The less pleasurable of London's escapes have been bike riders who thank the heavens that they didn't end up as one of the ghost bike memorials. Or the Jubilee line tube travellers who were stuck this week and had to walk home down the tracks. If only it weren't such a regular occurrence on the underground over the years we would all like to believe in Mayor Boris and that the 2010 Olympics will be all's well that end's well. Not sure how effective is transcendental meditation for us poor souls that have endured such slings and arrows.
South Bank's 60th birthday celebrations
Spare a thought for the polar bears,though, as their world melts away and we are allowed an out of season tan. Just to remind one, along comes a multi-award winning pic filmed entirely on location in the Russian arctic How I Ended This Summer about a student Pavel who joins an 'old hand' in a remote monitoring station. Being an intern will never be the same again in England now that the phrase 'being given a leg up the ladder' has become a 'Clegg up': referring to the Lib Dem Dep PM Nick Clegg (opposed to PM David Cameron's stance on helping friends) who was found out to have been given a 'Clegg up' himself by his dad to intern at a Finnish bank. Poor man even has a musical penned about him (BBC News). Let's hope it's as successful as little orphan Annie or the Cl'annie Witches of Chiswick. Almost forgot myself there such is the power of song: meanwhile, back in the art house...
Pavel is the sort of kid you ultimately wouldn't mind hanging around - still a prankster but basically good natured and potentially diligent. And Alexsei Popogrebsky's film is all to do with being and belonging- almost in the realm of Dostoyevsky but perhaps more Gogol at heart. And it's the sort of film you just wish Brit effort The Island had been: despite great Scottish cinematography and performances its bleakness becomes ever more ponderous and plodding. Indie fest award winning London located Forget Me Not goes diving into similar emotional depths but surfaces without gasping so desperately for air. Really impressive actor/director collaboration here. No laughs, though.
Farewell (UK distributed by The Works) plods a bit (then so does most truth) but given foreknowledge of this remarkable Soviet spy true story (most people these days will inevitably have armed themselves with one review or another) it would be hard not to reach the end and say, hmm glad I chose to see that. The Sunday Times (one now pays for access) recently ran a fascinating article (Reagan's favourite spy) on Christian Carion's film (based on Sergei Kostin's 1997 book Bonjour Farewell). "I wanted to make a true story...like [my] Merry Christmas [the WW1 unofficial truce in the trenches]...very quickly I understood that I would never know the whole truth. There are many different truths-the Russian truth, the French truth and the American truth." Great Russian actor/director Nikita Mikhalkov was to play the lead but Carion was refused permission to shoot such a film in Russia. Next choice (an unnamed famous Russian actor): his career was then apparently threatened by Soviet authorities if he portrayed such a traitor. Times ain't a changin' much in the West either - censorship is just of a more insidious variety. The film's final result is nonetheless quite intriguing.
Two well known film directors play the leads - Pierre (Guillaume Canet, last week's director of Little White Lies) is the French embassy conduit for Vetrov 'Farewell' (Bosnian director Emir Kusturica)'s stolen Russian intel of every American code/agent active from Spring 1981 to early 1982. President Reagan dubbed it "the greatest spy story of the 20th century". Willem Defoe is steely as the film's CIA denouement.
Amazon Crossing publishes the Sergei Kostin's source book.
Addition:
I'm surprised more critics didn't come out against Hanna (Universal UK released). Not that it's a bad unengaging film by any means. Just a ropey one; maybe it was 'lefty' cred of Saoirse Ronan and director Joe Wright (Atonement) that pulled it through. But I simply didn't believe a single word of any of it! Wright has a great technical team and there are some stylish staged sequences plus well-judged intimate moments between Ronan's (never a dull actress) teen assassin and her new young hippy Sloane (girl)friend Sophie (Jessica Barden) on the road to Morocco. What a load of hokum, though, really. Still, they must all have had loads of fun making it. And life after all is short.
The BFI re-releases Eisenstein's classic Battleship Potemkin but will we get MoMA's current Dziga Vertov retrospective in the near future? Their Bertolucci retrospective made it across the Atlantic. Included (and now out on Mr Bongo DVD, Region 2) was Bertolucci's 1st feature The Grim Reaper (1962).
