Chris Marker (1921-2012)

Chris Marker died today, filmkommentaren has written far too little about him, but here is a quote from the obituary of today in Guardian, please read the whole article and below also two links to what we have written about him, in English and Danish:

"The essay film, a form pitched between documentary and personal reflection, exploring the subjectivity of the cinematic perspective, has now become an accepted genre. Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet,Jean-Luc Godard, Errol Morris and Michael Moore are among its main recent exponents, but Chris Marker, who has died aged 91, was credited with inventing the form.

Marker's creative use of sound, images and text in his poetic, political and philosophical documentaries made him one of the most inventive of film-makers. They looked forward to what is called "the new documentary", but also looked back to the literary essay in the tradition of Michel de Montaigne. Marker's interests lay in transitional societies – "life in the process of becoming history," as he put it. How do various cultures perceive and sustain themselves and each other in the increasingly intermingled modern world?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jul/30/chris-marker

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/234/

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/231/

TIFF Non-Fiction Line-Up

… will be revealed tomorrow, according to Realscreen, TIFF being Toronto International Film Festival, prestigious and like other big festivals (Berlin, Cannes and Venice) nowadays putting a good focus on documentaries, or as they call it in the trade magazine, non-fiction.

But already revealed to be in the programme is a new film by Liz Garbus (“Bobby Fischer Against the World”) titled “Love, Marilyn”. Here is what the programmer of the TIFF, Thom Powers, says about the anticipated and star-filled Marilyn Monroe doc: “It takes a very innovative approach in how to deal with these recently discovered boxes of books and letters. Liz decided to reach out to some of the most interesting performers working today [to voice the letters], although that’s only one aspect of the film.

“But what was a revelation to me about this film is that Marilyn Monroe is such a ubiquitous figure in popular culture, but when you really get into the story, you realize how much you don’t know about her. I think she emerges in this film as more of a three dimensional person.”

Read more: http://realscreen.com/2012/07/30/tiff-12-preview-doc-conference-expansion-new-talent-focus/#ixzz2287KQeg2

Annette Mari Olsen og Katia Forbert P.: Fangekoret

Korlederen Louise Adrian har oprettet et kor af indsatte på Statsfængslet i Vridsløselille og filmen følger hende i arbejdet, som ikke kun består i at øve sig og synge. Nej, hun og koristerne skriver musik og tekst selv, og det er der kommet en dejlig film om et sympatisk arbejde ud af, en af den slags film, som vokser og vokser, og som for alvor tager fat, da tv-timen er ved at være forbi. Godt, der findes en lang version, den historie kan ikke hurtigt overstås.

Men hvad er historien egentlig? Hvis historie? Det er som om, der har været ubeslutsomhed i klipperummet, hvor skal fokus være? Alt i materialet har peget på Louise Adrian, for hun fylder hver scene med sin tilstedeværelse, hun lyser simpelthen. Men nogen har tilsyneladende ment, at fokus burde være hos koristerne, naturligvis på grund af af den specielle situation, de er i, alle afsonende lange domme, være hos én af dem, Brian for eksempel, eller hos hele banden, altså en kollektiv film. Det ser ud til, at det sidste nærmest har været beslutningen, og det lider filmen under. Korets medlemmer kommer kun langsomt i gang og ud over kanten frem til mit engagement, mens korlederen gnistrer og stråler fra først til sidst.

Det betyder så det alvorlige, at filmens kerne, det kunstneriske arbejde med at omsætte personligt stof til sange og korværker i nogen grad i filmens skildring overskygges af dette personlige stofs biografiske indhold (koristerne skaber værkerne på deres egne ulykkelige historier) og sentimentaliteten truer atter og atter.

To ting redder filmen, de medvirkende korsangeres ukuelige humør, vid og charme og først og sidst korlederens benhårde krav til ærlighed og kvalitet i hver detalje, i hvert moment af hvert musikstykkes elementer og forløb. Det ender med alligevel ikke at blive en debatfilm om kriminalforsorg, det er en musical om kunstens transformation af det personlige til det almene. Dette hårde arbejde.

Annette Mari Olsen og Katia Forbert Petersen: Fangekoret, Danmark 2012, 58 min./76 min. Fotografi: Katia Forbert Petersen, klip: Wojtek Kloczko, produktion: Sfinx Film/TV for DR2 ved Mette Hoffmann Meyer. Kan ses på filmstriben.dk

Vurdering:

Kevin Macdonald: One Day in September

Den er fra 1999, den er en klassiker i dag, og den vil blive stående som klassiker i filmlitteraturen i fremtiden. Som sådan er den altid aktuel, ikke kun fordi der nu er olympiade (den foregår som bekendt under olympiaden i München 1972), men fordi den handler om grusom vold af den slags, nogle kalder terror, andre kalder krig, og om troskyldighedens nederlag med sin manglende professionalisme i den forbindelse.

Jeg så på Dokumania i tirsdags, at den film i sine centrale dele holder styrken efter tretten år, med langsomheden frem for hastværket, med koncentrationen frem for overfladiskheden, med fremstillingens ro midt i begivenhedernes forvirring, som den skildrer. Altså især i konstruktionens og fortællingens centrale elementer. Der er for mig at se disse fire:

Der er den kronologiske beretning (vældig støttet af Michael Douglas’ fortællerstemme) af selve begivenhedsforløbet fra gidseltagningens forberedelse over dens pinefulde faser til til det forfærdende slutspil i lufthavnen, fortalt som en nedtælling minut for minut.

Der er det store gennemgående interview med en af gidseltagerne (formodentlig den eneste overlevende), som ser aktionen, som han kalder det, som en krigshandling.

Der er her overfor interviewet med chefen for den israelske efterretningstjeneste, som må se magtesløs til, mens han nøgternt noterer sig alle de fejl, de tyske politifolk begår fra øverst til nederst, fra først til sidst.

Og der er endelig heroverfor igen den tyske general, som kynisk erindrer det samme, han, som derefter fik til opgave at udvikle et fuldt ud professionelt tysk antiterrorkorps.

Dette er filmens umistelige kerne. Dens overflødige og sentimentale rammeværk vil blive glemt, og det gør ikke noget. Dramaets detaljer og de tre interviews’ nøgterne sagkundskab inden for det fag bliver i sindet al tid – som klassisk filmkunst.

Tue Steen Müller har her på siden dels refereret et interview med den meget flittige instruktør Kevin Macdonald i hans syn på dokumentarfilms udvidede muligheder i dag dels nævnt ham i forbindelse med en lang række festvals, hvor hans film har været vist, senest festivalen i Tel Aviv, april i år, hvor hans helt nye Marley var den ene af to åbningsfilm. Andre film bør nævnes: Touching the Void, 2005, My Enemy's Enemy, 2007, som kan ses på filmstriben.dk og Life in a Day, 2010, filmen han taler om i det nævnte interview.

Vurdering:

Eugene Jarecki: Reagan /2

Jamen, hvad er nu det for noget? Er den ikke kedelig den film? Jeg havde da ventet noget helt særligt og regulært spændende, i hvert fald noget dybt interessant, eller bare lidt interessant af denne film om den præsident, amerikanerne vist nok bedst kan lide. Men jeg så de næsten to timer totalt forvirret af mistet overblik og ganske energiforladt, for det kunne slet ikke vække min interesse.

