Anthony Mann's 1961 El Cid is not a work of art in spite of its position in the lineage of the oft-vulgar mega-producer, European-based moviemaking boom of the late '50s-early '60s. It is not a work of art in spite of the presences/performances of Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren. It is not a work of art "in spite" of anything. Why is it that the allowances we make automatically for certain circumstantial conventions and such in other mediums we extend so begrudgingly, when at all, to cinema? (One thinks, alas, of Stephan Metcalf's cretinous Slate dismissal of The Searchers, which really starts to take wing when he deems it "off-putting to the contemporary sensibility," which could just as easily be said about, say, Las Meninas, and who gives a shit?)
The pictorialism, the kineticism, the ferocious visual intelligence displayed by Mann, cinematograhper Robert Krasker, and the rest of the film's production team lift this epic into a realm rarely touched by any of the arts. The Miriam DVD of the film out today does the picture justice, although I'd love to see a high-definition version. In any case I'm held rapt enough that I haven't even begun to look at the extras.
Today's other must-get disc presents two entirely smaller-scale works of art, Dance Party U.S.A. and Quiet City, two films by Aaron Katz, the director I consider the most outstanding artist to emerge from the 20-something-centric non-genre whose name I dare not type but which starts with an "m". The other moviemakers in Katz's orbit—Swanberg, Bujalski, and so on—all have talent and ideas. But none of them have Katz's eye, or anything like Katz's sensibility. This is the second release from my friends at Benten and it's one of the most sensitively, beautifully constructed packages I think you'll see this whole year.
Here, here on the props for QUIET CITY....an excellent, beautiful engaging little film. I'm big on all those films-who-shall-not-be-named-too-early-therefore-making-them-seem-trendy-and-thus-allowing-un-needed-backlash-when-they-just-have-no-money-and-make-films-core but I think Katz's QUIET CITY is the strongest of the bunch.
I interviewed him here:
http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=interviews&Id=1150
Plug plug plug!
Posted by: don lewis | January 29, 2008 at 01:37 PM
How is it that I'm only recently discovering how abhorrent "Slate" is, or at least its film writers?
I clicked on that link to Metcalf's article, and I couldn't make it all the way through. So "The Searchers" isn't as "obviously medicinal" as "Spirit of the Beehive". Thank goodness for small favors, right? And I don't know if he titled his own article (I don't really know how that works), but either way, since he admits to having seen it for the first time shortly before writing the article, the title "Revisiting 'The Searchers'" is an odd one. It also adds to the feeling that the whole article was created as a premeditated take-down.
Thanks for the link, Glenn. I was already in a bad mood!
Posted by: bill | January 29, 2008 at 02:16 PM
Just to clarify -- I wasn't knocking "Spirit of the Beehive", although I realize now that it sounded as though I was. More than anything, I mentioned that line of Metcalf's because I can't for the life of me figure out how "Spirit of the Beehive" found its way into the conversation.
Posted by: bill | January 29, 2008 at 02:28 PM
Slate is super-grumpy about everything. I like to think that it had its day seven years ago when I first noticed it and that nobody reads it anymore. I am probably wrong.
Posted by: oakling | January 29, 2008 at 03:10 PM