And I would go so far to say that it's probably more interesting than his better known 2nd feature Before the Revolution in that it shows us a Bertolucci that might have been. Closer to the true spirit of 'neo-relealism' - of beautiful creatures trapped on their wheel of life and yet perhaps not so if the waking dream suddenly jolts them into another sphere. In The Grim Reaper, the poet Bertolucci observes the varying truths around the murder of a prostitute - with the minutia detail of Robert Bresson. One of the best non-cineaste evaluations of Bertolucci's career appeared in The New York Times when MoMA gave a director retrospective. "[He] was asked in 1996 if he knew that artists always put themselves in their work, he responded by quoting an author he refused to identify: “We work in the dark — we do what we can — we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.” To my mind, as Bertolucci progressed he built an enormous cinematic church of contradictions. Hence my description of is work in my last post as 'baroque' -the more complex definition of that style.
The Grim Reaper was based on a Pasolini idea and makes interesting comparison to another Mr Bongo DVD by the latter director Mamma Roma (1962). After seeing this you sorta wish Pier Paolo Pasolini had just ditched his Vivaldi soundtrack and let Magnani's acting (Rossellini's Open City) and his own unique sensibility do the work for him. And yet: the soundtrack, rather than manipulating in Hollywood manner has the more Brechtian effect of objectifying the film's protagonists.
Criterion's 2-Disc DVD
Pasolini went to trial for vulgarity and obscenity in the La ricotta episode of the film RoGoPaG - Orson Welles as the satirised director (included on the Criterion DVD release). The other DVD (and it's a shame none have extras but that's reflected in the price) release of Mr Bongo's Italian trilogy is Ermanno Olmi's 2nd feature, the 1961 Il Posto - literally meaning the job, the place. The American title idealised as The Sound of Trumpets, denoted more more the irony of the American dream - never more true than nowadays- than the sublime introspection of Olmi's film (better known for The Tree of Wooden Clogs and The Legend of the Holy Drinker). Olmi said his purpose was "to portray the courage it takes to live through the colorless, gray days which are, in anyone's life, the majority... I should like to put across that everything — epic adventure, humor and feeling — is contained in the normal human condition."
Il Posto never features in the top 100 films list of the century (though it should). But there it is there sitting very quietly waiting for the cineaste's discovery. This is post-war Milan and Domenico (Sandro Panseri) applies for an office job meeting Antonietta (Loredana Detto, Olmi's wife) along the way. But she doesn't appear when we (nor Domenico) expect her to reappear. Again, there's all the observational detail of a Robert Bresson (clothes, objects, gestures) but we see it as a even more honest portrayal of life because everything is tinged with sad, humorous irony rather than maudlin mundanity. The detail and 'choreography' of Domenico's entrance and subsequent quiet enjoyment at the Working Mens' Club New Year's Eve party is just riveting and spellbinding. Can we look forward to an Olmi retro including all his TV docos and early shorts from someone, sometime soon? Facets Multimedia gave a 2-week Chicago tribute back in 2002 but there's not been much since. He's still working!- Rutger Hauer is in his latest Il villaggio di cartone. Criterion also released his I Fidanzati (1962)
For more individual voices of 'reality': Joanna Hogg's Archipelago Artificial Eye DVD May 9. And Kelly Reichardt's mid-West wagon train Meek's Cutoff recently in cinemas and out soon on DVD.
Hollywood studio/indie insurance convention comedy Cedar Rapids may take quite a few liberties with the actualite but the comedic detail (much of which isn't very far from the tree of truth) of these performers does keep a smile on one's face throughout Miguel Arteta's film.
There's quite a lot of fun cheesy humour in Marvel Comic's gods and mortals Thor. Director Kenneth Branagh elevates this material to Shakespearean clarity if not levity (though the 3D looks rather than unintentionally dark).
Back to the art house and Arrow DVD, known for its 'edgier' releases, has launched a new venture of dual format (DVD/Blu-ray) classic films with newly commissioned audio commentaries, introductions etc. Henri Georges Clouzot's 1954 chiller Les Diaboliques has little in common with the predominant French New Wave. And while Susan Hayward's commentary is probably more for the students of cinema it's authoritative observations never wear one's patience. Makes a good shelf-mate for Criterion's (Region 1) DVD. Enthusiast, teacher and film historian Ginette Vincendeau gives a fairly all-encompassing lengthy introduction (30 min). She even points out that one of the young boys grew up to be French icon Johnny Hallyday. Also in Arrow's series is Bicycle Thieves (1948) an Rififi (some extras are only available on Blu-ray).
