential: to evoke.

The absence of the cut. Raw and unfiltered time. Our eyes travel over space that constantly opens up. We gain what editing takes away: the chance to find relevance and emphasis ourselves. Meditative, contemplative, demanding: the long take, cinema of continuity. Information, cut replaced by confidence in transcending the passive viewer position. We enter into a partnership, re-seeing and re-exploring. We feel the presence of the characters. Real life. People who are never more or less than a part of their environment. We get to know and understand them, through spending time with them and the world they are living in. In respectful distance, we observe. Slowly they reveal their personage."
(...) [describing Estike's journey in Satantango, the girl who tortures the cat] :
"To share silence, to become comfortable with the absence of words, it is intimacy that unfolds. Inner states are accessed through a detour. Her opaqueness does not burden us with outer manifestations. Immediate exhaustibility is denied, emotional involvement counterbalanced. This distance in reverse brings us closer to her, for it is from our own depth that we have to draw.

Tarr's universe, an intense and honest engagement. Sensibilities and interest for the banal, the every day, meditated through style. Visual pleasure. Immaculately composed, brilliantly photographed. A graceful camera. We come closer to life, while at the same time maintain a reflective distance.
Tarr's universe, where dark images alternate with light ones, become all the darker after the pale and misty. Where words are rare, not to be wasted. At times they follow one another, form a denseness that plays off the silence preceding and following. We glide through space, endlessly stalking, then motionless we rest. The dance of opposites. Impact in relation to the other. Each long shot establishes a sense of materiality, a temporal denseness. It emphasises the moment, concentrates on the singular. Action, sound and camera work in their repetition form rhythmical patterns. Caught in the drama of the moment, perception for change is heightened. The cut, a major event."
(...) [describing the music speech scene in Werkmeister Harmonies] :
"Then we travel back and embark on another journey around the head of the speaker. One circle after the other. Camera movement and speech take on a sense of materiality. What will happen next? when? We are caught in the drama of the moment, its monotonous denseness.
Restless we drift through space, soak up each syllable, just to rest motionless again, enjoy the silence after anew.

We are in Bela Tarr's universe, a convincing parallel world with its own laws, its own logic. A universe out of joint. (...) The creature of self-pity mankind. When it reflects upon its disgraceful nature, it cannot but burst into laughter. It is the one, which after all can retreat into detachment, can distance itself from itself. The mocking one, annoying and entertaining itself with its continuous mourning.
When one goes all the way into one direction, one comes out at the opposite end. Maybe? Is where bleakness becomes funny, misery turns into hope, self-neglect becomes a passionate embrace?

Tarr's universe, always detached, always respectful. One vision one idea, uncompromised. A bleakly comic reflection on the human condition. Polemic in its pessimisms, it is nevertheless democratic, for it invites us, engages with us on many levels. It is a somehow wholesome experience. A journey, rather than a moral lesson. Facing the worst of what we can be, we may be able to regain pride and grace, and if it is just for the fact, that we diagnose."
(...)
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