Well, I should have stayed in last night, it turns out.
I went to a god-awful pretentious documentary screening last night at the Detroit Institute of Arts with Matt and Ben. The filmmaker was this fifty-something disheveled Prof. of Visual Arts at Harvard, and, obviously, has seen "Koyannisqatsi" ( however you spell it) and "Last Year at Marienbad" one too many times. It was all disconnected images (lots of oceans and people in cars) with script scrolling across the screen from his "dream journals."
All I can say is, if those were his dreams, he is one boring man. "K. walks into the room behind me. She is standing next to the tree. But it isn't a tree. It's my hand. Who is K.?" I'm not kidding, it was that bad. Not to mention this text floating across the screen: "I see a penguin. falling."
Then, at the end, when someone asked a question he had the nerve to say "Well, I consider myself an old-fashioned filmmaker. I don't believe in discussing my images as post-modern." ! I laughed out loud. I mean, his stuff is so post modern I couldn't even make out objects, people or places. During the whole thing (2 hours of my life that will never come back) I kept thinking about my laundry, what to have for breakfast and whether or not I should put my car in the garage. Maybe that was his point?
Obviously, he read too much Camus as a young man. AND when someone questioned why he didn't give credit to any of the music he used he said, "As a filmmaker, I hate reading credits." and the guy in the audience said, "Well, your name made it to the credits." Ha! There was one cool thing he did in "On a Street Corner in Calcutta" where he (surprise!) filmed a street corner for about 10 minutes with scrolling news script at the bottom. That was interesting. Otherwise, bunk all around!
I want my gossip! - 2005-08-17
Goodbye, BGT! - 2005-08-08
hell hath no fury like a awriting workshop - 2005-08-01
My Love Don't Cost a Thing - 2005-07-14
Kiss My Grits! - 2005-07-06