This month the cinemas are awash with some great documentaries as well.....
more tomorrow
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MONDAY (3.15pm)
Sweetgrass by award winning directors Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor ( Made in the U.S.A.,1990) follows the last Montana sheep herders. There's no voice-over explanation, and while that can often frustrate in doco films, it doesn't seem to matter here as it's the very primal inner world that speaks to us in seeing these images.
Not a documentary but with immense detail is Tracker described as "a cowboy film set in New Zealand" by producer David Burns. And while the film doesn't interrogate the protagonists psychological tracks to the depths of some films it's an incredibly good yarn to watch. You could imagine a studio throwing loadsamoney if its stars were 'A list'. Not that Ray Winstone doesn't already inhabit that firmament. Up there with his best roles is the portrayal of South African Boer War farmer Arjan van Dieman who after losing everything starts afresh in New Zealand, 1903. The Brit soldiers there have to be initially reminded that the war is over and Arjan's tracking skills become utilised when a soldier is killed by Maori seafarer Kereama (Temuera Morrison).
Upside Down could easily have been just another music industry doco. But producer/director Danny O'Connor has made sure there is very little 'fat' - every shot of the film has information rather than fill in this Brit indie success story of Creation Records. And there are so many 'extractable' quotes (Oasis' Noel Gallagher et al) that one can only say see the film yourself. It acts as a cautionary tale of music industry survival too, and though most of the participants did drugs, the effects of this lifestyle are never glamourised. It addresses head-on the conundrum of many indie ventures - the bigger one gets the more people one needs to keep the wheels turning hence more the chance of several cogs going off the rails. If Creation's creator Alan McGee's health hadn't declined would the label had managed survival into this millenium? The irony being that with the onslaught of the internet download it probably could have.(DVD/Blu-ray out May 9)
The same predicament came to light whilst attending the World Photography Festival this year. Staged in Cannes the past few years, London's Somerset House was this year's new home. Like many film fests it had a principal sponsor Sony (host of the Awards) while the bulk of the festival is funded/organised by the World Photography Organisation. iStockPhoto took over the building's first floor- a 'melting pot' for mostly aspirant professionals. Now iStockPhoto has the appearance of independence whilst being a wholly owned subsidiary of Getty Images (itself seen as 'left' of corporates such as Sony). Your independence is worth corporate bucks! As one speaker in the talks noted: if you sell your photos, you can either receive more (up to 70%) of the smaller macro market, or a little (10-15%) of the larger micro market. And as with all film based fests, a river of die-hard politics ran still-deep beneath. The digital v. analogue debate: comically described by Tim Clinch in his story of asking a friend 'Boris' whether he liked Stalin (i.e.digital). After many cavernous twists, turns,locks and stairs that could easily have been the bowls of Somerset House, Boris whispered, 'Yes'. "The love that dare not speak its name."
What became more and more apparent as the days of talks etc continued was that the battle was not so much being fought between the various technologies and means of production and distribution but between one's own abilities and one's conscience. Veteran Bruce Davidson (whose own show continues just off the main foyer) quipped that you don't have to travel to the Congo to take photos. "Look in the Yellow Pages and you'll find something to photograph". Chairman of the Awards Francis Hodgson noted about the Awards exhibition that its curatorship acted as "a filtering system" for photos that "don't have very much in common...pictures looking at each other across the space...ways of making sense of the world that isn't chaotic...it slows people down" rather than our normal half second of viewing "the noisy plethora outside of photos...a joie de vivre". Hodgson continued: "the body itself has become an article of public activity...little moments of some kind of peace and those moments can be photographed too."
Some fun photos HEREof the models on hand for the 'would be' paparazzi;)
One seminar discussed how we should/could embrace new ways of monetising photography- cross-media versus trans-media creating a "mosaic'" with advertising rather than a battle. The use of iPad apps. Another seminar moderated by editors of the magazine Black and White Photography noted that photos from famous names sat quite happily on their pages next to not well known ones. Tim Clinch: "We are all in danger of forgetting 'the picture'. Is it a good picture, is all we should be asking?" Bruce Davidson at the same seminar: if the photos are "close to my heart, they challenge reality...I see in colour but I feel in Black and White. All my photos are in colour!" And if all that wasn't enough there were interview/work presentations by Steve Pyke and Tom Stoddart.