Jeg er klar over, at det er noget med mig, jeg kan nogen gange have svært ved at forstå journalistiske pointer, vel på grund af manglende relevant paratviden. Men det kan også være noget med formen, Eugene Jarecki har valgt til sin præsidentfilm. Jeg har jo for kort tid siden set Clinton af Barak Goodman, hvor jeg med stigende interesse havde fulgt et shakespearesk drama i fire akter, et kronologisk epos som en islandsk saga og en krønike som fra et dansk kloster i middelalderen genfortalt eller gendigtet af Saxo. Alt det kan jo ikke være sandt på én gang, men det var sandt, mens jeg så det, for sådan så jeg det. Begejstret.

Det fælles for de fire genrer er kronologien. At filmen loyalt gengiver begivenhederne i tidsrækkefølge i samarbejde med min hukommelse, som husker dele af begivenhedsrækken i forvejen, fra andre tekster, fra mit eget liv. Jeg drives af nysgerrighed efter, hvad der sker med mig i mit eget liv. Det er naturligvis derfor, Clinton er min helt. Som en lang række fyrster var det i historiebogen i skolen, hos Shakespeare på biblioteket, i Ingemanns romaner. Min smag er kulørt.

Jarecki vil noget andet. Han vil undersøge Reagan som person, han vil lave en klog film om en statsleder, der iagttages som et objekt, der nøgternt holdes ude fra kroppen og al mulig identifikation, og han vil belære mig med denne klogskab. Han vil ikke lave en kronologisk parafrase, han vil lave en tematisk fremstilling, tage problemstilling efter problemstilling og forholde sig moralfilosofisk til dem. Så han vælger som form det journalistiske essay, men han tør ikke hengive sig til tankedybden i temaerne, som bliver postulater som overskrifter, men han slipper ikke den kronologiske tryghed. For han vælger begge dele, drevet af ambition og af, hvad han tror nødvendigt. Jeg tror, at filmen mister overblikket. Det er derfor, jeg mistede det. Fortællerstemmen er valgt bort som mulighed, forståelsen skal fremgå af vidnernes udsagn i interviewene. Men det lykkes ikke, for af hensyn til filmens fremdrift klippes fremdriften ud af interviewene. Jeg mister interessen, finder Reagan er konstant uinteressant i det han siger, også i de to berømte taler. Jeg mangler min helt. I et essay er essayisten normalt helten, identifikationspunktet. Men her er ingen fortællerstemme, og han er heller ikke til at finde for mig i klippets valg, linje og rytme. Det skulle være en klog film om Ronald Reagan, jeg fangede ikke pointerne, fattede ikke dybderne. Det har nok med mig og mine forudsætninger at gøre, men jeg synes det er en kedelig film, og jeg tror faktisk ikke det er en klog film.

Eugene Jarecki: Reagan, USA 2011, 45 + 55 min. Sendt på DR2 23. og 24. juli.   

Vurdering:

Emmanuel Laurent: Two in the Wave

A tour down memory lane. And can’t help it – It still brings a tear to the eye to watch Jean-Pierre Léaud run towards the sea, stop and look at us in the end scene of ”The 400 Blows”, the first long film of Truffaut from 1959. As it brings a smile to watch Jean-Paul Belmondo do his Bogart face imitation in ”Breathless” by Godard from 1960. Or see Jean Seberg stand in front of a poster of a painting by Renoir. It was in the 60’es I got my film education and La Nouvelle Vague with Truffaut and Godard were my heroes followed by Agnès Varda, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette (later) and Claude Chabrol. So this film by Emmanuel Laurent could only be pure pleasure, and it was.

The idea of the film is to give us the story of two friends, who met each other in 1949, worked together for years, wrote critiques in Cahiers du Cinema, had their heroes (Truffaut: Hitchcock, Godard: Rossellini and Lang), fought  against the dismissal of Langlois at the Cinématheque, and were on the barricades at the festival in Cannes in 1968 as well as in the streets of Paris in May the same year. And then the break came with the famous letters – Godard who attacked Truffaut in connection with ”Day for Night” (La Nuit Américaine) for being a liar, getting back a 20 page letter against Godard turning political. (The letters can be read on the French website below).

As film history, with clips from the films, with a lot of archive interviews with both of them, it is all there and well put together. Whereas the core/red thread of the story with Jean-Pierre Léaud as the kid and young man with two fathers, not only being the ”petit frère” of Truffaut, the Antoine Doinel, but also the marxist agitator in several of Godard’s political works, is not really convincingly integrated in the narrative, even if it is a brilliant and more than relevant approach. Another detail that does not work is the presence of a young female director of today, who walks around ”discovering” what happened then. Could have done without that in a film that otherwise calls for another view and is a Must-See for all film students. And thanks for the end:

Jean-Pierre Léaud at the casting for the role in ”The 400 Blows”.   

France, 2010, 93 mins.

http://www.boxoffice.com/articles/2010-05-emmanuel-laurent-talks-two-in-the-wave

http://coulissesdelaculture.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/«-deux-de-la-vague-»-cinema-politique-et-le-desamour-artistique-de-godard-et-truffaut/

Vurdering:

Malik Bendjelloul: Searching for Sugarman

A newspaper page: ”American Zero. South African Hero”. The South Africans were right, Rodriguez, the musician the film is about, was/is a song writer and singer on the level of Bob Dylan, but he never made it in the U.S., whereas he was a superstar in apartheid South Africa, where he sold around half a million records and became an icon for the anti-establishment movement – and banned by the official censorship.

It is an incredible story that this award-winning film brings to the screen in a way that ressembles the style of ”Man on Wire”: interviews, archive, reconstructions, ”americana” images of streets and diners in Detroit, his city, and fine animation parts to accompany his music. A kind of suspense is built up: How did he kill himself, with a gun pointing at the head or did he really set fire to himself on stage?

The director follows a couple of fans searching for the answer. His last record was out in November 1971 and he was found alive and kicking 25 years later. In Detroit. It turns out that he had had tough jobs in the building industry, that he at a point was running for a seat in the City Council, and that he has lived the same place for 40 years.

After Rodriguez is found he tours with huge success in South Africa, visually covered through archive and wonderful home video material shot by one of his daughters, who become very much present at the end of the film. They talk about their father and his greatness as do journalists and music people, and this becomes the problem of the film: Rodriguez is no talker, he is a modest man, a fine musician, and why not leave it like that? The film becomes repititive and slightly tabloid where it could have been much more strong letting the small interview bites with Rodriguez stand as they are with no kliché like interviews surround him.

NB. His music is out in connection with the film.

Sweden/UK, 85 mins., 2011

Vurdering:

Timo Novotny: Trains of Thoughts

After the original, masterly done ”Life in Loops”, the remix of Michael Glawogger’s ”Megacities”, accompanied by music by the Sofa Surfers, Austrian Timo Novotny has gone underground to investigate the magic of the subways and metros of – again – megacities like New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Hongkong and Moscow with Vienna as the starting point and a place the director returns to. Again he has brought the Sofa Surfers with him and again he delivers an extravagant visual journey, a reflection on a space that millions of people daily occupy to be transported, for some an escape from the upper world, for others a space full of stories connected to its travellers. Novotny is an aesthete and his fascination of lines and forms is brilliantly conveyed through the montage of images, words and the music of the Sofa Surfers. Music that flows the whole way through and is synergetic with the image in pulse and rythm, contrary to the mainstream use of music in documentaries today, where the music is poured on like sugar to hide lack of energy in the sequences.

