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Precisely. Overexposure to bad art corrupts.
Anyway, the best display of our trust in critics is that we are talking Ford's masterpieces and none of us has yet mentioned The searchers.
Minio's Ramblings on Cinema
Anyway, the best display of our trust in critics is that we are talking Ford's masterpieces and none of us has yet mentioned The searchers.
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Just a western...
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San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.
San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.
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This approach is one that has nothing in common with Kubrick's in Barry Lyndon where, for the battle scenes, he used long lenses to film thousands of extras as if he had only thirty, in story terms a pointless expense. Such is the twilight (noted by Oudart) of the Hollywood machine, clouded over by a crazy imagination which gives way to this calm and starry sky where technique triumphs over imagination; like all the rest, fed through the synthesizer. The story of the film's production would constitute a real science-fiction subject that would make one shudder.
[...]
Star Wars is happy to grind out the effects that cinema (American cinema) has taken years to build up, and reduces the great cinematic myths (the adventure film in particular, but not exclusively) to narrative references, to the status of road signs. A sad fate, and a strange gift to the children
[...]
Star Wars is happy to grind out the effects that cinema (American cinema) has taken years to build up, and reduces the great cinematic myths (the adventure film in particular, but not exclusively) to narrative references, to the status of road signs. A sad fate, and a strange gift to the children
AMERICA WITHOUT FEAR OR
FAVOR (STAR WARS)
('L'Amerique sans peur et sans reproche: Star Wars',
Cahiers du Cinéma 283, December 1977)
by Serge Le Peron
Translated by Chris Darke
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Yoda denied that Mizoguchi was a "feminist" director. "Mizoguchi was not comfortable with 'liberated' women or portraying upper-middle-class ladies." In Japan, they say that "stronger women and stronger [nylon] stockings" appeared after World War II, "but Mizoguchi," Yoda noted, drawing a parallel in reference to Women of the Night about prostitutes in postwar Tokyo, "was more comfortable with cotton stockings."
After years of collaboration,Yoda's first real clue to the director's fascination with women came when they were once alone at the public baths, the usual retreat when a scene was not going well. That day, he asked Yoda, "Do you wonder why I always keep my T-shirt on in here?" He removed it, displayed deep scars on his back from wounds inflicted by a rejected geisha when he was in his twenties and his only comment was, "Woman is a dangerous thing."
"He usually portrayed women in oppressed situations. Does that mean that he had a great deal of sympathy or love for the women?" Yoda asked rhetorically. "I doubt that. His way of looking at things was through the eyes of an egotist. But, did he place his female characters in a position where he took pleasure in their suffering? I also doubt that."
After years of collaboration,Yoda's first real clue to the director's fascination with women came when they were once alone at the public baths, the usual retreat when a scene was not going well. That day, he asked Yoda, "Do you wonder why I always keep my T-shirt on in here?" He removed it, displayed deep scars on his back from wounds inflicted by a rejected geisha when he was in his twenties and his only comment was, "Woman is a dangerous thing."
"He usually portrayed women in oppressed situations. Does that mean that he had a great deal of sympathy or love for the women?" Yoda asked rhetorically. "I doubt that. His way of looking at things was through the eyes of an egotist. But, did he place his female characters in a position where he took pleasure in their suffering? I also doubt that."
5/23/76
from the book
Eye on the World:
Conversations with International Filmmakers,
Silman-James Publishers, 1997
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Not at all surprised after reading that text that I looked for Mizoguchi's relationship with Kinuyo Tanaka and found that he apparently opposed her application to the Director's Guild of Japan. Mizoguchi's work speaks for itself strongly but his attitude towards storytelling seems like the kind of distanced egotism that seems common in modern festival filmmakers tackling social subjects.
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One of the best ways to enjoy movies is to get away from them for a while. Take a walk in the woods, go feed some birds, sit on a park bench, scrub down the kitchen, even maybe read a book. Movies are great as long as you realize that they are entertainment, targeting consumers, just a picture of life, not life itself.
There's lots of things in life to be done other than movies and the best way to appreciate them is now-and-again.
There's lots of things in life to be done other than movies and the best way to appreciate them is now-and-again.
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There's an interesting idea of the so-called "opposite indicator." Usually, we find people with good taste and watch films they love. An opposite indicator is a person whose taste is so bad and crooked that we can luck out a masterpiece by watching what they dismissed.
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Movies are great as long as you realize that they are entertainment, targeting consumers, just a picture of life, not life itself.
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You lost me here. We'll never understand each other if that's your stance.
I have one foot in my local art scene, know people who get art in galleries, but they rarely make much money, nor do they have the up-front costs that come with even a cheap movie.
That's what I find interesting about movies.....the fact that, in a world full of investors and accountants, now and again, something rises above all that. People who make movies know about Art (in caps), but they have to also know about finances, management, music, sound, image processing, etc.....contemporary renaissance people.
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This is how I feel when I talk about cinema on MoFo.
It's sad that it comes down to that, but it does come down to that. An "Artist" can do a painting pretty much on the cheap but not a movie maker. We just have to live with that.
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Sooooo....have ever made a movie?
How did you pay for it?
It's sad that it comes down to that, but it does come down to that. An "Artist" can do a painting pretty much on the cheap but not a movie maker. We just have to live with that.
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I have. Just a short, though. No time & too lazy for a feature.
......I didn't. It cost me nothing. The idea you need money to make a film is corrupted.
If you're thinking about 'standard' films with many actors and a paid crew, then sure. But many films are made by friends, some by just a single person. Making a film doesn't inherently require a lot of money, and most films could be made with half or a quarter of their actual budget, mostly profiting from that quality-wise.
......I didn't. It cost me nothing. The idea you need money to make a film is corrupted.
If you're thinking about 'standard' films with many actors and a paid crew, then sure. But many films are made by friends, some by just a single person. Making a film doesn't inherently require a lot of money, and most films could be made with half or a quarter of their actual budget, mostly profiting from that quality-wise.
I actually HAVE seen lots of "films" (actually shot on film) and went specifically for the minimalist approach, but, honestly, aside from us, the little film audience, congratulating ourselves for being there and rising above the rabble, I could not see much there that was (here I go, using that word) entertaining to anybody aside from the little group of elite film fans. There was way too much self-congratulation in that room, and, honestly I like being entertained. I'd much rather see Raiders of the Lost Ark than 8 1/2.
I also have friends and family that do Art (as in stuff in galleries with Openings). Ironically, most of the people that do that sort of thing would love to go commercial. It's their holy grail to get big prices for little paintings.
It's not "corrupted"....it's income and recognition.
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I could not see much there that was (here I go, using that word) entertaining to anybody aside from the little group of elite film fans.
There was way too much self-congratulation in that room, and, honestly I like being entertained. I'd much rather see Raiders of the Lost Ark than 8 1/2.
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Was the problem with the movies or with you?
8 1/2 is entertaining, too. The distinction between art and entertainment is an artificial and untrue one in most cases.
>>>Yeah. It's a continuum. At the extremes, you sure can tell, but also, the other side of the question is just WHY art can't be entertaining.
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A contemporary, subtle, aesthetically pleasing, and beautiful film shot on 16mm followed by a sublime 2018 performance of Renaissance Music.
So contemporary art can still be quality and there's no excuse for artists that aren't?
So contemporary art can still be quality and there's no excuse for artists that aren't?
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