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Reviews
Un homme sans l'Occident (2002)
diametrical contrary ways to the same intention: the essence of cinema
the one end of the spectrum is Josef Von Sternberg 'morocco', his genius evocation of the desert in the aseptic atmosphere of the paramount studios of 1930, an artificial space, the completely cimematogaphic picture of eroticism, sexuality or yearning, the illusion of the dream factory, shortly cinema and nothing else.
on the other end of this spectrum stands Werner Herzog and his film 'fata Morgana'(1970): he shot on location, as he always does, but the place he creates, his view, his idea of the location is as unreal as Von Sternberg's, just in opposite approach: in his mind the Sahara is seen through the eyes of an alien, so it becomes to an enigmatic and pessimistic state deception, a super elevation of the preset; (some kind of a reverse angle of this film is his 'the wild blue yonder') however, Von Sternberg or Herzog, the intention is the same: the creation of the cinematographic room.
now Raymond Depardon, in his beginnings famous photo reporter, making movies over thirty years, always on the edge of documentary and fiction, with an especially passion for the continent Africa; alongside his other great works, is it this passionate relationship, which will be of interest for us now.
although or because of he shoots (like Herzog) always on location, in this film there are grades of alienation, let's say fractures or reflections, because the word alienation in this case seems too much Brecht: the pictures reflects the commentary, the commentary reflects the novel, the novel (maybe) the true events; it's the thing with the Russian puppets. the novel by Diego Brosset from a hundred year ago, the pictures by Depardon also a reconstruction, a convergence at the same place at another time. at large cinema often has to do with different action in the same time at different places (horizontal heterogeneity), or different action at the same place in different times (vertical heterogeneity).
a vertical heterogeneity in a similar conception as depardon's you can discover in 'operai, contadini'(2000), a genius masterpiece by jean Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet.
in both cases of course this special kind of vertical heterogeneity is far beyond the closed system of (filmic) dramaturgy, because it is based on the real places and the real events so it works in a much wider signification: it is realism, far away from any naturalistic attitude at all: a discrepancy to the highly artificial conception of Von Sternberg or to the dreamed extraterrestrial view of Herzog? yes and no. in all these examples it is the radical personal view of the filmmakers which creates the cinematographic space; comparable only within the family of the great masters and magicians of seventh art, but always unique.
different from the Straubs Depardon shot his film in black and white and this was his most radical decision. the first shot of the movie is the most abstract of all: the completely white screen. but it is a very concrete picture also, soon you can see black spots in the white, which become 'figures in a landscape'. the abstract in the concrete, out from the concrete, illusion and disillusionment, other inseparable pairs and antipodes in cinematography. the landscape here, the desert, is a waste land a 'empty quarter' if you want, and the way depardon shows us this void, is deeply shaking: a flamboyant nothing in which the human either is like a foreign substance in a hostile space (again Werner Herzog and his 'extraterrestrial' point of view in 'Fata Morgana'), this seems to apply mainly for the strangers, the colonialists, the occupying force, the natives attends rather as a kind of symbiotic mergence, which consequently results in vanishing. vanishing of people, vanishing of picture: the sandstorm, which in depardon's photography resembles a snowstorm, nearly solves the picture to the abstract white screen again.
the lost of surrounding is the lost of security; to slide, to fall: the storm blows sand over the dunes like in the apocalyptic last shot of (again) herzogs 'Nosferatu - Phantom Der Nacht', the humans are sliding down the shifting dunes without foothold, like in Jacques Rivette's 'merry-go-round', so the barely visible landscape is in constantly sliding too. no safeness at all. no safeness for the colonial troops in their forts, the invaders and oppressors; in terms of filmic semiotic this is the genre of western: they are the soldiers in their forts, the Tuareg are the Indians. left the fort means death: the natives struggle with nature is the principal theme of Flaherty: 'man of Aran', 'nanook of the north'..
the most shocking moment in Depardon's film is the change from day to night, in the middle; so far during the whole picture you solely have seen a crude brightness, which i at least have never seen before in cinema, and now there is the blackest black.
the brutal and abrupt change of day and night, let us physically feel the change of heat and cold. here we see the probably most genius shot of the whole film, again concrete although it looks like abstract 'cinéma absolute', like a shot made by Méliès or from an animation film: the completely black screen. through this blacking wanders a perfect white disc, which is in the concrete action the moon, which could be an abstract geometric field by Oskar Fischinger or Norman McLaren for example. of course it this the moon, but this ambiguity (illusion and disillusionment) is the key to the entire concept.
the human being is foaled Heidegger would say.
