Much of modern art is devoted to lowering the threshold of what is terrible. By getting us used to what, formerly, we could not bear to see or hear, because it was too shocking, painful, or embarrassing, art changes morals. – Susan Sontag
There’s also a Sontag quote about the reductiveness of art interpretation. And the same could be said for much film criticism. But the heart of film comment skipped a beat when reading Jim Hoberman (formerly Village Voice critic) discuss/review Zero Dark Thirty in The Guardian. When a critic creates something larger than just a whipping or caressing of words it’s cause for celebration. Hoberman’s was more a meditation on film’s journey. When young CIA op Maya (Jessica Chastain) arrives at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan she denies requesting the job – more a ‘gun for hire’. Hoberman likens Maya’s final victorious moments returning home alone in the cargo hold of a transport to that of Ishmael/ Ahab and Moby Dick.
At what cost?
It’s a question essential asked by Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills (Artificial Eye) – an Orthodox Romanian convent takes under wing the girlfriend of one of its female devotees. Based on fictional novels based on a true story.
BBC’s Start the Week (March 15)
David Cannadine’s new book The Undivided Past: History Beyond Our Differences (April 9) Aleksandar Hemon’s The Book of My Lives
Do we, however, prefer true stories to a world of make believe? Michael Haneke deservedly won many American awards including an Oscar for his Amour. But in the eyes of many cinephiles it was more a lifetime achievement award for his edgier, provocative work- 1994 - 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance way, way before any Sandy Hook massacre. In a year without Haneke, Denmark’s A Royal Affair might just have stood a chance: the extraordinary (and unknown to most outside Denmark) true story of King Christian VII allowing tutor Johann Friedrich Struensee to influence and get his Royal consent to widespread social reforms. Of course, that came at a high price for everyone concerned.
On Metrodome DVD/Blu-ray. Out on Magnolia Blu-ray March 25 in the States
Actress/director Sarah Polley inveigles her friends and family to tell the story of discovering her biological father in her latest pic Stories We Tell showing in New York at New Directors/New Films. The extremely convincing Super-8 film we see is actually that of actors an an actress playing her mother (Wim Wenders is thanked in the credits – did he give technical advise for this?). Cleverly (for both her public face and her art), Polley never really lets her audience know how she feels about it all. (Released May 17 in the States, and UK released June 28 by new distributor Curzon Film World- Curzon owns Artificial Eye)- The Guardian review
A retrospective of Gerard Byrne’s work continues at the Whitechapel.
Click HERE for more on New Directors/New Films and other moments….
