No, this post isn't about the Greg Kihn Band.
Instead, it is about the state of modern European cinema. I went to go see "Wings of Desire" yesterday at Lincoln Center with Alex B. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I remembered liking it ten years ago. Alex had the same thought and said he would have loved it if he had seen it when he was 17. Full of Goth (Nick Cave, Crime and the City Solution make concert appearances) and attempts to answer big questions about what life is about, the film seems like a relic to me.
It is Wender's attempt to make a big idea film like Bergman or Godard or Fellini or Bresson or Kieslowski. A "what is life all about?" kind of movie. And I can't think of European filmmakers other than Lars von Trier who even attempt to make that kind of film over the past ten years. Techine? Haneke? Denis? Ozon? I suppose, but their films seem so much smaller in scope than the greats of the past.
It seems to me that the films these days that are grappling with the "big issues" are coming out of Asian countries, not European countries. Is it because the post WWII directors were grappling with larger issues and today's European filmmakers having been raised in comfort are more interested in emulating Truffaut and Rohmer than Bergman? Or is that the big idea films run the risk of being too silly? I really have no idea. Maybe I'm just not thinking of recent European cinema that would disprove my random thoughts of yesterday.
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3 comments:
from Jamie:
i am nowhere near qualified to answer your questions, so i will ask another one: is it possible that the number of "what does it all mean" films from Europe has reached critical mass? perhaps the Asian cinema will go through its phase with it now and 40 years from now will have strip-mined all the territory and be forced to move on as well. how many times can a movie center around "what is life about?" and end up with a bemused "who knows?" or a "whatever you want it to be" before audiences tire of the question and filmmakers of asking it. my guess would be that it's simply the evolution of the form.
Who cares what life is all about, last thing I want from a movie. Stupid question, stupid endevor...
Jamie,
I think you are right. And to be honest, I like smaller films about individuals much more than the big question movies. Give me a Truffaut or Rohmer anyday over Bergman.
Chris,
I almost stared the blog entry with a disclaimer that you should not read it.
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