Passeurs, canons and shorts.

Robert Koehler's map in Film-Philosophy of the project Jonathan Rosenbaum's been working on in his last three books is an absolute must-read. Before stating the case for the reclamation of canon-building by "progressive-minded and Left critics," he writes:

[T]he central argument in Movie Wars - that the delivery, communication, and pedagogical gatekeepers who pre-select the movies shown to audiences are extremely limited in their grasp of cinema as it exists in its broadest global setting - is inextricably linked with the central concern of Movie Mutations: the emergence of a new cinema and a new criticism that crosses borders, nationalist limits, and languages, as well as creating a new model of a cooperating community of film critics in conversation with one another, rather than in contentious opposition. Nor can Movie Wars now be separated from Essential Cinema, which in many ways rounds the circle begun in 2000: the despair expressed in the earlier book about film studies' collective rejection of the building of canons (and the dangers this has created) is now accompanied by an even more potent response, in the form of Rosenbaum's own, endlessly fascinating canon of his 1000 favorite films, listed in chronological order from 1895 to 2003.

The title of Koehler's essay, "Passeurs," is taken from Adrian Martin's description of the ideal model of critic as conceived by "the late, great critic Serge Daney," whom Koehler identifies as the "founding father" of the overall project. So why does this matter? Because "passeur cinephilia thrives" at festivals far and wide while mainstream criticism is, as Martin writes, "relentlessly local and home-bound: what matters to [reviewers] is what film opens next week in their home city. That's the entirety of the cinema to them at any given moment, which is fatally limiting."

So festivals are beacons of hope, yes, for a border-crossing, globe-encompassing appreciation of film, but I would add that the advent of the DVD has also had an impact which is still so recent and ongoing we haven't been able to take full measure of it yet. To an extent, reviewers for most papers are programmatically just as limited in their reviews of DVDs as they are of what's showing at the multiplex (or even the downtown repertory theater): Editors want to read about new releases, and of course, the companies that supply review copies want to see their product line written up.

But two factors combine to loosen up those limitations a bit: By making the films available on DVD that they do, companies such as Criterion, Kino or Milestone are practicing a very concrete sort of "passeur cinephilia." At the same time, venues that allow critics a little more breathing room - most importantly, because they're so readily accessible, the "alternative" weeklies - will often build mini-crash courses in the genre, national cinema or work of the director at hand into their reviews (which is one of the reasons so many alternative weeklies get the attention they do around here). Add to those two factors the commentaries and other extras packed into these DVDs, and you're looking at a population enrolled in some sort of ongoing supplementary film school. Not the first time that's been noted, naturally, but still. That there are so many eager to enroll themselves is a testament to the potential of audiences both Koehler and Rosenbaum believe is out there, potential they also both argue is being squelched by what Koehler calls the "corporatized film-industrial complex."

On to the shorter shorts.

And why not make the first stop the Chicago Reader, where Jonathan Rosenbaum has turned in another review. He begins with a quote from Oliver Assayas, and most of it goes like this:

I think there's this weird thing at work now with the way people relate to, specifically, mainstream cinema. When they watch those movies they like to be on the receiving end.... But then, a few months later, the same film is on DVD, and they can watch it and they own it. And the relationship is inverted.

Then, Rosenbaum:

The shift in the way people watch movies described above is profoundly altering film history and criticism. It's also changing filmmaking. Thom Andersen's mesmerizing 169-minute essay film Los Angeles Plays Itself... is a case in point: it was inspired by his desire to reclaim and master his own experience of watching certain movies.

One of the great punching bags in Movie Wars is Miramax. Slamming the company from a different angle recently has been, of course, Peter Biskind, who writes the cover story for this week's Friday Review in the Guardian, a brief history of Miramax's oddball marriage to Disney and how it all went wrong, just as everyone said it would some day.

Also:

• Peter Bradshaw endures "a Calvary of critical pain" watching a stack of straight-to-video flicks, beginning with the "locus classicus of the s-2-v scene," Swept Away. Guy Ritchie's version with Madonna, that is.
• Alex Cox has a few stories to tell about playing a gringo drug lord in Medellín.
• James Meek meets Ross McElwee, who appreciates Michael Moore's acknowledging that Sherman's March was an inspiration for his own films.
• David Mamet contemplates the great cycle of life. Or something.

New York Times television critic Alessandra Stanley reads the imagery of last night's debate as well as Bush and Kerry's body language. Also: A special section on the New York Film Festival, opening today and running through October 17, launches with AO Scott's review of Agnès Jaoui's Look at Me, "a witty and acute examination of friendship, ambition and betrayal in the Parisian literary world."

In indieWIRE, Brandon Judell has a good long talk with NYFF director Richard Peña about this year's line-up. Also: Wendy Mitchell talks to Jim de Sève about his doc, Tying the Knot and Eugene Hernandez asks Eamonn Bowles about Magnolia's acquistion of Woman Thou Art Loosed.

Interviews in the Independent: Sandra Sharpe with Gwyneth Paltrow, Tiffany Rose with Denzel Washington and Liese Spencer with Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.

Via Wiley Wiggins, a not-new but new-to-me and maybe new-to-you piece, Andrew Hultkrans's history of the future on the silver screen.

And finally, note about a few tweaks around here. If you're accessing GreenCine Daily via a RSS news reader, you may be among the many happy to hear that feed now features full entries - note the slight change to the URL, though: http://daily.greencine.com/index.xml. I want to extend bounteous and sincere thanks to Donovan Watts for his tremendous help on this.

Also new, and not just for the sake of nostalgia, either: email notification. If you're interested in receiving an email message - not more than one every couple of days, I'd imagine - letting you know about an entry I'd consider a little more noteworthy than others, look over the right, scroll down, add your email address, and that'll be that until, oh, next week some time when I send out the first notification.

Have a good weekend.

Posted by dwhudson at October 1, 2004 12:31 PM