Recently Viewed
The Gleaners & I ***
Runnin' Down a Dream: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ****
In the Shadow of the Moon *****
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly *****
The Gleaners & I is a quaint and often charming French documentary by noted director Agnes Varda. The film, made with digital video, follows a number of what we would call "transient" individuals through the cities and countryside of France. Among these are gypsies, the homeless, the mentally ill, and alcoholics, but Varda also presents several people who live their vagrant lifestyles by choice. One man in the film claims to have lived entirely off of other people's trash for the last ten years. Varda incorporates herself into the film as someone whose age has made her relatively invisible to contemporary society and a stranger even to herself. The film's charm largely comes from Varda's first-person perspective, her musings on the French tradition of gleaning after the farm harvests, and her sincere interest in the people with whom she speaks in the film. The film wanders in conjunction with Varda's interests and sometimes veers away from her theme, but her diversions are always interesting and occasionally enlightening. (The DVD of the film is accompanied by a shorter documentary that revisits some of Varda's interview subjects two years after the completion of her original film.)
I suppose one should have some prior interest in Tom Petty and/or the Heartbreakers before plunging into Peter Bogdanovich's nearly four-hour overview of the band's career. And anyone familiar with the usual narrative trajectory of VH1's Behind the Music will soon recognize the pattern of this film: band struggles for several years before achieving sudden, overwhelming fame; band struggles to reconcile their goals with the demands of their fan base; band members succumb to the temptations of sex and/or drugs; band comes together in the face of criticism and/or declining sales; band returns to form with standout album; rinse and repeat. Still, anyone who has a love for Petty's brand of American rock & roll will find much to enjoy here, including rare performance clips, insightful and occasionally painfully honest interviews, surprise guest commentators, and, of course, a lot of fine music. The sound mix on the DVD is superb, even with my meager stereo speakers. Four hours at one sitting was too much for me to handle, but I found the film quite engaging over the course of two evenings.
Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I am a sucker for astronauts and shiny spaceships, so it's perhaps no surprise to learn that I absolutely loved In the Shadow of the Moon, a documentary that incorporates interviews with nearly all the surviving Apollo astronauts (Neil Armstrong, true to form, continues to avoid speaking about his experience). It is also perhaps not surprising to learn that I teared up several times while watching this. Shit, I even get teary watching the trailer for this film! But the film offers many unique perspectives on the Apollo program, not the least of which is extended footage taken by the astronauts themselves on the surface of the moon. Viewers will also learn what it was like to fly in a craft behind the moon, out of range of any human communication; why some of the astronauts experienced profound religious conversions after returning from the moon; and learn that the second man to set foot on the moon paused on the ladder of the moon lander to urinate before touching the surface. In short, this is probably the best documentary we can expect about one of the most extraordinary human achievements in history. One of the finer points of this film is the way it helps the viewer to appreciate how the Apollo missions were much more than an expression of nationalism through technological superiority, and were part of a truly human endeavour, one that represented us at our best as a species possibly worth preserving.
I initially regarded The Diving Bell and the Butterfly as a homework assignment, part of my annual obligation to familiarize myself with the films nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. Withing the first ten minutes of the film, however, I was completely drawn in to the film's fascinating story and mesmerized by its unique camera work. The camera is employed to provide a first-person perspective of a man who has suffered a completely debilitating stroke, and this perspective is achieved with such skill that I am still wondering how some of the camera shots were taken. The story itself is moving, but the real triumph here is one of cinematography and direction. A truly unique work of art.
Runnin' Down a Dream: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ****
In the Shadow of the Moon *****
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly *****
The Gleaners & I is a quaint and often charming French documentary by noted director Agnes Varda. The film, made with digital video, follows a number of what we would call "transient" individuals through the cities and countryside of France. Among these are gypsies, the homeless, the mentally ill, and alcoholics, but Varda also presents several people who live their vagrant lifestyles by choice. One man in the film claims to have lived entirely off of other people's trash for the last ten years. Varda incorporates herself into the film as someone whose age has made her relatively invisible to contemporary society and a stranger even to herself. The film's charm largely comes from Varda's first-person perspective, her musings on the French tradition of gleaning after the farm harvests, and her sincere interest in the people with whom she speaks in the film. The film wanders in conjunction with Varda's interests and sometimes veers away from her theme, but her diversions are always interesting and occasionally enlightening. (The DVD of the film is accompanied by a shorter documentary that revisits some of Varda's interview subjects two years after the completion of her original film.)
I suppose one should have some prior interest in Tom Petty and/or the Heartbreakers before plunging into Peter Bogdanovich's nearly four-hour overview of the band's career. And anyone familiar with the usual narrative trajectory of VH1's Behind the Music will soon recognize the pattern of this film: band struggles for several years before achieving sudden, overwhelming fame; band struggles to reconcile their goals with the demands of their fan base; band members succumb to the temptations of sex and/or drugs; band comes together in the face of criticism and/or declining sales; band returns to form with standout album; rinse and repeat. Still, anyone who has a love for Petty's brand of American rock & roll will find much to enjoy here, including rare performance clips, insightful and occasionally painfully honest interviews, surprise guest commentators, and, of course, a lot of fine music. The sound mix on the DVD is superb, even with my meager stereo speakers. Four hours at one sitting was too much for me to handle, but I found the film quite engaging over the course of two evenings.
Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I am a sucker for astronauts and shiny spaceships, so it's perhaps no surprise to learn that I absolutely loved In the Shadow of the Moon, a documentary that incorporates interviews with nearly all the surviving Apollo astronauts (Neil Armstrong, true to form, continues to avoid speaking about his experience). It is also perhaps not surprising to learn that I teared up several times while watching this. Shit, I even get teary watching the trailer for this film! But the film offers many unique perspectives on the Apollo program, not the least of which is extended footage taken by the astronauts themselves on the surface of the moon. Viewers will also learn what it was like to fly in a craft behind the moon, out of range of any human communication; why some of the astronauts experienced profound religious conversions after returning from the moon; and learn that the second man to set foot on the moon paused on the ladder of the moon lander to urinate before touching the surface. In short, this is probably the best documentary we can expect about one of the most extraordinary human achievements in history. One of the finer points of this film is the way it helps the viewer to appreciate how the Apollo missions were much more than an expression of nationalism through technological superiority, and were part of a truly human endeavour, one that represented us at our best as a species possibly worth preserving.
I initially regarded The Diving Bell and the Butterfly as a homework assignment, part of my annual obligation to familiarize myself with the films nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. Withing the first ten minutes of the film, however, I was completely drawn in to the film's fascinating story and mesmerized by its unique camera work. The camera is employed to provide a first-person perspective of a man who has suffered a completely debilitating stroke, and this perspective is achieved with such skill that I am still wondering how some of the camera shots were taken. The story itself is moving, but the real triumph here is one of cinematography and direction. A truly unique work of art.
posted by Chazzbot at 3:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home