tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post3849200995689235388..comments2023-10-31T10:21:00.796-04:00Comments on Thanks for the Use of the Hall: Assorted Screenings in NYC: Late March 2009Dan Sallitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13136066978329749513noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-30586335126215815812009-03-27T17:06:00.000-04:002009-03-27T17:06:00.000-04:00I really liked Barking Water, which screens again ...I really liked <B>Barking Water</B>, which screens again Saturday afternoon. It's not a film where I can see a lot going on in terms of visual orientation, but Harjo is really skilled at slipping into that gray area between fiction and documentary. The performances are uniformly wonderful, neither actorly nor awkward; a sign of directorial achievement is that the lead performers are even more effective when they blend with the ensemble in semi-improvised depictions of everyday life among the American Indians of Oklahoma. The most vivid image the film leaves behind is of a community scattered across the vast spaces of the Midwest, in small towns and in desolate rural areas, retaining a history and a closeness despite the attenuation of time and distance.Dan Sallitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13136066978329749513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-31170355501846228012009-03-26T11:39:00.000-04:002009-03-26T11:39:00.000-04:00Stephen - another common tendency in Pialat and Sw...Stephen - another common tendency in Pialat and Swanberg - and I think it's a double-edged sword - is to hit thematic ideas fairly directly. Both directors use improvisation to generate a good portion of their dialogue, and both seem to have a taste for selecting material that is thematically explicit. I once wrote about Pialat's <B>Police</B>, "This preference for unshaded dialogue is an odd directorial trait; in some circumstances it strikes me as awkward, and I'm not sure that it's a conscious artistic strategy. But there is an interesting synergy between the abrupt rhythms of Pialat's pacing and the verbalization of subtext. Not only is the romantic story a sudden contrast to the police story, but the colliding elements also feel bigger and more explicit because of this overt dialogue. If the power of the love scenes in <B>Police</B> is connected to their abruptness, then the outsized quality of the dialogue can be seen as an upping of the stakes." Both directors omit narrative connective tissue, so a bit of thematic directness serves as a guide to the viewer.<BR/><BR/>Craig Keller just posted <A HREF="http://cinemasparagus.blogspot.com/2009/03/kissing-on-mouth.html" REL="nofollow">an appreciation of Swanberg's <B>Kissing on the Mouth</B></A> (a film I haven't seen).Dan Sallitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13136066978329749513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-37386998212480089562009-03-25T22:17:00.000-04:002009-03-25T22:17:00.000-04:00Count me as another who is completely perplexed by...Count me as another who is completely perplexed by the confused, sometimes even angry resistance towards Swanberg's work. The guys films (at least the ones I've seen: ALEXANDER, NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS, HANNAH) have always been very easy for me to like. That balance between the abstract and the concrete that you mention is a key reason I find him constantly intriguing. Scenes start strange and find a pleasing normality, or start normal and become strange, but they are rarely either too normal or too strange. The comparison to Pialat seems apt. His storytelling methods could be accused of being lackadaisical, until he hits you with a carefully orchestrated movement that sheds light and insight on multiple threads that have been ongoing.<BR/><BR/>I like him. I like him a lot. Having only seen ALEXANDER once while sleepy, I'm not prepared to make any grand statements about it, but it seems to fall nicely into his filmography at this moment. I eagerly await his next.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com