He starts his journey in the New York Subway, a place we know from many other films, homeless people are here, a micro-world it is, that shows – as one of the people we do not see but hear, say – that New York belongs to noone = everyone. You lose the feeling of time and space, you get overwhelmed by ”how many stories that are going on here”, ”I found a boyfriend in the subway”, you go by subway ”to be for yourself”. In this first chapter that also

Vurdering:

Jacob Jørgensen og Henrik Lundø: Min dal

Denne dejlige egnsskildring genudsendes på onsdag om aftenen ganske passende (sommer, turvejr og ferie) og så berettiget, for den er en vigtig og så ubemærket selvfølgelig smuk tv-dokumentar. Hans Edvard Nørregaard-Nielsen krediteres for den af DR K. Vel som medvirkende og forfatter, den blev jo produceret i forbindelse med udgivelsen sidste år af hans to binds værk om Limfjordens topografi og kulturhistorie, hvor den i dvd kopi følger med i en lomme på bindets inderside. Nørregaard-Nielsen har skrevet en vidunderlig tekst på en sikkert på flere måder livslang forundersøgelse. Men det skal nævnes, at Kirsten Klein har medvirket til bogen i betydeligt omfang, og at de sammen er kloge og følsomme medvirkende i Jørgensens og Lundøs film, for det er da bestemt de sidstnævnte, som har lavet filmen, den er deres arbejde, og de stiller det generøst beskedne til rådighed for Nørregaard-Nielsen og Klein, som er dem, vi ser og hører. Jeg skrev glad om dem her på siden, da filmen blev sendt første gang: "Det er en uafbrudt tilfredsstillelse at følge de tos kloge, indsigtsfulde, originale og på hver sin måde, i det danske sprog og i det danske fotografi, virtuose skildring af Limfjordens topografi, historie og poesi." Jeg glæder mig til at gøre det igen.

Jacob Jørgensen og Henrik Lundø: Min dal, 2011, 50 min. Medvirkende: Kirsten Klein og Hans Edvard Nørregaard-Nielsen, produktion: JJ Film. Sendes onsdag 25. juli 20:00 på DR K. Filmen findes på filmstriben.dk  Jørgensen og Lundø har tidligere samarbejdet med Nørregaard-Nielsen om et lignende projekt, Jeg så det land, 2005, 61 min. Også den kan ses på filmstriben.dk

Patricio Guzman: The Power of Memory

The BFI (British Film Institute) has been running a retrospective (ends July 26) with films by Patricio Guzman, having ”Nostalgia for the Light” as the recent highlight of the Chilean master director. In an article to be read on the website of the BFI, critic Geoff Andrew writes:

A couple of years ago, at the Cannes Film Festival, I fell in love. The object of my affections was a film – Nostalgia for the Light (Nostalgia de la luz), by Patricio Guzmán, the exiled Chilean documentarist famous for the three-part 1970s epic The Battle of Chile (La batalla de Chile) – and my desire was to programme it in an extended run at BFI Southbank. It took a while, but my dream came true, thanks to the UK distributor New Wave Films; not only that, but we’re accompanying the run with a retrospective of Guzmán’s earlier work and welcoming the director on-stage for an interview with the season’s curator, Michael Chanan. What, you may ask, were the characteristics that gave rise to this love at first sight? My first response, admittedly somewhat predictably, would be ‘beauty’; visually, Nostalgia for the Light is quite wonderful to behold. But rest assured that its beauty is more than skin-deep; it is notable for its quiet, deeply compassionate humanity. Still, many films are beautiful, and I don’t fall in love with each and every one of them. The real reason for my ardour, I suspect, was the fact that the film stood out from the crowd, from its mysterious opening scene to its profoundly moving ending; in short, it immediately struck me as unique. That’s extremely rare in an artform as genre-oriented as the cinema. And what more could one possibly ask of a love-object?...

Guzman is often considered as a political filmmaker but in connection with the release of ”Nostalgia for the Light”, he writes: "I'm not a sociologist. Neither am I a politician. I make films that are metaphorical and poetic; I interpret reality through my own personal way of looking."

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/falling-nostalgia-light

Jake Auerbach: Lucian Freud Portraits

The film is made together with Freud’s biographer Willam Feaver, who voice-off introduces the method of the film up-front: We will go to the people he has portrayed to get an idea of who this genius artist is – the film was made in 2004, Freud died in 2011. And what you get as a viewer is a wonderful range of talking faces, who remember how it was to sit for Freud. And to sit for Freud was ”a hell of a commitment” as one of the models say, for hours and over a period of months or a year. ”You were never allowed to see the progress”, says another, but you were treated well by the painter while in his studio.

The models (aristocrats, publicly known characters, women, many women, his daughters (some of them...), grandchildren) talk about him and about the experience to be painted, they are given time, and you are invited to watch the paintings, also there you are given time. The paintings, the interpretations that Freud made of faces, nude bodies on a couch, or new versions of known paintings by Watteau or Cézanne. It is entertaining and you get a sense of an artist who is giving all of himself in his self-portraits. A charismatic man, dishy, as one model says, and a man who in his old age started to care about his family. A tremendous gambler, a man who could catch the ”subtle differences” in a face, as says colleague David Hockney, who sat for him as well.

Watched it on the SVT art documentary slot K-Special. Available through Amazon or hire it for 7 days via the producer, see below. An article by Feaver in Guardian is also linked.

UK, 52 mins., 2004

http://www.jakeauerbachfilms.com/lucian-freud-portraits

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/02/lucian-freud-artist

Vurdering:

Eugene Jarecki: Reagan

DR2 sender i morgen aften og tirsdag aften meget passende efter Clinton den britiske, som de skriver, tv-dokumentar i to afsnit Reagan. Der findes i hvert fald én produktion mere om Ronald Reagan, men jeg gætter på, at den vi får er den New York baserede amerikanske instruktør Eugene Jareckis film fra 2011. Den har været sendt på BBC Storyville og er måske delvist finansieret derfra, men det bliver den nok ikke britisk af. Vi får se. Interessant bliver det af vigtigere grunde, for Jarecki har tidligere lavet film om Henry Kissinger, det var i 2002, og han fandt under det arbejde ud af, at den amerikanske udenrigspolitik er resultat af en del mere end en enkelt personligheds indsats, derfor gik han videre med en meget bredere analyser, Why We Fight i 2005 om det militære-industrielle kompleks. I The House I Live In fra i år undersøger han "krigen mod narkotika". Begge værker blev belønnet med Grand Jury Prize på Sundance de pågældende to år.

Tue Steen Müller har tidligere her på siden skrevet om Jareckis Reagan-films placering i den amerikanske tradition af præsidentfilm. Den sendes på DR2 mandag 23. juli 22:50 og tirsdag 24. juli 22:50.

DocMontevideo/ 1

It started yesterday and runs until July 27. It is the fourth edition of DocMontevideo in the Uruguayan capital. And it has a very professional approach to why and how to reach a goal that is both regional and international. The subtitle to the event says ”TV Meeting/Pitching, Workshops, Networking” and in that way it draws parallels to the festivals and markets in Europe that aims at uniting industry and art.

Below you will find the organiser’s both visionary and practical text from the clear and appealing website of DocMontevideo. Here is to mention the international participation of the ITVS in the US and the National Film Board of Canada, as well as a masterclass with Lithuanian Audrius Stonys (photo), whose work is very familiar to readers of filmkommentaren. Bravo for this Eastern European target, last year Marcel Lozinski visited Montevideo.

