January 30, 2004

"Film-makers on film: the archive."

Hugh Davies in the Daily Telegraph: "Helen Mirren is leading a new charge through Hollywood by mature actresses.... Her rivals are Diane Keaton, 58, in Something's Gotta Give, Jamie Lee Curtis, 45, for Freaky Friday, and Diane Lane, 38, in Under The Tuscan Sun." It's a follow-up of sorts to Charlotte Edwardes's piece on Searching For Debra Winger.

Now then. We don't often link to the Telegraph around here because you have to register to read it; yes, it's free, and yes, the New York Times is available only via free registration as well, but the obvious general assumption anywhere you click is that everybody can and does access the NYT, one way or another. The Telegraph's site can be a bit moody now and then, but there's definitely one feature worth the hassle: the "Film-makers on film" series.

Since March 2002, the Telegraph has been interviewing filmmakers, getting them to talk about one particular film each that's meant something to them over the years. In the most recent, Claude Chabrol tells Sheila Johnston why FW Murnau's Sunset ""took my breath away and for me is still the most beautiful film in the world." There are currently, by my rough count, over 70 of these little gems gathered so far, all accessible via this single page.

Just to whet your appetite, it's there you'll find, for example:

Pickpocket

  • Jules Dassin on Charlie Chaplin's City Lights.
  • Atom Egoyan on Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo.
  • Aki Kaurismaki on Jean Vigo's L'Atalante.
  • François Ozon on Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows.
  • Lynne Ramsay on John Cassavetes's A Woman Under the Influence.
  • John Sayles on Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo.
  • Paul Schrader on Robert Bresson's Pickpocket.

    • And on and on.



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    Posted by dwhudson at January 30, 2004 7:12 AM

    Comments

    These are great.
    Two of the best essays I've seen, which are not online - are Peter Greenaway writing about Last Year at Marienbad (in Sight & Sound) and Chris Marker writing about Vertigo (in the Projections film journal).

    Posted by: Matt at January 30, 2004 9:58 AM

    For the link to the index, there is a space and a quote mark that doesnt belong there, so if you click on the link it doesnt work...simply copy the link and trim the end and it works...

    Posted by: wayne at January 30, 2004 10:55 AM

    Good heavens, thanks for catching that, Wayne. Should be all fixed now.

    Posted by: David Hudson at January 30, 2004 11:53 AM

    Wow. this is so cool. It's like the features in the NYTimes where Michael Kimmelman watches a film with a director. Same concept, just scattered throughout the archives of the paper.

    Posted by: greg.org at January 31, 2004 7:41 PM

    Yes, these are so enlightening. (I was also amused to discover Philip Glass was a filmmaker!) I love Neil Jordan's pick, and even more of a wonderful surprise was Spike Lee's thoughts on Dr. Strangelove. I like Spike even more now (he says, as he fondles his copy of Strangelove on DVD, recently received as birthday gift). And Neil LaBute picking Carnal Knowledge, that makes complete and utter sense, once I thought about it for a second.

    C

    Posted by: Craig P at January 31, 2004 8:55 PM