Bruce Davidson also has a show a Chris Beetles
At Haunch of Venison the great German film director Wim Wenders shows mostly large scale photos of places generally de-peopled. The question is are they really about absence or is it more a question of fullness? PHOTOS HERE of the opening.
Wenders' latest film Pina isn't an elegy to the recently passed choreographer Pina Bausch, rather it is a celebration of an on-going spirit. The question for her was not what to dance but what made us dance at all in the first place. As with photography, what is the relationship of my inner emotions to the external world? And because of dance and the theatre's spatiality, it's one of the most exciting uses of 3D you're likely to see.
If you've never thought yourself interested in Irish dancing or have got somewhat bored with hearing Michael Flatley and the Riverdance name, then Jig directed by Sue Bourne (Channel 4’s harrowing 9/11 'The Falling Man') will most probably change your mind. The technicalities aren't covered (training and adjudication), and while this doco does share the bed of other human interest competition docs, the competitors stories win through in the end- there are schools from New York to Moscow.
TT3D: Closer to the Edge is the Isle of Man motorcycle competition in 3D- a format that initially seems quite exciting for this. But it remains a doco for enthusiasts only because us novices aren't told about what makes a champion bike, why this course is the toughest in the world etc etc. The uninitiated might start with George Formby's comedy of 1936 No Limit out on Optimum DVD.
And anyone who hasn't become aware of Molly Dineen's work over the years is really missing out on life, so hot foot to the BFI filmstore.
Abel is also worth catching on DVD.
For something more 'racy' many reviewers have noted that Luc Besson's Adèle Blanc Sec isn't bad but isn't a French Indiana Jones. The original French sources are fairly impressive on their own though:
Second Sight DVD has: Louis Feuillade's 1915 silent 7.5 hour Les Vampires and Olivier Assayas' Irma Vep
For other persuasions the once banned, seminal, very graphic Taxi Zum Klo (1982) has been re-released and re-mastered. Makes the recent ousting of gay pub kissers in Soho look like a scene from Annie ;) Peccadillo have the Italian Loose Cannons out on DVD.
My Dog Tulip is the first hand drawn/painted animated feature using computer technology (it took 3 years). Based on Brit author J.R. Ackerley's memoir of his 16-years with Tulip his Alsatian bitch, it's heartfelt simplicity often resembles the scant figures of painter L.S Lowry. And, of course, one could always read the film as an allegory of the preceding paragraph without any offense to anyone.
Addition:
A Polish cognoscent elephant, whatever next? Well, while Water for Elephants is somewhat traditional period fare, director Francis Lawrence (I am Legend) and his screenwriter Richard LaGravenese (based on Sara Gruen's 2006 bestseller) expertly craft this good ole Hollywood yarn. Unemployed young-blood Jacob (Robert Pattinson, Twilight) joins the circus train of hard-bitten impresario August (Christoph Waltz) and becomes his great hope when it transpires stubborn elephant Tai (Rosie) responds to Jacob's commands only in Polish. Love interest, of course, is August's wife and showgirl Marlena (Reese Witherspoon). No surprises but lovely story this and no animals were harmed in the making of it.
For those who've been fed up to the teeth with the drawbacks of civilisation's digital technical advancement, you, me (and kids especially) will find hope in David Attenborough's Flying Monsters 3D. What happened to the flying pterosaurs of 220 million years ago? This is great stuff: the little and big creatures emerge out of their archeological bones and fly again. If we must have 3D TV then this kinda stuff should be written into its social remit.
And forget comparisons to the Dudley Moore original, the Russell Brand Arthur is just silly fun although with somewhat more than just a paperheart. Can the normal Naomi (the wonderful former Indie film Greta Gerwig) ever find happiness with the irresponsibly rich Arthur (Brand)? OK, the wooing scene in Grand Central Station is a 'steal'/'hommage' from Terry Gillliam's The Fisher King but generally it's not as deplorable as many would have it. And you can't say ALL of it's characters can't be found in Manhattan life. Worth checking out alone for Uta Briesewitz's gorgeous shallow focus cinematography (she shot some of The Wire).
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