Otherwise the Documentary Week of DocMontevideo includes the showing and debate with the directors of ”The Lifeguard” (Maite Alberdi, Chile), ”Birth” (Jorge Caballero, Colombia), ”Aqui se Construye” (Ignacio Aguero, Chile), ”My Family’s Flowers” (Juan Ignacio Fernández Hoppe, Uruguay) and ”CTRL-V” (Leonardo Brant, Brazil).

http://www.docmontevideo.com/

DocMontevideo/ 2

In the four years it has been in existence DocMontevideo has established a space in the continent for contacts and reflection using the information and communications media. Our mission is to contribute to constructing a market in Latin America that will foster the circulation of top quality audiovisual material.

From the start, the work we do at DocMontevideo as a team and as an organization has spread and evoked ever-wider responses. Our objective is to get a commitment from and encourage various actors in the region involved in transforming and developing the audiovisual sector so as to improve our training, production, artistic creation and commercial capabilities. With this aim we have sought synergies and contacts with other experiences in Latin America and in the world that are developing along the same lines.

The international links we have established over these four years are getting stronger. In 2012 we have consolidated agreements with new markets and festivals. We shall select projects for DocsBarcelona (Spain), DocMeeting Argentina, Visions du Réel (Switzerland) and The Edinburgh Pitching (Scotland). We have set up a new space for cooperation with ITVS (USA) that involves distance tutoring, and we have developed new training and distribution areas jointly with TAL (Televisión América Latina). We have also opened a new cross-media workshop with support from the National Film Board of Canada and ITVS, and we have coordinated for Al Jazeera their first

The Syrian Revolution/ 16

... and this one accompanies the photo below.

The Syrian Revolution/ 15

Let the photo talk for itself, this cover photo from the FB page of Orwa Nyrabia. 

Chris Hegedus og D.A. Pennebaker: Kings of Pastry

Jacquy Pfeiffer til venstre vil gerne være MOF, have ret til tricoloren i kraven ligesom vennen og kollegaen Sebastien Canonne til højre. For at få den skal han deltage i Meilleurs Ouvriers de France, en konditorprøve, som afholdes hvert fjerde år. Det fik han lyst til, da han fire år tidligere hjalp Sebastien til godkendelse, og nu er det omvendt. Jacquy har forberedt sig alle årene, og nu pudser han sammen med Sebastien formen af og lige netop det viser sig skæbnesvangert, da afgørelsen falder efter tre forrygende og voldsomt krævende prøvedage. Der er 16 kandidater til titlen og kraven, men kun omkring en tredjedel består denne gang.

Man skal selvfølgelig være dybt fascineret af avanceret konditorkunst for fuldstændigt at forstå og værdsætte denne film. Der mangler jeg en del, men jeg kan forstå og jeg kan lide Hegedus’ og Pennebakers filmkunst. De lader filmen som konstruktion vokse langsomt fra bunden, udvikle sig fuldstændigt som Jacquys bryllupskageskulptur i et langt, langt crescendo med velanbragte og meningsfulde (velsmagende) afstikkere og detaljer, små sejre og tidskrævende nederlag undervejs, herunder et frygteligt uheld som under selve prøven rammer en sympatisk medkandidat, jeg undervejs også har lært at kende. Uheldet overvindes og prøvens sidste dag slutter i højeste tempo og i højeste spænding. På toppen af filmkonstruktionen er som på kagen naturligvis selve brylluppet.

Chris Hegedus og D. A. Pennebaker: Kings of Pastry, USA 2010. Fotografi, lyd, klip og produktion: Chris Hegedus og D. A. Pennebaker. DR2 Dokumania i aftes. Tilgængelig for danskere online i denne uge på Dokumanias hjemmeside   

En anden film af amerikanske (og ikke engelske som Dokumania skriver) Pennebaker: Monterey Pop

Vurdering:

Barak Goodman: Clinton

Barak Goodman har med sit selskab i Brooklyn, NY lavet en lang række arkiv-baserede, historieformidlende, ”i dybden”, som de selv skriver, tv-dokumentarer: Mai Lai (2010), The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (2009), The Lobotomist (2008), Kinsey (2005) og en række flere. Jeg har ikke set nogen af dem, men kunne bestemt have lyst, bare på titlerne. Så jeg var spændt, da DR2 i aftes sendte 1. afsnit af Goodmans helt nye Clinton. Men jeg blev faktisk skuffet. OK, der var mange, mange for mig nye oplysninger, men det blev trods den trænede fortæller, Campbell Scotts troværdige stemme til pligtstof for mig, jeg kedede mig faktisk. Der er i serien ellers lagt op til et flot drama med ham og hende, Bill og Hillary, naturtalentet og den intellektuelle slider, den udadvendt folkelige og den tænksomme hjerne bag det fælles foretagende og de store ambitioner, mellem den konstant troløse mand og den atter og atter bedragne kvinde. Der blev blot ikke tid nok til i enkelte scener, i umistelige billeder at låse sådanne store temaer fast. Det er vist ikke, hvad Goodman mener med at gå i dybden, vil gå i dybden med. ("... an in-depth look at the legendary president Abraham Lincoln" står der på dvd-coveret om den film). Det må være noget andet andet, en anden slags dybde. Chokerende nye oplysninger? Også for historikerne? Måske. Der er tre timer tilbage. 2. del sendes i aften 22:50. Jeg hænger på...

2. DEL

Det var godt, jeg fortsatte. Vidnerne står nu klart frem. Og velordnet ensartede. Men der er voldsomt mange medvirkende med analyse-konklusioner, som i klippet sættes på i så voldsom forkortelse, at alle udsagn bliver postulater. Filmen interesserer sig ikke for mellemregningerne, ikke for det lange tøvende i en egentlig samtale. Den vil effektiv fremdrift i en fortælling, som skal nå så meget, som muligt.

Den holdning giver så til gengæld i her i værkets del 2 et overblik fastholdt i hovedafsnit, som jeg bagefter kan huske: Først Vince Fosters selvmord, som berørte Clintonparret dybt og ledte til den plagsomme Whitewatersag, så kampen for det første budget, som endte med sejr på en enkelt marginal, men dog en sejr, som hurtigt gav finanspolitiske resultater af betydning, men så nederlag på nederlag: Krigen i Somalia, Folkemordet i Rwanda, Sundhedsreformen frem til lavpunktet (hedder det, men det er vel som man tager det) nederlaget til republikanernes Newt Gingrich i valgene til Kongressen, hvor Demokraterne mister flertallet i Senatet, valget, som mere end valg af repræsentanter og senatorer blev til et valg for eller imod Clinton. Se det er jo for så vidt et godt overblik over en periode. Mere end pligtstof, dramatisk og spændende fortalt, faktisk. Men hvor er analysen? Den samlede forståelse og holdningen til tingene. Til nu forsvinder den i mere end 15 vidners korte statements. Campbell Scotts fortællerstemme holder sig til begivenhedernes referat, den røber ikke filmens bud på indsigt og forståelse. Sådan samlet. Jeg forstår stadigvæk ikke, hvad Goodman selv mener og hvordan han og hans film placerer sig uden for alt det, der i forvejen menes om den præsident. Hvad er det mon der tilføjes? Barak Goodman med de mange dokumentariske priser vil da andet end filme og holde mikrofon over interviewmedvirkendes hoveder? Der er to afsnit tilbage. I aften og i morgen aften. Jeg må se ordentlig efter, høre ordentlig efter.  Det kan nås for mig at finde ud af det…

3. DEL

Nå, sådan er det lavet! Goodmans egen analyse og konklusion og holdning ligger – filmisk faktisk – som en konstruktion af små dele af interviewene, som er limet sammen af den – forstår jeg også nu – omhyggelige og naturligvis velskrevne fortællerstemme. De medvirkende er ikke medvirkende som personer, som personligheder slet ikke. Man ved for alles vedkommende, at de må være fascinerende mennesker. Alle som én. Men her er de stemmer i et samlet kor, samlet i en klippets ordning i en dramatisk fortællekurve. Kun en enkelt skiller sig ud på mærkelig vis, det er Kofi Annan. (Det må jeg finde ud af senere.) Så tv-serien er ikke et udsagn, eller en række udsagn om, men et billede af Clinton og de år, han var præsident. Et pointelistisk billede, et impressionistisk billede, et langt gobelinvævet tapet. Et ordnet flimmer af brudte udsagn. Går jeg tæt på, bliver det uskarpt, går jeg på afstand, læner mig tilbage og tager fortællingen til mig, umiddelbart, vokser tv-værket til et stort epos.

