Posts Tagged hollywood
Video: John Cassavetes – “Television Sucks!”
In this outtake from a 1978 television interview, Cassavetes discusses his film Opening Night for a while, and builds into a terrific rant on movies and movie audiences.
This is a great example of Cassavetes’ way with words, his dislike of people who live only for the approval of others, and his anger at the low popularity of his later films (especially Opening Night and Killing of a Chinese Bookie) None of which was dealt with in the “Constant Forge” documentary that came on the Criterion Collection box set.
Again, apologies for the text on the screen. Not my fault!
A Short Conversation About Film
Posted by fraser in Uncategorized on June 4, 2009
The following conversation took place between Fraser Orr and Lazlo Planifax on May 26th, 2009. Feel free to comment!
Fraser: Film, or any art, is about trying to express something, right? I mean, if it’s an artist’s job to do anything, it’s that. Otherwise we’re just paying him $15 to keep us distracted while we eat our popcorn.
Lazlo: Sure, I agree.
Fraser: So let’s just go over the simple ways an artist can express himself. Assuming the writer and director is the same person, what can they do? They decide what the characters will say, where the characters will stand in a room, how they’ll act towards each other, the way they’ll be framed in a shot, the way each shot is cut between others, maybe some music they’d like to add, or other kinds of visual effects. These aspects of the film are crafted in a certain way, and that’s how the artist expresses himself.
That is the absolute limit of the abilities of the language of cinema. If we’re really paying attention to a film, we’re paying attention to this.
Lazlo: That’s all mind-numbingly obvious, you just explained to me what I know I’d get from watching any movie ever made.
Fraser: Actually, that’s not what we’re getting from most films. What we really want when going into a cinema, and what most films provide us, is JUST to be distracted, to not pay attention to what is actually happening. This is done by “taking us on a journey” or by “transporting us into another world”. These sound like things we should want from cinema, but they’re just distractions from letting us pay attention.
Lazlo: But I AM paying attention when I watch a movie. If I’m being taken on a journey, then I’m paying attention to the journey.
Fraser: Not really., you’re actually pretending to be somewhere else. Let’s just watch your brain while you’re watching a movie:
“Oh, wow! It’s journey time, sweet! Look at those explosions! Holy crap! Man, the bad guy is a real arsehole, I can’t wait for the hero to kill him! Hey, this hero is a really nice guy, just like me! I could totally be the hero of this movie! Damn, that chick is hot, I wanna fuck her! Oh, dude, the hero just totally killed the bad guy! He can do anything and he’s just like me, so that means I can do anything! Hey look, now the hero is fucking the chick, it’s kind of like I’m fucking her right now!!! SWEET!!!” then all of a sudden, the credits are rolling and you’re left sitting with an empty box of popcorn, right where you started.