It would really have helped those of you so turned off by Klimt, the surrealistic (by way of syphilis!) new bio-pic on the life of Gustav Klimt, had we had a pre-trip seminar on 20th century European Art as well as a history class on fin-de-siecle Vienna and aesthetics.
A decent piece on the film appears here, with another decent take here. California's 'Bible' of movies, Variety, is somewhat merciful, surprisingly enough.
Background material on the young artist mentored by Klimt, Egon Schiele, appears here in a nice piece by Arthur C. Danto. An archive of his somewhat-influenced-by-Klimt stylistics is here.
There is something about movies featuring mad men suffering from schizophrenia that sparks my interest (ie Fight Club or A Beautiful Mind). Its a major sickness of the main character, but it is also a vital part of who they are. Straying from the confines of linear cinema, its difficult to pick a scene that would cause the movie to crumble. On the other hand, Klimt's alter ego is a huge insight to who Klimt is. If you were to subtract the "Tyler Durdan"-esk character from the film not only would you have to delete two minutes from every scene in which he begins to rant on to himself, but you would be cutting out half of the character Klimt. Almost every complex scene that Klimt finds himself troubled, he consults his shadow for some advice, some direction, even for something as simple as a brief discussion to pull himself away from the chaos and confusion of the oh so proper world of ladies and gents. Hinted to early on in the film its difficult to see how important this character is at the beginning of the film. As it progresses you realize, it is nothing more than Klimt himself.
The most important and critical scene to the understanding of the film Klimt was when Klimt had his first of two meetings he had with the doctor. If you had not been paying attention very closely to their conversation you would have missed a very subtle and very easily missed remark made about Klemt having syphilis. Knowing this critical little bit of information makes all the crazy events and appearances of a man that isn't there make sense, for Klimt is going crazy due to his illness. The sound of the dripping water when there is no water there, and his erratic actions add to the confusion to a viewer that did not pick up on that critical bit of information slid into a small scene. Simply put, without that scene, none of the rest of the movie makes enough sense to be correctly understood. But seeing as how it is not supposed to be understood in the usual manner as an art film, so knowing the condition of Klimt would have made the film immensely more difficult to understand than it already was. No other scene was nearly as important to the film than the one explaining his illness and without that scene the film simply would not work. --John Novi
As I was saying in class Monday morning, the creator of La Vie d'un Chien, John Harden, created his film both as an homage to Chris Marker, and curiously, as a way of memorializing a particular and peculiar dream he had.
Here is the film to which Chien alludes; the YouTube video shown here is the first of three parts of Marker's film--it may take a bit of time to load.
Harden's website includes a trailer of Chien as well as a one-minute sequence; both appear here:
More information is readily available via the internet regarding the various directors and artists associated with the short film productions we witnessed last Sunday. Info on Rocknroll Cinema and Futureshorts is available as well.
ps: bloggertips; if you cannot log-on as a colleague of yours is using the site, don't hesitate to post your statements as "comments"--this limits your AV range for posting links, images, and films, but it still lets you get your comments in on time and saves on frustration. blogger accounts are free! if you want to set up your own blog and post your comments there and then link to them via our site, you are welcome to do that as well. one other tip! limit, or try to limit, your use of the first person--better said, use it STRATEGICALLY not GRATUITOUSLY. try in your blog entries to manufacture a critical voice that mimics what you might call anthropologistese.
for instance, instead of writing...
...we went down to this cool street, with lots of people and I saw a lot of things that were weird and I felt, like wow, this was really different. and i saw some film by some guy with that dog and it was different...
you might want to write an entry that is a tad more analytical critical
...the cineTREK to Bricklane on 3, June 2007 challenged the way one understands the mix of cinema and culture. While US culture lulls us to paralysis in the safe womb of mundane multiplexes, the RocknRoll Cinema, in collaboration with FutureShorts, wakes us from our sleeping inertia, and reveals a new cultural context where one witnesses film and people, in a different way. For example, John Harden's La Vie d'un Chien, doubles both as a comic parody of Chris Marker's La Jette, but also as a next-wave provocative fusion of beastiality and science fiction
Not only was the scheduled cineTREK of seeing a series of short films a new experience for me, but the surrounding area turned out to be an experience as well. There was so much going on down that tiny, one lane road to the place. I call it place because I’m not sure whether it was a bar, club, movie theater, concert venue or kids toy room, with the bowling, cars, and other games. I have also never seen so many people, from so many different cultures, doing so many different things in one location like that before. From the street vendors, musicians, dancers and all the Indian restaurants trying to get our business. The short films were entertaining too and I enjoyed watching them, but what I will remember most from that night are the hours leading up to the short films. I’m looking forward to checking out the one in San Diego so I can see how it compares.
Rock & Roll Cinema was a very new experience for me because I had never gone to a film festival before and I wasn’t too sure of what to expect. I had actually thought the films would be about rock and roll. The variety of the films was interesting, as well as entertaining, with comedy, music videos, and animation. I thought the first film, “Noodles,” was a great opener because it was funny, simple, and a possibly realistic situation. I also found “The Dance Lesson” funny as the actor demonstrated common dance moves with such rigid body movements and minimal facial expression. “La Vie D’Un Chien” was hilarious, and the situation between the scientist and his dog seemed surreal, but the movie depicted ‘the freedom to love’ well. My favourite would have to be “Tales of Mere Existence” because it poked fun at such realistic situations, especially the last segment of the argument between the boyfriend and girlfriend. My only problem was that the last movie, “Le Relax” was all in French so I didn’t fully understand what was happening. The dialogue could give the actions different meanings. Overall, I enjoyed the short films and experiencing what they are about. --Marissa Verdeflor
cineTREK™ is the one & only and infamous online blog for students and faculty in literature.sdsu.edu's summer program in london, england--it is a diverse and enlightened group of graduate students and undergraduates. All participating globetrotting students are taking a brilliant course in british life and culture, taught by the inimitable john makey. the rest of the group is divided between students interning with various british firms while another ambitious collective is presently learning about the cultural anthropology of film and film culture in and around london--their commentaries make up the bulk of this blog.
