a visual collective outlet of inspiration
c’est pas moi poster
if video is missing you can click on it’s not me trailer
be sure to catch leos carax latest film ‘it’s not me” on criterion channel streaming live this tuesday at 9pm est. time. by uh
must see films
le mepris: breakdown of jean luc godard’s garden scene in contempt
at the expense of being screamed at… i do believe woman, more than men, have the ability to turn off emotions. men may subdue their emotions, but once there… it is not so easy for men to turn back.
a really beautiful breakdown of this loaded and constructed garden scene in le mepris by
definitely one of my favorite films, seen it projected several time, have it on blue ray, and highly recommend catching it in a proper cinema if you can. by uh
some of my favorite things : pulp fiction sam jackson
“…i wouldn’t go so far to call the brother fat, i mean hes gotta weight problem, what the niger gots to do? hes samoan…” – that’s a damn shame
“…check out the big brains on brett, you’re a smart mother fucker, that’s right.” – check out the big brains on brett
“…man …i will never forget your ass for this… in fact what the fuck am i doing in the back, you’re the motherfucker who should be on brain detail…” – car scene brain detail
“…now, i want you go in that bag and find my wallet… its the one that says bad-mother-fucker…” – diner scene bad mother fucker
quentin tarantino’s classic pulp fiction — watched this gem on my flight west and remembered all the greatest bits of dialogue that tarantino and samual jackson mouthed off. just brilliant! the film is not a story but rather bits of ingeniously funny dialogue, and i’m not even including the great parts with bruce willis, just great stuff… worth another watch. by uh
century of the self: adam curtis
sigmund freud (and his american nephew, edward bernays)
century of the self – adam curtis
leave it to adam curtis to set the records straight. the story of the relationship between sigmund freud and his american nephew, edward bernays. bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was the first person to take freud’s ideas to manipulate the masses. he showed american corporations how they could make people want things they didn’t need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires. bernays was one of the main architects of the modern techniques of mass-consumer persuasion, using every trick in the book, from celebrity endorsement and outrageous PR stunts, to eroticising the motorcar. his most notorious coup was breaking the taboo on women smoking by persuading them that cigarettes were a symbol of independence and freedom. but bernays was convinced that this was more than just a way of selling consumer goods. it was a new political idea of how to control the masses. by satisfying the inner irrational desires that his uncle had identified, people could be made happy and thus docile. it was the start of the all-consuming self which has come to dominate today’s world. originally broadcast on 29th april 2002. by uh
Charlie Chaplin: All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.
despite charlie chaplin’s statement about his work, and the fact that city lights (1931) does in fact have a park, several policemen and a pretty girl, this film places the issue of class front and center in its opening scene and then plays out that theme, in different variations, for 87 minutes. it begins with some pompous dignitaries in formal dress about to dedicate a larger-than life size neoclassical statue of three figures titled peace and prosperity. the officials consist of politicians, businessmen with their wives, and the police. this is clearly a good cross representation of the ruling class in the us and chaplin beautifully uses them as one collective “straight man.” the crowd behind them – the “little people” – are there as a sounding board, amplifying and physically playing out the symbolic language of the assorted elites at the level of the street. they will presumably carry the message of peace and prosperity to those less fortunate who could not attend.
peace and prosperity is clearly an ironic title considering this was the second year of the great depression. it was also the era where war-drums from europe had found their beat. the nazis would take control of germany within two years and start the war machinery rolling; the japanese and the italians had militarized, nationalist governments ready to use force to realize their economic and colonial ambitions; spanish democracy was withering under the weight of fascist populism; and the americans after wwi were ready to impose a new world order with themselves at the head of the table. many writers, intellectuals, and analysts of the period realized it was only a matter of time before the festering aftermath of wwi exploded, bringing another world war. the thirties were in some respects similar to our era. it was a period defined by political polarization, instability, and rabid disparities of wealth and education; there was also a strong faction of nationalists spinning webs of fantasy, control, and power. this is the context in which peace and prosperity opens city lights.
