Word: auteurism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Woody Allen, of course, can be funny when he wants to, and Radio Days certainly has its moments of mirth. But ever since becoming an "auteur director," Allen has avoided going for outright laughs--which is a shame, since he is still a better comedian than he is a serious artist...
...goes for everything. Tarkovsky may have the distinction of being the loudest and most pitch-perfect primal screamer in the history of Cold War cinema. Other directors seem to be doing semaphore and dumbshow, by comparison. The Sacrifice, filmed with Swedish and British actors by Russia's premiere film auteur, comes off like everybody's end-of-the-world nightmare dubbed in raving Esperanto. It's not the kind of movie you'd put into a time capsule; it's the time capsule itself, with everything inside...
...times this is repeated before finally Norman Mailer says, "Print." The day's twelve hours of shooting will not wrap until 3 a.m. Such grueling conditions might test the patience of a film veteran, let alone a neophyte director making his first major motion picture. But the white- haired auteur remains focused and remarkably relaxed. Clad in a bulky parka to ward off the oceanside chill, he comes off like a cross between a Roman senator and a retired longshoreman as he hobnobs with the crew, rehearses the cast and then stands back to watch the action, his eyes twinkling...
They show movies here too--a thousand or so for every conceivable taste. As an actor who tests himself spiritually as well as physically with every role, you would have appreciated Alain Cavalier's Therese, the austere yet accessible biography of St. Therese Martin. As the auteur of Staying Alive, you would have been impressed by the cinematic virtuosity of Andrei Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice, an end-of-the-world antidrama in which all the excitement is in the composition of images, the balletry of actors and camera, the surprise of lighting, the big crazy fire at the climax...
...irrelevant and near to tasteless. She is played by Lillian Gish, and the movies' oldest pro clearly understands that she is trapped in Sweet Liberty's dreariest neighborhood. She does her brash best to break loose, but her efforts are more brave than successful. Doubtless her first auteur, D.W. Griffith, warned her there would be roles like this. And movies like this, signaling good intentions at every turn, but never quite achieving them...