Den gennemførte kronologi kaster nogle gevinster af sig i og med, at jeg jo kender hovedtrækkene i begivenhedsrækken, det er jo alt sammen sket for øjnene af mig. Det er i min tid, og det giver fortællemæssige muligheder, som Barak Goodman udnytter: Whitewater-sagen kan komme op igen og igen, den berømte unge praktikant kan introduceres - men ikke mere, jeg kender hende jo - introduceres de mærkelige dage, hvor Clinton gik alene omkring i regeringskontorerne, for personalet var sendt hjem, han havde ikke penge til lønningerne, fordi lovgivningsmagtens flertal anført af Newt Gingrich og han ikke kunne nå overens om det statslige budget. Min interesse bindes i denne vældige styrkeprøve med de mange pespektiver, som Clinton vinder så grundigt, at det fører direkte til den store sejr ved præsidentvalget i 1996, men jeg ved dog bag dette, at der jo var det der med praktikanten. Jeg ved, at præsidenten tænker på det. Ved andre det? I hvert fald ved de i filmen ikke, vidste de dengang ikke, Clinton slet ikke, at det en dag vil eksplodere – i fjerde og sidste afsnit.

Lige nu før fjerde akt er præsidenten stor og fri. Fri af ham, som opførte sig, som var han præsident, Newt Gingrich, omsider fri af Hillary Clintons medpræsident-funktion, som var uhensigtsmæssig i forhold til de andre nærmeste medarbejdere. Gingrich har regulært tabt og Hillary har klogt indset, at hun må spille på egen bane. Og Clinton viser sig handlekraftig, ikke kun indenrigspolitisk, også udenrigpolitikken tager han på sig skønt skræmt af de afrikanske katastrofer tidligere. Skønt han end ikke har lært at gøre honnør griber han som øverstkommanderende ind og sender USA sammen med NATO i krig mod Serbien og har med ét den anerkendte rolle som den vestlige verdens leder.

4. DEL

Krønikens ubarmhjertige form, den strenge kronologi indebærer således også sine egne slutninger. Og ofte slutter begivenhedsrækken ikke med et markant punktum, den glider ud i mere ens – tlsyneladende ens dage. Clinton har 700 af den slags dage tilbage i det hvide hus efter Lewinsky sagen, som fylder meget af fjerde akt, vel nok alt for meget. De 700 dage synes jeg følgelig der skulle være gjort mere ud af, for dem ved jeg på forhånd mindre eller intet om. De gør mig nysgerrig.

Det smukke arkivfoto, som sidder i toppen af dette blogindlæg, bruger Barak Goodman til fortællingen om samtalen mellem de to, mellem ham og hende, da han omsider indrømmer, at han var hende utro med den unge kvinde i regeringskontorerne. De to ser ikke på hinanden, ser ikke hinanden, de ser hver deres vej, men parallelt, på lige fod, lige stærke. Og sådan bliver det. Hun arbejder herefter på at vinde og vinder guvernørposten i New York, hun har nu sin egen karriere, sit eget liv. Han hjælper hende, men han har først og sidst sin lange afslutning, sine 700 dage.

Det betydningsladede arkivbillede, billedsiden til den afgørende scene, bliver også det centrale element i tv-seriens plakat, som fastholder tv-dokumentarens shakespearske plot omkring erotik, ambition og magt.

Barak Goodman: Clinton, USA, 2012, 4x50 min., manuskript: Barak Goodman, fotografi: Stephen McCarthy, klip: George O´Donnell og Nancy Novack, produktion: Ark Media Barak Goodman, Chris Durrance og Jamila Ephron. Sendtes på DR2 16.-19. juli 2012.  

Vurdering:

Rebellious Football Players

arte has declared “Summer of Rebels” and post-euro championship in Ukraine/Poland a 90 minutes long documentary is being broadcast on the German/French cultural channel and published on dvd. Eric Cantona, in his career himself quite a controversial, and brilliant, football player, is guiding the viewers to five (some alive, some dead) outstanding players, who had guts to go against the mainstream to take political initiative. Here is the (edited) intro from the website of arte, in French:

"Un film–manifeste qui réaffirme les valeurs du sport dans la société à travers cinq histoires chères à Eric Cantona.

L’histoire de Didier Drogba, qui en 2004, en pleine guerre civile ivoirienne, ignore les mises en garde de son club et de ses agents pour lancer un appel à l’unité et demander aux deux parties de déposer les armes. Celle du chilien Carlos Caszely qui fut, en 1973, un des rares footballeurs d’envergure à s’opposer et à défier ouvertement la dictature de Pinochet. Rachid Mekhloufi, un joueur de l’équipe de France qui, pendant la guerre d’Algérie, choisi la clandestinité et rallié son pays pour défendre, à partir de 1958, les couleurs de l’équipe du FLN. Celle de Predrag Pasic, international yougoslave qui, défiant les bombardements et les haines, a choisi de fonder une école de football multi-ethnique dans le Sarajevo assiégé des années 1990. Celle du brésilien Sócrates qui, en pleine dictature militaire au début des années 1980, transforme chaque match en meeting politique pour la démocratie.

Les rebelles du foot, en DVD dès le 20 juin chez ARTE Editions.

http://www.arte.tv/fr/Les-Rebelles-du-Foot/6727602.html

Ravello Observations

Classic Italian town: Piazza Duomo, with the dome on the main square surrounded by cafés, meeting points for locals (only 3000 outside the season) and in July tourists like us, who enjoy the overwhelmingly bella vista to the Amalfi Coast. In a few days you slow down and find your routine of walking to the square in the still bearable morning temperature, have your cappucino and brioche to sit down and greet by-passers, who fall in love with the blond, blue-eyed nine month old baby, who is here with his parents, one of them the niece of my wife, who has invited the four of us to celebrate her birthday. Back to the holiday appartments and the swimming pool, equipped with the pink La Gazetta Sportiva, just one of the daily newspapers totally dedicated to sport, mostly gossip about the transfers of Italian soccers teams, the big issue these days being the possible move of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Milan to PSG Germain in Paris. The 40 page newspaper is about sport all over including 4-6 pages about the world around us like the constant massacres in Syria!

Siesta... and then the fabulous cooler evenings of finding a good outside restaurant to have a dinner, an espresso and a grappa.

Back to the square that in 1953 housed John Huston and his film team – according to a plaquette on the wall of a house in Viale Wagner (yes, the composer was here) – during their planning and shooting of ”Beat the Devil” casting Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida and Peter Lorre in a film that had Truman Capote as co-scriptwriter, a film that Wikipeaks notes was made out of a script fabricated from day to day with a doutable end result – you can watch the film in its entire duration online. It has been declared ”public domaine”.

