The Golden Age of French and Italian Cinema

As many of you know by now, I am an insatiable lover of film. If I had life my way, I would watch a film per day, writing reviews, making observations and sharing mutual recommendations with my readers. As part of my recent resolution, I decided to take some educational classes. I had friends who took painting or computer science at the time, complimenting their rigid work schedules with a subject they fell passionate about it. Following their lead, I signed up for a continuing education class at Stanford University, naturally pursuing foreign film. The class taught by knowledgeable and charming Laura Wittman called “The Golden Age of French and Italian Cinema” spoke for itself and covered acclaimed film masterpieces of the 20^th century, ranging from late 1930 to 1970’s.  As our semester rounds up, I want to share the list of the movies I’ve seen with you. Many of them you might have watched yet plenty could also be discoveries, intriguing and pushing you to search further by reading about the era, cinematographic movements and film criticism. Without further delay, I give you the movies that proved inspiring and simply enchanting:

“The Rules of the Game” by Jean Renoir (1939)

“Rome Open City” by Roberto Rossellini (1945)

“The Children of Paradise” by Marcel Carne (1945)

“Hiroshima Mon Amour” by Alain Resnais” (1959)

“La Dolce Vita” by Federico Fellini (1960)

“Breathless” by Jean-Luc Godard (1960)

“The Conformist” by  Bernardo Bertolucci (1970)

All these films are incredible given an often grim historical circumstances under which they were created, lack of resources driven only by passionate creative vision. If you are a fan of classic movies and this sample has woken up an appetite for more film, I strongly suggest checking out THE CRITERION COLLECTION – fantastic resource for  hard-to-find cinematic treasures.

Fashion in Film

Recently, seeking inspiration and creative encouragement in my work, I have gone on a fashion film marathon. I craved color, spark, passion and wise words of the maestri of Haute Couture. The most recent film I have seen was "Lagerfeld Confidential"an elusive documentary by Rudolphe Marconi - part dialogue with the head of Chanel, part continuous shots of Lagerfeld's travels. Overall, the film was a disappointment. Impersonal, fickle and lacking significant substance it neither gave any sense of Lagerfeld's monumental fashion resume nor glanced into the more subtle dwellings of the artist's mind. However, having started on a down note, I have discovered an array of fantastic films that were a true treat! If you crave a dose of Fashion in your life, you should definitely see:

The September Issue 

Why: The grand process of production of September issue of American Vogue (2007) and fabulous Anna Wintour, of course!

L'Amour Fou

Why: Yves Saint Laurant, Pierre Berge and the auctioning of their elaborate art collection!

Valentino: The Last Emperor

Why: Exuberant glance into the private and public life of Valentino Garavani as he bids adieu and steps off the fashion stage to retire. This movie was by far my favorite - personal, dazzling and full of life and love! 

Life of Pi Visual Journey

For those of you fascinated by Life of Pi visuals are in for quite an educational treat. A site, produced by 20th century FOX, named Pi's Epic Journey, will allow us to glimpse into film's production process, featuring infinite footage and informational tidbits that made Life of Pi a fascinating philosophical tale. Enjoy:

PI'S EPIC JOURNEY 

Marina & Ulay: Love Beyond

Two artists/performers Marina Abramovic and Ulay (Frank Uwe Laysiepen) met and fell in love in 1976 in Amsterdam.  They immediately started working together and led “collective existence” that helped them work and stay together for 12 years. They wore the same clothes, did not have any secrets from each other and generally acted like twins. For their performance “Death of self” the artists connected their mouths with a special apparatus and breathed in exhales of each other running out of oxygen after 17 minutes and fainting. The project explored the ability of an individual to consume the individuality of another person, changing and erasing it.

In late 1980’s Marina and Ulay encountered difficulties in their relationship, preventing them from working and living their lives fully. To finish their love story in grand artistic manner, they decided to perform one last soul-searching trip together to have closure. Starting from the opposite ends of the Great Wall of China they met in the middle hugged and parted forever…each walking 2500 kilometers prior.

In 2010, Marina Abramovic had a solo retrospective performance at MoMA in New York called “The Artist is Present” exchanging long gazes with anyone who volunteered to sit in front of her. The entire performance lasted 716 hours and 30 minutes and Marina has looked into the eyes of 1500 exhibition visitors. The only gaze that truly counted though was:

L'Odyssée de Cartier

Commercial taken to a whole new level of artistry - simply breathtaking:

