Word: cinema
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Defying common labels seems to be a habit with Zhang. While he is categorized as a "Sixth Generation" director, Zhang balks at the reductionist labeling prevalent in Chinese cinema. While Zhang is right when he says "discussing directors as cohesive generations collapses varied styles into one," generational labels do help identify key changes in cinematic practice. Unified by a stylistic break from the past and disillusionment born out of the Cultural Revolution, Fifth Generation directors searched history and literature for a native, pristine China...
...Dogma's message is undeniably reverent. It probes, mocks, deconstructs, reconstructs and criticizes religion, but never faithit knows better than to mess with faith. Yes, the Catholic League might have some qualms with this movie, and so might film purists. Dogma isn't a spectacular example of cinema--far from it. But the themes are too powerful to ignore, no matter what you believe...
...adolescents living at the fringe. In his 1997 directorial debut, Gummo, Korine attempted to "push humor to extreme limits" by provoking random passers-by into fistfights and then filming the results with hand-held cameras. The filmmaker's latest audacious feature, the uniquely bizarre julien donkey-boy, strips cinema to even barer levels. Starring Ewan Bremner ("Spud" from Trainspotting) and Chlo Sevigny ("Jennie" from Kids), the film provides a keyhole view into the life of a schizophrenic and his disturbingly dysfunctional family. Using no formal script and few special effects, donkey-boy is at once an avant-garde "art house...
...result is a visual spectacle unlike anything in the American film tradition. Rumor has it that Steven Spielberg is planning his own "Dogme" film, and, though doubtlessly it will conform to most of his predictable conventions, it does suggest the potential for a more down-to-earth popular cinema...
...Even with all these offerings, the women fear the proliferation of home videos and DVDs will thin theater draws. White wants the audience to remember cinema as a group experience, to enjoy the collective dynamics of a crowded theater. In this spirit, the Brattle Theatre offers delightful details, such as the traditional double feature format, membership t-shirts, and refreshments like real-butter popcorn popped in canola oil, organic coffee and "fancy" chocolate bars. --S. TAKADA