A thought on "La Noire De..."

La Noire De… ( Black Girl ) is the first full length feature of acclaimed Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. Released in 1966, the film is considered by many to be the first film out of Sub-Saharan Africa to receive international attention. It received the Prix Jean Vigo for first feature… Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum places it on his “1000 Essential Films” List.
The film tells the story of Diouana, a young Senegalese girl hired as a nanny for a white family residing in her country. As they prepare to return to their native France, Diouana is asked to go back with them. Desperate to escape the limited horizons of her poor African village and ecstatic at the prospect of an adventurous parisian existence, she promptly accepts. Never could she have envisioned the tragic fate that awaits her in Paris….
Every time I watch "Black Girl", I'm always struck  by how much it is seemingly influenced by the French New Wave which is slightly ironic considering how much of a harsh commentary it makes on french colonialism and racism.

Breathless : A portrait of narcissictic youth.

"When we talked, I talked about me, you talked about you whereas we should have talked about each other"

This is my favorite scene in the film. The unusual long take gives the audience a respite from all the jump cutting.Michel and Patricia's narcissism is on full display and for the first time they finally understand what the audience has known along : they're doomed as a couple.

À Bout De Souffle (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

Jean Seberg & Jean-Paul Belmondo 

It’s often said that a mark of greatness in any work of art is its ability to withstand the test of time. A bout de souffle certainly fits that bill.  Met with much critical acclaim upon its initial release in 1960, the film is still regarded as a masterpiece. How did a film made on a shoestring budget of $90k and shot in a record time of four weeks manage to acquire such lasting power? Godard told a British magazine he considered the film “as being the end of the old Cinema, destroying all the old principles.” It’s precisely that spirit of innovation that has resonated with cinephiles, ensuring the film’s place in the cinematic canon.

                 At the heart of the film lies a fairly simple story. A petty car thief kills a cop and goes to Paris to convince the girl he loves to run away with him to Italy. The possibilities for suspense are endless within this premise. In fact it’s not hard to imagine what the film would have been like had it been directed by older masters such as Huston or Carné. But the narrative’s (de)construction is one of the first indications that Godard isn’t interested in keeping up with the traditional rules of cinema. A bout de souffle watches like a series of interludes/sketches that are either unrelated to or don’t further the  plot: Michel’s visit to his friend’s apartment, Patricia’s interview with Parvulesco. The biggest of these pauses happens in Patricia’s bedroom. In a scene that clocks in at almost 30 minutes, nothing of significant importance happens. Michel and Patricia flirt, tease each other, talk art and make love. This focus on the non-essential is certainly counter-intuitive to the “old cinema” that retained its audience’s attention by leaving the boring parts on the cutting room floor. Godard, on the contrary, taunts his viewers with all sorts of mundane details. Everything happens matter-of-factly and detached, challenging our expectations of a film.

        In a essay for Cahiers du Cinema, fellow new waver Luc Moullet notes that the film’s protagonists both “possess a moral attitude hitherto unknown to cinema.” Michel murders a cop and shows no sign of remorse. He steals money from a friend, again with little hesitation. As for Patricia, her interest in Michel grows upon discovering he’s a criminal. She then turns around and betrays the man she claims to love. Interestingly, Godard’s amoral lens never allows for judgement of their immorality, thus leaving the audience ample room to like and sympathize with these characters. Even the film’s tragic ending doesn’t feel like a moral conclusion. Patricia doesn’t betray Michel out of moral duty but out of fear and cowardice. And Michel’s death is not the punishment reserved for the “bad guy” since he willfully chooses it . Breathless doesn’t reinforce the audience’s sense of moral righteousness like a traditional film might do.
           Godard also deconstructs the idea of film genre through the characters and the film itself. Michel has his roots in film noir without all the grittiness. He forms such a stark contrast to the lone brooding men of the genre with his playful attitude. He’s more of  a lusty teenager who plays at being hard. When he kills the cop, it is with a weapon found in the car. He doesn’t own a fire gun, just like The Maltese Falcon’s Sam Spade. But if with the latter it’s an indication of uber-masculinity that can defeat adversaries with bare hands, it reinforces the idea of a child play acting in the former. As for Patricia, her betrayal of Michel draws a kinship to the femme fatale archetype but she is neither cunning nor manipulative. The film itself is dark in subject matter but light in tone. As Michel dies, he makes “sour faces” and closes his own eyes, allowing for comedy to disrupt the tragic finale.
          But by far, the most innovative aspect of the film is the mise-en-scene. There particularly, Godard, influenced by German playwright Bertol Brecht’s ideas on audience alienation, deploys all the tools in his arsenal to create distance between the film and its viewers. Breathless can’t possibly be discussed without mention of the jump cut. Breaking film’s invisibility rules, its usage disconcerts the audience and constantly refuses submersion in film reality. It also creates a frenetic pacing which can be considered ironic considering the film’s focus on the mundane. Godard also uses extra diegetic effects (loud sounds, scrolling neon’s light foreshadowing Michel’s fate) to constantly remind the audience that it is watching a film. This relentless process of alienation gives the film, at times, the feel of an exercise of filmed ideas about how to make a film in a new fashion.
         In his book, The Films of my life, Truffaut said that the best films open doors and make the viewer feels as if cinema began with them. He was talking about Godard’s Vivre Sa Vie. But I think his statement equally applies to Breathless. It’s a film that impresses with its spirit that breaks from tradition to offer up endless possibilities for a new cinema.