Sleeping Beauty

“Sleeping Beauty” directed and written by Australian novelist Julia Leigh is a haunting allegory of awakening in close proximity to death. Lucy (Emily Browning) is a young college student floating through life in a fog of indiscriminate jobs and relationships. Underpaid and struggling, by random draw of luck, Lucy discovers an ad in a college newspaper for a mysterious job seeking attractive women. Under pretenses of silver lining waitressing, Lucy is drawn into erotic and lucrative world of sex services. Sex, in this instance being used elusively given the main rule of the club is no penetration. As Lucy gets drawn further into the unnervingly mysterious farce of the job that caters to aging aristocrats, she no longer is solely asked to flow around the expensively catered dining rooms in lacy underwear. Her icy madam, Clara (Rachael Blake) raises the stakes by offering Lucy to go further – succumb to the narcotic-induced sleep at Clara’s mansion. Even though as viewers we are exposed to most of what goes behind the doors of the luxuriously appointed bedroom, we cannot shake off the chilling feeling of mystery. Instead of explicit celebration of sexual desire found in the blatant exploitation of female form, we are left with the opposite - witnessing the mourning and loss of lustful mastery and complete paralysis of eros. 

One of the most fascinating scenes in the movie is one client’s monologue describing a short story he had recently encountered. In this story, a man who had lost all desire for life and its pleasures, dead inside, finally awakens by surviving a nearly fatal car accident and witnessing his driver’s death. This experience brings the protagonist back to life, giving him sensation of the world that he was numb to throughout his life. This story becomes a symbolic backbone of “Sleeping Beauty” culminating in Lucy’s struggle to find out what goes on when the Morpheus sets in and putting her face to face with death and, thus, spiritual awakening. Lucy’s hysterical cries in the closing scene contrast with serene pace and detached expose of director’s camera and in many ways signify the first grasps of air by a newborn baby…rebirth and resurrection. 

Did I love this movie? – Not particularly. In many ways, it was painful in its slowness and incoherent in its plot line. However now, days after I have seen it, it continues to haunt me, raising questions and questioning its allegories. Oftentimes, if a movie makes me think continuously about it way past the closing credits, it raises new awareness and proves that it managed to surprise… and astonishment is rare these days… 

In anticipation of "Rust and Bones"

Given I adore Marion Cotillard I could not help sharing the trailer of an upcoming film, "Rust and Bones", directed by Jacques Audiard. Since Audiard directed "A Prophet," a movie that has received widespread critical acclaim and a rare 97% on Rotten Tomatoes I can only imagine the raw potent depth he could inject into a love drama! Stay tuned...

Health Care Documentaries

There is nothing better to feed the mind than an excellent documentary about a topic that gets a lot of publicity but only a few people know intimately. With the upcoming election in November and Barack Obama’s now infamous health care reform, there is no better time to take a good look at the medical system with the help of two documentary releases. “The Waiting Room” directed by Peter Nicks zooms into hallways and treatment facilities of the emergency room section of American public hospital while “Escape Fire” takes an investigative look into the U.S. healthcare system machine, its often profit-driven care and quick-fix strategies.

No matter how removed a director wants to be while making a documentary piece, it is often wise to look out for biased perspective colored by personal experiences and judgments. I am definitely intrigued by the previews and am eager to get new information to play around with in forming my own, hopefully, educated opinion on the topic of healthcare. 

Cindy Sherman SF MoMA

What could possibly make a sunny Sunday any better you may ask? - Sacrificing that preciously rare SF sunshine for an art exhibition that proves to be a 100% worth it and then some! This past weekend has found me exhausted and getting increasingly nervous about launching my brand new costume jewelry project due mid-October. Sleepless nights are my only companions these days, locked in my apartment and ordering sushi in…raising those mercury levels and feeling the low of the lowest for a lady who loves to cook! However, logo must be finalized and final website changes made!

And I diverge, which lately has been becoming a habit of mine - a syndrome of total scatterbrain due to the lack of rest and indulgence in reading too many books and articles and going in visual overload on Pinterest. Come Sunday, I fled my apartment desperate to move around and have a change of scenery. My mom joined me, lured in by a promise of an early brunch at a French bistro or other venue boasting outdoor sitting. But before two ladies fully battle their gastronomical cravings, intellectual ones had to be fed as well. So off we went to SF MoMA for a much-anticipated Cindy Sherman photography exhibit. 

Cindy Sherman is one of the most influential photographers who has managed to intrigue, inspire and produce great art for the past forty years. Although Cindy Sherman is internationally recognized for her series of “Untitled Film Stills” (1977-1980), consisting of 69 self-portraits depicting various stereotypes of female roles, I have found myself overwhelmed with abundance and versatility of the artist’s portfolio. The self-portraits of Cindy Sherman set against the backdrop of skyscrapers, propped on a bed or simply standing in the doorway of her bathroom are reminiscent of the film clips stolen from Fellini’s neorealism or Hitchcock’s film noir. Black and white and small in scale (8 1/2 by 11 inches) the photographs are simply numbered, preserving ambiguity and allowing the audience to attach its own meaning to the images at hand. Most of the photographs were taken in Sherman’s apartment, using her own clothes, makeup and props, stripping the portraits of overbearing affectation. Ironically the photographs looked incredibly sincere even though I was fully aware of Sherman’s meticulous staging.