Collateral (2004)
michael mann meeting with fritz lang, alfred hitchcock, hal ashby and the others
the universal point of view, the aerial, completely vertical supervision-shot, a 'classic' since wise/robbins' opening-sequence of 'west side story', auctorial of course. this verbalizes tom cruise: 'we are nothing in the darkness of the universe.' he says it as a apology for what he is doing in life, but mann confutes him, before he has actually said. like a counterpoint there is a sequence of detail-shots -(the accurate attention on details is most important in cinematography always)- of daily work, hand-work, done by the blue collar workers on the airport or in the taxi-garage, and this work is useful and immanent, completely different to the 'job' of cruise, and thats the reason why mann shows it so careful. the other counterpoint that follows is a kaleidoscope of different taxi drivers in diverse areas of los angeles; against cruises statement mann points out the variety of human life, in characterizing the drivers short and exact through the variable music they listen in their cabs, before he focuses on jamie foxx. (generally it is great, how mann uses music in this picture, each time in an organic way). with the different drivers mann creates a first overview of the different regions of los angeles, even the outskirts, the border, the border-line; rare, that a literar metaphor works in pictures, here it does; foxx' character touches his limits, of course, but cruise as well in the end, his ending. the peripheries of los angeles evocates another movie almost forty years ago, 'key witness' by phil karlson; (another karlson-film crosses my mind, the hero a taxi driver too: '99 river street', shot in 1953). the uncontrolled, vast and rampant expansion: or the ultimate futuretown created by fritz lang in 1926: 'metropolis' (even if he had the idea to this picture, when he saw the skyline of manhattan for the first time from the railing of the ship); nearby l.a. he lives the next decades and he sees directly the growing of the city until his death in 1976. in 1975 roman polanski's view-back on los angeles in the thirties: 'chinatown'; in this age lang shots his first Hollywood picture 'fury'(1936). (the title of the following fritz-lang-movie could be a dialogueline in 'collateral', spoken by tom cruise: 'you only live once'). the town, in 1960 viewed by phil karlson, in 1985 william friedkin, 'to live and die in l.a.' and in 1986 in hal ashby's last motion picture '8 million ways to die', a final masterpiece. (the end of a career and the beginning of another: oliver stone wrote the script). now in 2004 cruise speaks about 17 millions habitants, the growing continues. so mann' film is based on this tradition, and he is conscious of this great heritage. in the year 2000 french filmmaker gérard mordillat shots a brilliant movie called 'l'apprentissage de la ville', this title could be one motto of 'collateral', martin scorsese's 'bringing out the dead'(1999), the other; (in the case of scorsese 'taxi driver' is evident, naturally, but also 'after hours').mann discovers with jamie foxx and tom cruise the city instead of the whole country of the united (?) states; the whole country, that made hitchcock with cary grant: 'north by northwest' (1959), and of course jamie foxx is a true hitchcock- hero, and also the hero of classic geek drama. because he brings out the dead unintentionally, he becomes innocently guilty; the entity of time and place conforms with the Greek drama as well; (maybe walsh's 'they drive by night' or louis-ferdinand céline's 'voyage au bout de la nuit' are other illuminative titles). the character played by tom cruise is a far relative of alain delon as jean-pierre melville's 'le samourai'. - (melville's 'deux hommes dans manhattan' is another related movie) - determinism, fatalism, resignation; in the end the voidness of all human pursuit; the counterdraft of 'the pursuit of happiness'. this are some unsystematic reflections in meditating on this outstanding movie 'collateral'; for some readers certainly too little about the story or the content: to you i say: go and watch this film (again), it will be a great experience
Jeunesse dorée (2001)
a movie about learning to see, to see that life could be more..
'open your eyes and discover..' with this words began a song of the band 'yes' a few years ago, it could be the device of this film, the device for the two girls, who are the main characters, and a device for us the spectators. they are learning to see during this movie, and we, the viewers are learning with and through them. they and we learn, that life could be more, than tristesse. one of my thesis is, that you can appreciate ninety percent of all movies after the first two shots; in this case satisfies the first: an incredible establishing shot, a plan-sequence, technically and textual on the highest level. it shows you on the one hand the trist environment of the 'banlieue', of some town in the département 'hautes-de-seine', but it shows you also, because of the elaborating way this shot was made, the openminded curiosity of the view of the protagonist, because within the shot the point of view became subjectiv. so we are coming to another most important matter in making movies: the attitude; the attitude of the filmmaker is the view. the view at the protagonists, and this view has to be compassionate, tender-hearted, affectionate.
every good film reflects the medium, here through photography. the two girls goes on a journey for the very first time in their lives, a journey through France, to photograph buildings and speak with the people, who live there. this journey becomes a initiation and a deliverance, even because there is no cursory action, or very dramatic event. so the narrative plot is completely organic and natural, reduced to the essence; to apply ockam's razor. optically predominates fix shots in perfect cadrage, we have in mind the films of jean-marie straub and danièle huillet or in writing terms the oeuvre of peter handke. it is also a variation of alain tanners masterpiece 'messidor' (in a much more optimistic way), or wim wenders 'im lauf der zeit' (girls instead of men, much more optimistic also), roberto rossellinis 'viaggio in italia' (girls instead of couples, here is the term of salvation similar). the french knows the history of cinema, and whats movies are about, it seems since the day of birth. short: one of the best movies i've seen the last few weeks, which means a lot, in seeing about five films a day, a great director with a brilliant future..
Invincible (2001)
werner herzog: the perfect heir or german expressionism cinema
werner herzog is the perfect heir of german expressionism cinema. in 'nosferatu' he greets f.w. murnau, in this film fritz lang: the séance-scene is a hommage to langs masterpiece 'dr. mabuse - der spieler'. above that tim roth gives the best performance of his career, so far. the main character 'zishe breitbart' is a real herzog hero, allied to bruno s. , as an older brother from kaspar hauser ( 'jeder für sich und gott gegen alle'), the similarity of their visions is evident. also he is related to the character that john malkovich played in volker schloendorffs 'der unhold', an unjust commercial desaster too. like in bernhard wickis 'das spinnennetz' you feel the horror in a more terrifying way in the analytic descreption of the 'before'. the esthetic qualities of the motion picture are visible in every single shot and verify the sovereignty of the creator, a uncontested master.