Danish poster to the film, title: Fuld af løgn.

Magnificent7 Summer Edition 2012/ 2

Filmkommentaren received this fresh and happy summer report from the Magnificent 7 team, Svetlana and Zoran Popovic, in Belgrade – after the open air screenings at the Belgrade Fortress, July 9-11:

Dear Tue. We had three wonderful evenings with films on music in the open air. Blessed with sky full of stars.

It was fantastic hip-hop opening and we had great big screen and powerful sound that rocked! A lot of young people, of corse, but also some of people of our age, traditional M7 audience. It was crowded and a lot of people were sitting and lying on big pillows right in front of the screen. (Film: The Furious Force of Rhymes. Director: Joshua Ateh Litle).

The most beutiful evening was with Lagrimas Negras. Ay, ay ay! All we needed was you and Sonia Herman Dolz (director) and Carmen Cobos! The place was full, overcrowded with peoplesatanding around. Again a lot of them laying on big pillows under the magic screen. The screening was indeed full of magic and everyone enjoyed every minute of the film. The vivid images of Cuba, music, love and all film craft was in full power. We were under the spells of Lagrimas negras!

The third evening was dedicated to the hypnotic music of Simeon ten Holt, Canto Ostinato (director Ramon Gieling). And it enchanted Serbs as well as it did with the Dutch in the film. We had Sonia and Iva (colleagues from M7 team) with us and they both loved the film.

And to conclude, we had nice screenings starting very late, at 11pm, but there were people who loved staying with Saudade do futuro (Marie-Clémence and Cesar Paës), El sonido del bandoneon (Jiska Riskels) (photo) and Regilaul, die Lieder aus der Luft (Ulrike Koch). Going back home after the last screening, some time around 1 after midnight, we were approached by one of the most dedicated film-goers for decades and he told as that he enjoyed every film like he always did at M7!

http://www.magnificent7festival.org/pages/BelefNajava_eng.html

Jonas Neuvonen: Reindeerspotting

CPH:DOX inviterer til snigpremiere på Reindeerspotting tirsdag 17. juli 21:30 i Gloria Bio, Rådhuspladsen 59. Billetter koster kun 50 kr. og kan købes/bestilles her!  

Tue Steen Müller gav i sin tid Reindeerspotting en indlevet og anerkendende anmeldelse. Han skrev blandt andet:  "One man behind the camera, a friend, himself on drugs, this is what makes the film attractive contrary to hundreds of well meaning ”don’t do it” drug addict films.

There is an intimacy in the relationship between the one who films and the one, who is being filmed. It is a relief when Jani is ready to leave fucking Finland to go abroad. This is where the film invites the viewer to experience tha classical journey of a young man, who wants to see and learn about the world. Free subutex drug in Paris, they are having a great time but when money is over, they have to go back and Jani ends up in prison, or as written, he ”is in and out” of prisons.

In terms of image, it looks (to use a Lars von Trier word about his new film) like shit and yet you take it all in, because it is a drama, well told in a personal and honest way. That is why people go to watch it, that must be the answer." Dengang (august 2010) havde filmen i Finland solgt mere end 60.000 billetter i biograferne.

Vurdering:

Yael Hersonski: A Film Unfinished

Dokumania på DR2 viser i aften 21:00 under overskriften Ghettoens glemte film Yael Hersonskis berømte A Film Unfinished fra 2008. Vi skrev dengang og senere om filmen her på filmkommentaren.dk: "... Som nu herren, som sidder og læser ved chatollet i fred og ro. Men nej, så blev der i arkivet fundet en glemt filmrulle med fraklippet. Der blev fundet to dagbøger, som fortalte om optagelserne, om de tyske dokumentarfolks arrangeren alting. Den læsende herre er altså tvunget til at sidde der i ro, og det er, hvad han har tilbage, disse tre møbler, bag kameraet er stuen fyldt med resten af hans familie. I soveværelset bor en anden familie, i de andre værelser andre, én familie i hvert rum." 

Tue Steen Müller mødte filmen i professionelle sammenhænge fra da den pitched på Copro i Tel Aviv til den blev præsenteret på festivalen Memorimage i Reus nord for Barcelona, hvor man specialiserer sig i film om erindring, ofte bygget på arkivstof. Netop som Hersonskis film, hvor arkivstoffet er noget ganske særligt, optaget til et formål og nu reflekterende vendt mod sig selv, uden at filmbillederne antastes som de dokumentariske filmbilleder, de er.

Filmens hjemmeside link

Inspiring Docu-Bloggers

The Centre for Production and Research of Documentary Film at University of Westminster, long name but good that it exists, writes the following on its website, address below:

“We all have our favourite cinema magazines and academic journals, but for a 360-degree appreciation of who’s who and what’s exciting in the documentary world, here are some of today’s inspiring docu-bloggers. If you know of somebody we’ve missed, send us a link at contact@docwest.co.uk. And no, it doesn’t have to be in English (although some posts in English might help).”

Goes without saying that filmkommentaren.dk is happy to be mentioned as is one of our contributors, Mikkel Stolt (alias Mike Proud).

Illustration taken from the website, a reference to a festival article by Adina Bradeanu, web and project consultant at DocWest.

http://www.docwest.co.uk/resources/blogroll/

Golden Apricot

The festival in neighbouring country to Georgia, Armenia, started yesterday. This 9th Yerevan International Film Festival runs until July 15 and has a fine international documentary competitive section within its red carpet profile programme that has Agnieszka Holland and Alexander Sokurov as honorary guests.

No surprise that the festival has decided to show ”5 Broken Cameras”, ”Planet of Snail” and ”Special Flight”, titles that go everywhere, deservedly, but bravo that Georgian Salomé Jashi’s ”Bakhmaro” will be screened, as well as local Bars Media’s long awaited ”Donkeymentary”, Goran Radovanovic newest ”With Fidel, Whatever Happens”, Turkish Enis Riza’s ”Recycling Life – I found Dostoyevsky in the Garbage” and Marc Weymuller’s ”La vie au loin” (photo).

So-called industry activities also pop up at the Golden Apricot. As example EDN’s Mikael Opstrup holds a documentary masterclass on funding and has individual meetings with documentarians attending the festival.

http://www.gaiff.am/en

DocStories Black Sea/ 4

Young Georgy Molodtsov, participant at the first session of DocStories, film director graduated from VGIK 2008, took the floor on the last morning to - with great commitment and energy - introduce the work that is being done to promote the documentary around the Moscow International Film Festival, MIFF, and the connected screenings during the year on TV Kultura, that so far have included 45 films.

At the festival that like last year (where this blogger was in the jury reporting from the festival) showed 25 documentaries with 7 in competiton – the winner was ”Searching for Sugarman” (photo) by Malik Bendjelloul with “Ambassador” by Mads Brügger having the Audience Prize.

Molodtsov, who is very much involved in the work of the festival together with strong names like director Sergey Miroshnichenko and film critic and programmer Grigory Libergal, the same team that stands behind the weekly documentary slot “Watching and Discussing” on TV Kultura, explained that this programme runs Saturdays at 10 or 11pm, that there is a strong press coverage, that it is not possible to analyse exactly how many viewers it has, that experience now shows that films about post-Soviet life are the most popular with the example of Marianna Kaat’s “Pit No 8” that had more viewers than Oscar-winning “Man on Wire”. The discussions, Molodtsov said, take place in a studio with a focus on the subject. The films are not subtitled but dubbed.