I have been familiar with the “Stills” from brief encounters in my graduate work yet most of Cindy Sherman’s creative reflections have eluded me. As I walked around the gallery I was astonished at discovering how multi-dimensional and innovative a self-portrait could be and how a true artiste could preserve her artistic identity while delighting the audience with ingenuity and wit. Even though Cindy Sherman’s later works still have an underlying social philosophy, contemplating on such diverse topics as sex in the age of AIDS, women’s quest for youth or façade of a clown’s smile, she has made a move away from black and white imagery and abandoned herself in vivid colors.

My favorite series of photographs, however, was Cindy Sherman’s “History Portrait”, a collection of 35 amusing images inspired by the paintings of the greatest Renaissance masters. I will not give any more away since just recalling the exhibition here, made me want to make another trip to the museum. In other words – go…please! The exhibition closes on October 8!

*Images courtesy of Cindy Sherman

Beloved

Seems like "Beloved" will be yet another great movie by Christophe Honore! If it is anything like his "Les chansons d'amour"and given it incredible cast (Catherine Deneuve / Louis Garrel / Chiara Mastroianni / Ludivine Sagnier), it is definitely worth a trip to the cinema or your Netflix queue!

Saltare In Banco

Gorgeous photography by Pierre Manning with a melancholic and edgy reference to circus:

SALTARE IN BANCO

Sweet Monsters

An extraordinary colorful collaboration project featuring photographer Kristina Fender for Naif Magazine:

SWEET MONSTERS

Farewell, My Queen

The movie I have recently seen that might be of interest to all of you film-buffs is “Farewell, my Queen” by Benoît Jacquot. “Farewell, my Queen” based on the best-selling novel by Chantal Thomas is a poignant recollection of the French monarchy’s abrupt and bloodthirsty collapse. Although it does not go into the gory details of the mass executions and guillotine’s blade is not yet in the picture (although it seems they are sharpening it by then), it foreshadows and focuses on the days leading up to them. 

As the ladies-in-waiting shuffle hurriedly through the labyrinth of Versailles, the atmosphere is at once lavish and electrified with tragic heaviness of the violence to come. The pace of the film, a feature I notice more often in the French cinema recently, is somewhat languid. As the final credits were rolling and I was walking out of the theater I could not help but overhear the complaints of the pouring out audience – “slow”, “boring” and “long” were the adjectives tossed around. I do agree that the film was unhurried but would not necessarily attach any negative connotation to it. I believe that it has done more good for the atmosphere of the pre-revolution than if it was bombarded by the fast-shifting events and dynamic plotline. “Farewell, my Queen” is a wholly atmospheric film and atmospheric not in the usual picturesque but emotional way. I admired the director for walking away from the overly publicized beauty of pompous Versailles ballrooms and letting us glimpse at its true identity – that of over glorified dormitory, embellished yet still infested with a rat here and there and accurate of its timeframe. 

Providing a fresh perspective on the revolutionary undercurrents in Paris hinted on by the whispers of the ladies-in-waiting, we are finally getting the middle ground perception on the collapse of the monarchy recalled by the “healthy middle class” – neither the lavish let-them-eat-cake crowd nor the over starved and angered poor. Since the truth lies somewhere in the middle, the perspective of the valets to the king and queen is the closest we can get to understand the events leading up to storming of Bastille. And if you are still not intrigued, Diane Kruger as Marie Antoinette and Lea Seydoux as her loyal and adoring lady-in-waiting Sidonie Laborde are a treat all on their own…sensual and alluring…

  

A Burning Hot Summer

Monica Bellucci and Louis Garrel caught in one stormy-steamy relationship proper of an actress and a painter? – I am running to the theater! In the words of Manohla Dargis of New York Times: 

"A languid, emotionally raw film. Mr. Garrel suggests that there’s something impossible about love, but then he is a Romantic — of a dreamy, melancholic type."

Philippe Garrel’s films run like a confession ripped from a diary of a tortured soul, eager to explore its intricacies yet stay impartial and untarnished. Those day-to-day moments of pondering silences, stolen glances and feelings of great intimacy mixed with alienation make Garrel’s works voyeuristic and visually striking. Even though his pensive poetry and austerely character study approach is not catered to everyone’s taste, his imagery is provoking and worth exploring:

Screenings available July 20–26 at SF Film Society Cinema:

http://sffs.org/content.aspx?catid=928,1025&pageid=2985&TitleId=fsc-burninghot

If you are in town, come check it out and share what you think!