Please excuse the lack of post this week, including missing images. I'm changing to a new ISP.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
The Strength of a Story
The invisible character
Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in
The Bad and the Beautiful
One of the superior qualities of earlier American films is their adherence to a story. They don't meander in irreconcilable directions, following a whim or an ideology. They have such precise authenticity, that the stories appear simple enough. Only later on do we realize their complexity.
The other, equally superior, quality to these films is their lack of nihilism. Some characters do get what they deserve, but they all, in one way or another, become better at the end than what they were at the beginning.
Such is the intention of two films, with uncannily similar plots. Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter to Three Wives is the story of three friends and an invisible fourth (we hear about her indirectly through the stories around the three as an "absent presence"), and Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful about a producer who affects the lives of three people.
There is a hint of film noir in both these films, in the set design, lighting and decor, and in the story itself, that we are constantly in a mild state of suspense throughout.
Of course, I also have to say that Lana Turner is one of my favorite actresses.
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The Bad and the Beautiful
One of the superior qualities of earlier American films is their adherence to a story. They don't meander in irreconcilable directions, following a whim or an ideology. They have such precise authenticity, that the stories appear simple enough. Only later on do we realize their complexity.
The other, equally superior, quality to these films is their lack of nihilism. Some characters do get what they deserve, but they all, in one way or another, become better at the end than what they were at the beginning.
Such is the intention of two films, with uncannily similar plots. Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter to Three Wives is the story of three friends and an invisible fourth (we hear about her indirectly through the stories around the three as an "absent presence"), and Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful about a producer who affects the lives of three people.
There is a hint of film noir in both these films, in the set design, lighting and decor, and in the story itself, that we are constantly in a mild state of suspense throughout.
Of course, I also have to say that Lana Turner is one of my favorite actresses.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Flat, Simple and Funny
Charley Harper's Illustrations
It is always a pleasure to find an innovative artist who eschews the avant-garde mentality. Charley Harper (1922-2007) made his first claim to fame when he illustrated The Golden Book of Biology, and The Animal Kingdom. Although not pure realism, his illustrations are nonetheless realistic. He calls his work "minimal realism" and he describes it as "flat, simple and funny."
I think they are more than that, with a certain charm, rhythm, and a story to them.
Birch, Bark and Birds
Double Lucky
Octoberama
Trumpeter Swan
Migration Mainline, Cape May
It is always a pleasure to find an innovative artist who eschews the avant-garde mentality. Charley Harper (1922-2007) made his first claim to fame when he illustrated The Golden Book of Biology, and The Animal Kingdom. Although not pure realism, his illustrations are nonetheless realistic. He calls his work "minimal realism" and he describes it as "flat, simple and funny."
I think they are more than that, with a certain charm, rhythm, and a story to them.
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