He also mentioned the channel 24Doc that shows many documentaries, recently Marina Goldovskaja’s “A Bitter Taste of Freedom” on her murdered friend Anna Politkovskoja, as well as the excellent documentary website Miradox, run by Ludmila Nazaruk, who also stands behind the St. Petersburg based DoxPro training initiative.  

http://www.gnfc.ge/

http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/eng/

http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/programs/?id=4151

http://www.miradox.ru/

DocStories Black Sea/ 3

There are often too many viewings, too many opinions which can make the directors confused trying to please everybody and thereby losing their own voice, said Menno Boerema, Dutch editor, at the first session of the DocStories Black Sea workshop in Tbilisi. The words fell before he showed the film ”Jungle Rudy” by Rob Smits that he did the final editing of after the film had suffered a crisis. According to Boerema because the editing had had ”too many cooks”

The wise words of Boerema make me think about the numerous workshops, seminars, markets and training schemes where rough cut screenings are introduced. The director of the Sunny Side of the Doc, Yves Jeanneau, said in an interview, arguing for why the market had included this element: This is the reality of the market – referring to the fact that tv commissioners most often today tell the filmmakers to come back with a rought cut...

Might be right, but do the rough cut screenings which include a small bit of the film screened in front of 50 or 25 people really serve the purpose of making the films better/ to improve the phase of the final cut coming up? No, of course not. What can work, to my opinion, is small intense sessions like the one here in Tbilisi, or like the one at DocsBarcelona where we have handpicked 5 professionals, who are used to watch rough cuts to watch versions which are almost finished, close to the final cut and comment on that WITHOUT trying to be editors as they are not.

It is a question of respect for the art of documentary, for the filmmakers – nothing wrong with showing material to others but if it is only for the sake of selling? And many people are not used to watch rough cuts, for sure, my long experience has told me.

Photo: Johan van der Keuken's The Long Holiday, edited by Menno Boerema

http://www.gnfc.ge/

DocStories Black Sea/ 2

During the first session of the doc storytelling workshop DocStories Black Sea presentations were made. One was – naturally – about the Georgian National Film Center, whose director Tamara Tatishvili (photo) came up with a very clear and encouraging status of the Georgian cinema in its present situation, financially and film politically with a focus on its involvement with documentaries. The Center, that was set up in 2001, is also a member of Eurimages, from November last year and has already, Tamara Tatishvili told, got more back for coproductions than the government has given out to be a member of Eurimages. All in all the presentation gave the impression of a professionally run public institution in a small country where documentaries are given a priority.

There is 1.4 mio.€ channelled to the Center yearly, and there is 775.000€ for film from other sources. There are two competitons per year, committees decide on the allocation of the funding – for documentaries there is 120.000€ for production. 7 documentaries came out last year supported by the Center.

Tatishvili told that she on behalf of the Center had signed an agreement with the public broadcaster to have a weekly slot for documentaries starting from September this year with films supported by the Center.

Also to be noticed is the impressive publication Filmprint (in English) that the Center publishes.

7 Georgian documentarians took part in the first session in the Goethe Institute in Tbilisi. 

http://www.gnfc.ge/

DocStories Black Sea/ 1

The first session of the new documentary storytelling workshop DocStories with around 20 participants from the countries surrounding the Black Sea is coming to an end in wonderful Tbilisi, Georgia. Films have been screened and discussed and analysed, and the filmmakers projects – some at an early stage of development, some rough cuts – have been turned around and commented and advised upon by the colleagues and invited tutors like the filmmakers Aliona van der Horst from Holland, Alina Rudnitskaya from Russia, the editor Menno Boerema (editor of several of Johan van der Keuken’s work) and the dramaturg Dirk Willemsen, both from Holland as well – and this blogger.

The workshop has been set up by Romanian Ileana Stanculescu and Georgian Artchil Khetagouri, both directors, their last film being ”Noosfera” (photo), reviewed on this blog.

Among the films shown were Johan van der Keuken’s classic film essay, ”The Long Holiday”, his last film made after he got to know that he had prostate cancer, ”Boris Rhyzy” by van der Horst, three films by Rudnitskaya and ”Souvenirs” by Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat.

Discussions were held around different storytelling approaches like the observational, the essayistic, the hybrid of fiction and observation as well as looking at the characteristics of the documentary road movie.

Next session takes place in October in Sibiu in Romania parallel to the Astra documentary film festival.

http://www.docstories-blacksea.com/

http://www.astrafilm.ro

Robert B. Weide: Woody Allen: A Documentary

I tend to avoid topical documentaries with no artistic purpose of its own, so why do I want to see a documentary about Woody Allen? Furthermore, I believe I know most things about Allen so a biographical film would almost only be disappointing. But to be honest, I’m just a big fan. I have seen all his films and his writing have brought me through some difficult and sleepless nights in the past. If I was forced to mention my favourite film of all times at gun point (or even “gub point” - before I took the money and ran) I would probably say “Manhattan”.

Thankfully, this film is quite satisfying in many ways. Not only does it provide us with a pretty good insight on his early career as a joke writer and stand-up comedian, it also gives us good commenting on the better part of his films. Allen himself is either waddling around or willingly talking to the director about his methods, dreams and hang-ups, and most of it is known stuff. He laments that he’s a comedian and not a tragedian (which I’ve always thought is a false premise) and he speaks highly of actors and ex-wives. We meet a lot of his fellow workers in interviews and there is some good archive material as well as good excerpts from his feature films, although with a greater emphasis on the first two thirds of his career.

All in all it’s pretty skillfully and amusingly put together, for instance when a comment by one of his agents about a career advice given to Allen is followed by a scene from “Broadway Danny Rose” in which Allen gives career advice to a balloon folding act. But towards the end of the film we are on the set of “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” and suddenly you want to know even more about his film making and his views on acting and aesthetics. Supposedly, the PBS TV version holds another hour with more nerdish material and I would love to get a hold of that.

As a documentary, it’s surely entertaining and will most likely give even non-fans an urge to watch or read more Woody Allen, but of course it lacks a bit as a work in its own right. I don’t see how you could do it differently, though, except digging more into the dynamics of the schism between tragedy and comedy which is such a huge part of Allen’s art.

Now I will go re-watch “Interiors” which this film claims was very serious and Bergmanish (which it is) but as I actually recall as being quite funny as well. And since I know I’m going to die someday, I’d better get my laughs now.

Robert B. Weide: Woody Allen: A Documentary, USA 2011, 113 mins (theatrical cut).  

Vurdering:

Jytte Rex' Kunstnerkvartet

…jeg kan roligt sætte mig ned og fordybe mig i noget af det klogeste, der er lavet på dansk film. Tilsyneladende blot fire kunstnerportrætter. Men nej, de fire film lukker sig op som én sammenhængende tanke om livets omfang og tankens grænse så smukt rollebesat med: Inger Christensen, Palle Nielsen, Pelle Gudmundsen - Holmgreen og Henning Larsen som medvirkende i undersøgelsen af det særlige ved digtet, billedet, musikken og arkitekturen og det almindelige ved kunstnerisk arbejde.

INGER CHRISTENSEN – CIKADERNE FINDES

Jeg glædede mig dengang sådan til at se den film. Det er så sjældent, jeg glæder mig til at se en film. Efterhånden.