The Tree Of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

The Tree Of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

The recent release of "To The Wonder" has prompted me to revisit "The Tree Of Life". Distanced from all the praise amidst which it was released, the film holds up incredibly well. Still, it ought to be acknowledged that it's not an easy film to love or even get through. And for those who are not enamored with cinema as an art-form, it might not even be worth it.
              Answering to none other than his creative vision, Malick seems to construct his films in a shut-in vacuum, completely unaware of and refusing to pander to audience expectations. The film's structure may appears radical to the uninitiated viewer but it follows a blueprint that appears to be Malick's comfort zone : a plotless non-linear narrative sparse in dialogue where the characters take turns whispering pseudo-philosophical ruminations (as if they're the first ones to question the universe and unlock its mysteries). It' a method that easily grates and justly opens the films to derision (especially since said ruminations are usually overwrought, shallow, over simplistic and akin to religious proselytism). In the case of "The Tree Of Life" , the main saving grace comes via Emmanuel Lubeszki, the film's cinematographer who creates an unparalleled visual feast. It's easy to tune out Malick's dime store wisdom and take in the beauty of the images on screen. The scene of the earth's creation, scored by Zbigniew Preisner's Lacrimosa, is sure to go down in cinema's history as one of its most stunning moments.
                Thematically, the film examines, as the title would suggest, the origin of life, death, God, our reason for being here. Small feat, really! This exploration is done through Jack (Sean Penn) who as an adult is still haunted by memories of his dead brother. Jack reminisces about growing up in Texas, his fraught relationship with his father (Brad Pitt), the tender care of his mother (Jessica Chastain), playing in the woods with his brothers. Those memories are where the film truly shines. They constitute the most emotionally honest and moving evocation of childhood and early adolescence committed to film since Truffaut's The 400 Blows. Skillful editing packs further emotional punch by never allowing the film to get bogged down in precise details and by concerning itself with impressions and feelings, replicating the way evocation works in real life.
              Had the film narrowed its range itself with a man recalling his rites of boyhood (sexual awakening, initiation to violence, oedipal complex, ), I would have find it easy to accept the film's status as a masterpiece. But Terrence Malick is a grandiose filmmaker (some might say pretentious and egomaniac). He bit off more than one could reasonably chew within the length of a feature film. Hence, I will say that "The Tree of Life" is a complicated mess with a masterpiece hiding somewhere within.

PS In an era of small cinema , I ought to clarify that I don't hold Malick's expansive vision against him. We need more films like "The Tree of Life", "8 1/2", "Ugetsu", "The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover"......

Filmmaker Highlight : Claire Denis

Claire Denis

“I suppose I am interested in the variety of human life—how people live. I am most interested in individuals and how they respond to challenges or to difficulties, or just to each other. I am curious about people. So that’s why I do a lot of different things. The cinema should be human and be part of people’s lives; it should focus on ordinary existences in sometimes extraordinary situations and places. That is what really motivates me.”

 ” The cinema gives pleasure, certainly. But most of all for me, film-making is a journey into the impossible. When I make a film I have to be like a military commander, in charge of every strategy and tactic. But I never really know where we are going”

      Born in Paris in 1948, Claire Denis grew up in various African French colonies (the influence of which is strongly felt in her body of work). At the tender age of 12, a polio-ridden Denis moves back to France. There, she discovers a passion for cinema that would eventually led her to enroll in  at IDHEC (France's prestigious film school currently known as La Fémis and sporting notable alumni such as Louis Malle and Alain Resnais). Graduating in 1972, she goes on to work as assistant director for the likes of Jacques Rivette and Jim Jarmusch. That is until 1988 when Denis finally helms her debut full length feature, Chocolat. 
       Those seeking linear narrative and the catharsis of moral conclusions/happy endings need not venture into her work. Often opting for sparse dialogue, Denis instead lets her languorously lingering camera capture the body's movements to reveal eloquently truths about the human psyche. Her interest in the lives of African immigrants in France has caused detractors to level at her accusations of exotification. But this is a very shallow reading of a filmmaker who allows for the full humanity of her characters to unfold like none other. Judging by her limited recognition, it's fair to say that Denis' films are somewhat esoteric in nature. Still, they are a journey worth taking. 

Claire Denis : A Cinema Of The Body

• Chocolat / Chocolate (1988)
• S’en fout la mort / No Fear, No Die (1990)
• J’ai pas sommeil / I Can’t Sleep (1994)
• Nénette et Boni / Nenette and Boni (1996)
• Beau travail (1999)
• Trouble Every Day (2001)
• Vendredi soir / Friday Night (2002)
• L’intrus / The Intruder (2004)
• 35 rhums / 35 Shots of Rum (2008)
• White Material (2009)

 
     

Coming Soon

The Place Beyond The Pines 

I've been watching and re watching quite a few films over the past week. I'm hoping to have some write ups done on each of them by the end of the week!

Carnage

Blue Valentine

Paris is Burning