the statue in the film fits the traditional neoclassical aesthetic, an art form that comes ready made for autocrats and their cronies. that is why during revolutions those statues are among the first things to come down, to be set on fire, to be urinated on, or to be thrown in the nearest river. peace and prosperity presents a tableau with a soldier holding a sword while another man with a hand up signals peace; a young woman dressed in traditional greek robes stands by ready to choose between her two suitors. the tableau espouses male heroism and reason balanced by the eternal mother/fertility goddess as provider, and arbiter, in harmonious balance – a pastiche of european sculpture from an earlier period.
the film was made four years after the advent of sound and is one of the last hybrid films that was shot as a silent with a soundtrack added later. in the early thirties sound and music were considered add-ons to the narrative and chaplin was the first film artist to use sound creatively, re-articulating one of the conventions of music hall and vaudeville – the use of musical instruments to parody human folly. he does it by turning what americans like to call the “boilerplate speech” into music. the society lady is “played” by a piccolo, the overbearing boss is “played” by a trombone, and the mayor is “played” by a kazoo – chaplin brings that technique back for one final go-around before taking a bow… read the full article at cineaction by dd
adieu godard
vivre sa vie jean luc godard
some music to harp back to… what I was looking for was this link but unfortunately we can not embed that here, but go have a listen… by uh
The Orson Welles Adventure: On the Road to F is for Fake and The Other Side of the Wind
the other side of the wind (TOSTW) appears at first glance to be an overly poetic and precious title – something thought up by f. scott fitzgerald during his tender is the night phase – but the title is a lie that is stated as a fact. there is no “other” side to the wind because natural phenomena do not have sides, their shape is in constant flux and the side depends on the viewer not the event.
the title appears to derive from a statement made by oja kodar, welles’ companion and partner in the screenplay and direction to TOSTW, who said at one point in their long relationship that “now she knew what was on the other side of the wind,” referring to Welles’ habit of wearing a cape that would blow dramatically in the wind – an unusual habit that he picked up in the world of theater, magic and variety shows in the second and third decades of the 20th century that informed his early life in new york and europe.
kodar meant it as a metaphor for having seen beyond the myth of the great artist to the man himself. the self-conscious lie, becoming an unresolved paradox, would be close to welles’ heart as in his previous film f is for fake (1973), (henceforth fake) he delved deeply into the nature of artistic creation, history, narrative, and the mediation and lying that informs them as they engage with the world.
in his acceptance speech to the academy of motion pictures arts and sciences in 1975 for a lifetime achievement award welles described himself as a small family shop in relation to large corporate entities, and that in an ideal world there should be room for both. that he got nowhere in his attempt at a truce with hollywood executives is a given for in a sense they were there not just to praise him but to bury him.
welles refused to lie down, and to add insult to injury he then harangued his powerful and wealthy audience for letting him hang in the wind without giving him a chance. to prove to them that he was still in the game welles showed them a clip from his new work in progress titled TOSTW.
while the work was politely received there were murmurs – clearly the scene was nothing remotely like his masterwork citizen kane (1941), (henceforth kane)– in fact it looked like nothing anyone had seen before and for that particular audience of moguls and stars that was not a good sign. there are few things more terrifying for a conservative audience to see than work that is brilliant and beyond their scope of understanding for it suggests that they are living in a fantasy bubble that has limited their understanding of contemporary reality and works that deal with it. what such an audience wanted was reassurance, and the smart “players” (their own term) in their circle, knew how to provide that kind of aesthetic concoction. welles was, from their point of view, now on the lunatic fringes of the hollywood community – an eccentric older uncle who made wine commercials for television to pay the bills – someone who had spent too much time in europe looking at art and something had gone wrong, some derangement of the senses had unhinged the mind that had made the best hollywood movie ever made at the age of 25. the genius was on the skids and there was nowhere to go but down – after a time there was even a book titled whatever happened to orson welles? …read the rest of the article by george porcari on cine action website. by uh
quarantine days: Lust & Sound in west-berlin
if you can remember the 80’s, you probably weren’t there!
music, art and chaos in the wild west-berlin of the 1980’s
sex
politics
and a fuckin good time – a film by jörg a.hoppe, klaus maeck & heiko lange
see the LF preview above
nick cave and the naughty seeds ; )
the walled-in city became the creative melting pot for sub- and pop-culture. before the iron curtain fell, everything and anything seemed possible. this documentary film is a fast-paced collage of mostly unreleased film and tv footage from a frenzied but creative decade, starting with punk and ending with the love parade, in a city where the days are short and the nights are endless. where it was not about long-term success, but about living for the moment – the here and now. we need another city like berlin! a must see film if you can get your hands on it. by dd
quote of the day: alfred hitchcock on michelangelo antonioni
here with francois truffaut on michelangelo antonioni’s blow up
alfred hitchcock said to howard fast (one of his writers). “i’ve just seen antonioni’s blow-up. these italian directors are a century ahead of me in terms of technique! what have i been doing all this time?” by xy
blow [me] up
the lingering obsession with antonioni’s 1966 film blow up might have been answered in an upcoming book titled the antonioni adventure by george porcari.
excerpt from page 84 and 85
“siegfried kracauer described the detective as an essentially modern figure who is on a rational quest for meaning and narrative closure. it is the detective who uses logic, keen observation and deductive skills to assemble fragmentary details into a meaningful narrative and thereby arrive at the truth, but does he? blow-up is a meditation on this question.” – george porcari
observing life’s narrative, to search for a truth that may or may not be obtainable, might be exactly what creates intrigue. for me, i can’t help but meditate on that. by jj
every man for himself: jean luc godard interview with dick cavett back in 1980
“i never went away… maybe i was pushes away” – JLG
every man for himself: “people ask of film things they would never ask of poetry… or art… why?” – JLG
“when people go into exile from their own country that means there is something good in them…” – JLG
interview part 1 and 2 of 6 see rest here
dick cavett interviews GOD himself… jean luc godard in 1980 discussing critics reviews of his film at the time, “every man for himself” a film about the lives of a man (jacques dutronc), a woman (nathalie baye) and a prostitute (isabelle huppert) when they cross paths, classic godard synopsis… maybe this one has an extra 3rd person but otherwise… love this man talking about jerry lewis, howard hawks, and hitchcock and was such a pleasure to see this 30+ years after… uh would appreciate this one. by ac
the enigma of klaus kinski
an end clip with kinski playing werner herzog’s aguirre wrath of god. this can be seen as an addendum to dd’s post!!
klaus kinski, the epic actor, who played in herzog’s aguirre wrath of god (one of our favorite films of all time – a must see) was a german national of polish decent and born to a struggling family in germany. his father was a failed opera singer, and his mother a nurse. his true name was klaus günter karl nakszynski, which he later changes to klaus kinsky. he was conscripted at age 17 into the german wehrmacht some time in 1943, serving in the army. he saw no action until the winter of 1944, when his unit was transferred to the netherlands. he was wounded and captured by the british army on his second day of combat and was eventually transferred to england as prisoner of war. of course in true kinsky fashion, he recalled the events differently. kinsky claimed that he defected from the german wehrmacht and was court marshaled and sentenced to death. he explained that he theh managed to escaped, and turned himself-in to the british army, but as his recollections on the set of fitzcarraldo he is likely painting a finer picture than what was reality. at the end of the war the german POW’s were anxious to return home. kinski had heard that sick prisoners were to be returned first, and being the nut case that he is, he tried to qualify by standing outside naked at night, drinking urine and eating cigarettes. he remained healthy but finally was returned to germany in 1946, after spending a year and four months in captivity. upon arrival he discovered that his father had died and his mother had perished in the allied bombing. alone, he pursued what he had first experienced under allied imprisonment, acting… and the rest is history. the enigma of klaus kinski still remains. by uh