Og jeg blev da også helt opslugt af dens én eneste bevægelse af skønhed og klogskab fra først til sidst – dette er film som musik, i den lille time for mig i hvert fald større end musik, selv om den største, Bachs musik, lå nedenunder. Et menneskeliv fra først til sidst, med døden nærværende siden barndommen. "Den sorg mit liv har overhalet.." siger den rolige, omhyggelige digterstemme. Den unge kvinde bliver ældre, men forbliver det smukkeste sted den samme. I stemmen, og i det stemmen siger, og på den måde, den siger det.

Venligt fortæller den om mødet med og fascinationen af den ældre og mere erfarne digter. "Jeg kendte nogle få, Rilke og Eliot især (hvilke omhyggeligt valgte få kendte denne unge kvinde ikke..), men han havde rejst og kendte mange, svenskerne især. Han havde boet et år i Stockholm på et legat..." Det er formuleringerne, som griber mig ved en særlig finhed, også om for eksempel det blot, at leve i Roms varme, "i de sydlige lande", hvor der "ingen påfaldende overgang er mellem krop og verden..." Sådan er bogen Det blevet til, forklarer stemmen. Klogskaben synker i mig som forelskelse, mens Jakob Bonfils ustandselige kamera, Grete Møldrups enkle klippebords-fortælling og Jytte Rex' generøse valg former Inger Christensens liv og digtning til en arabesk. "Piller lidt rust af min kind..."

Vurdering:

Magnificent7 Summer Edition 2012

On the 9th, 10th and 11th of July the Belgrade feature documentary film festival Magnificent7 organises a high quality programme of music documentary films. This is how it is announced on the website:

”“The Magnificent Seven” at BELEF is an exclusive summer edition of the modern theatrical documentary anthology as a special festival’s presentation within Belgrade summer art festival BELEF 2012 – THE FESTIVAL OF FESTIVALS. The festival’s program is always made up of contrasting creations, without limitations regarding theme and style, where only high artistic criteria plays a role. But for “The Magnificent Seven” at BELEF we have created a selection framework - films that in different ways deal with the phenomenon of music. Music documentary is one of the most evolved forms of documentary filmmaking and some of the greatest film directors like Wim Wenders and Martin Scorsese have given their contribution to this genre. Our intent is to present those films which explore the complicated role music plays in our individual and collective life from a sociological, psychological, and anthropological standpoint, films which in surprising manner confirm the exquisite importance of music in contemporary and traditional culture.

Before each projection begins the audience will be given details about the film, it’s topic and the authors. There will be no entrance fee for any of the programs.

Among the films are neo-classics like “Saudade do Futuro” (2000) by Marie-Clémence and César Paës and “Lagrimas Negras” (1998, PHOTO) by Sonia Herman Dolz, the latter that for this blogger is a much better artistic film about Cuban music than the one of Wim Wenders. Also to be screened are the two Dutch “The Sound of Bandoneon” (Jiska Rikels, 2011) and “About Canto” (Ramón Gieling, 2011).

magnificent7festival.org

Truls Lie: The Seduced Human (director’s cut)

Nu forstår jeg, hvorfor Jørgen Leth i den her film skal sidde nede i sit svømmebassin. I den lave ende, selvfølgelig, ikke på det dybe vand. Det er en del af en associationsleg. Og den leg kommer faktisk til at fungere, næsten så raffineret som en Greenawaysk nedtælling. Jeg bliver ved dette delvise gensyn af Truls Lies materiale mere og mere opmærksom på spørgsmålene, som jeg i forrige film overhørte, det er hver gang kun et enkelt ord i opfordrende spørgetone: Skam? Dorothe? Lyst? Jean Luc Godard? Det legende menneske? Lars von Trier? Og belært af, og eller på linje med Warhols berømte optræden, ved Leth, at nu han er i situationen, må han gå planken ud. Bestod jeg? Spørger han, gribende oprigtigt ydmyg, da han bliver hjulpet op efter optagelsens afslutning. Var det godt nok? Og det må siges, at Jørgen Leth med dette særegne interview på vandet, hvor han hurtigt og præcist, som man skal i den leg, leverer den øjeblikkelige tankeforbindelse og folder den ud i erindring og overvejelse, så dette stramt regelbundne afsnit sammen med en del flere noget mere samtaleprægede scener leverer den ærlige og detaljerede fortælling om det af filmkunsten forførte menneske, denne Jørgen Leth, om det filmværk, dette menneske har skabt og om de omstændigheder, også naturligvis de mest personlige, hvorunder de mange film er blevet til. Den fortælling leverer Leth som medvirkende i Lies film. Ja, Leth bestod.

Denne film nummer to er i spillefilmlængde, næsten. Det ekstra kvarter og tror jeg udeladelsen af en del reportage har skabt mere ro. Og det har givet mere plads til dybde, måske. Det føles i hvert fald som en musikalsk gevinst, en emotionel udvidelse, men jeg er nu ikke sikker på, at der i og for sig er mere materiale i den længere version, i hvert fald ikke skærpede argumentationer og slet ikke nye indsigter. Men der er givet mulighed for at gøre systematikken tydeligere, og der er vundet mere tid til at tænke undervejs.

Det betyder ganske vist, at den noget rigide tre akts opdeling med overskrifterne Lyst, Tvivl og Fortvivlelse nu kommer til at virke påståelig, i hvert fald for mig. Jeg sad ofte og tænkte, hvad mon den scene, jeg så i øjeblikket, havde at gøre med akt overskriften, jeg nu kunne huske. Lige netop her havde jeg hver gang brug for Lies fortællerstemme, nu den alligevel var valgt ind. Hvad jeg også i første version var glad for skønt så sparsomt anvendt, og i denne længere version havde ventet mig så meget af. Men Lie vælger altså at skjule sig selv mest muligt, og jeg er stadigvæk overbevist om, at min frustration er berettiget, at jeg mangler hans læsninger af Leths film, hans kommentarer til Leths udlægninger og fortællinger. Jeg kunne forstå det, hvis det var gennemført, så vi kun havde Leths fortælling akkompagneret af de få øvrige medvirkende på lydsiden, og Lie konsekvent havde gemt sin fortælling i sit klip. 

Og hvad Søren Kierkegaard egentlig har med filmen og Jørgen Leths arbejder at gøre, er trods en mulig accentuering i den nye version stadigvæk ikke gået op for mig. Og hvad Truls Lie selv har læst af eksistensfilosofi i Leths film, holder han også fortsat beskedent tilbage. Det må så komme senere, i bogen om det forførte menneske. (Den bog ville jeg gerne læse.) Nu og her har han lavet en dybt loyal og omhyggelig film som indføring i Jørgen Leths filmværk, en omfattende elementær introduktion, som vil blive stående som standardværk til brug for det voksende publikum til Leths film. Det skal Truls Lie simpelt hen have tak for.

Truls Lie: The Seduced Human, Norge 2012, 70 min. Medvirkende: Jørgen Leth, manuskript: Truls Lie, fotografi: Truls Lie og seks fotografer yderligere, klip: Marius Smit, producer: Dag Hoel, produceret af Faction Film. En DVD skulle meget snart være til salg på filmens hjemmeside. Filmen havde for kort tid siden premiere på Krakow Film Festival og vil herefter blive vist på Odense film festival den 25. august. Efter filmen vil der være en samtale mellem Leth og Lie. 

NB: DR K viser på torsdag 5.juli 21:00 Jørgen Leths Det erotiske menneske og 22:25 hans og Lars von Triers De fem bespænd.

Vurdering: