There was a lot of revolutionary stuff going on in film in the 1990s. The most prevalent common denominator amongst films of that era - spanning through all of the different regions - was backtracking. In Iran, it was backtracking in actual time. There were several documentaries about documentaries - overlapping on time; building up the backstory of the film's story. Backtracking was used in Asian countries with soundtracks or with alluding to (and therefore paying homage to) the films that inspired them. There were a lot of horror films featuring girls with long, straight, black hair.
In this period, the transition was being made to digital cameras. As the advancement in technology occured, it was responded to in different ways by different filmmakers. While Iranian filmmakers embraced the present, Japanese filmmakers embraced the fear of technology prevalent among the Japanese people. Certain French filmmakers rejected the "improvements" in filming technology. They took the camera off the tripod, deleted the sets, switched back to square framing, and if the frame went out of focus, so be it.
There was a great awareness of reality prevalent in this time period. Filmmakers attempted to express human emotion as raw as possible. Filmmakers of this period blazed trails that are still being followed today.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Love, Lust, and Lies; NIRVANA Smells Like Teen Spirit
I watched two documentaries over these two days.
Love, Lust, and Lies
This film followed the lives of three Australian girls: Josie, Diana, and Kerry. The documentarian visited them when they were fourteen, eighteen, twenty-eight, thirty-three, and forty-seven. The first visit occurred in 1976, and it revealed something about that time. All of the girls were smoking, and not illegally - they would just walk into a drug store and buy cigarettes. They lived fairly typical lives. Two of them were working and the third was seeking work. The one not working - Diana - had also dropped out of school. She was the most insecure of all three of them - she was a bit overweight and thought herself to be very ugly. The topic of if they would ever have kids came up, and Diana mentioned that she would never get an abortion.
The documentarian returned when they were eighteen, and Josie's and Diana's lives were quite different (Kerry was not in this segment). Josie had gotten pregnant shortly after the documentary was filmed, as had Diana. They were both struggling to support themselves.
At each of Gillian Armstrong's visits, Josie was married or engaged to a different person. Diana fluctuated between being overweight and being unhealthily thin. Kerry was the only one with a stable relationship all the way through, and the only one who seemed to be truly happy. During the last visit, Diana was married to the father of the child she'd considered aborting (contrary to her previous beliefs) years before - though at the time, she had been married to someone else. Armstrong also followed some of their kids, and the truth of their parents' mistakes had driven a rift between them and their parents on some occasions - the truth that Josie didn't know who the father of her oldest daughter was; the fact that Diana had an affair; etc.
It was interesting noting the differences that time period and age had on each of the girls. However, Diana never lost her insecurity, Josie never found stability in her life, and Kerry never seemed to go through as much misfortune as the other two. Josie and Diana seemed so normal at the beginning, but everything flipped upside-down for them. You never really can tell how different people will be in just a few years' time.
NIRVANA Smells Like Teen Spirit
This film was so captivating. The other film - honestly - did not have much appeal to me, but not every film interests every person. NIRVANA was about something of great interest to me: music. I'd never been much of a Nirvana fan before this because I'd never taken the time to sit down and listen to their music, but after viewing this film, I really like them.
The thing I really appreciate about Nirvana after viewing this film is the amount of passion they put into their music. A lot of their lyrics are rather nonsensical because Kurdt Cobain just put words in that flowed with the music; however, they also have plenty of songs that are bone-chillingly relatable, or otherwise really good. There is so much passion and heart they put into their music, and it is so inspirational.
At points, their producer would play bits of some of their songs, and he would relate the process of recording the songs. He would play just parts of their songs at times, like just the drums and bass, or just the vocals, or one vocal track and he would layer on the others one by one, etc. It gave insight into why professionally recorded songs sound so complete, as opposed to amateur albums or live tracks. It was also very interesting to learn of the band's process and progression through the songs. As a whole, the documentary also gave a feel for the time period, when "pop" and "rock" stopped meaning the same thing, and Grunge was very popular. It was an enrapturing film.
Love, Lust, and Lies
This film followed the lives of three Australian girls: Josie, Diana, and Kerry. The documentarian visited them when they were fourteen, eighteen, twenty-eight, thirty-three, and forty-seven. The first visit occurred in 1976, and it revealed something about that time. All of the girls were smoking, and not illegally - they would just walk into a drug store and buy cigarettes. They lived fairly typical lives. Two of them were working and the third was seeking work. The one not working - Diana - had also dropped out of school. She was the most insecure of all three of them - she was a bit overweight and thought herself to be very ugly. The topic of if they would ever have kids came up, and Diana mentioned that she would never get an abortion.
The documentarian returned when they were eighteen, and Josie's and Diana's lives were quite different (Kerry was not in this segment). Josie had gotten pregnant shortly after the documentary was filmed, as had Diana. They were both struggling to support themselves.
At each of Gillian Armstrong's visits, Josie was married or engaged to a different person. Diana fluctuated between being overweight and being unhealthily thin. Kerry was the only one with a stable relationship all the way through, and the only one who seemed to be truly happy. During the last visit, Diana was married to the father of the child she'd considered aborting (contrary to her previous beliefs) years before - though at the time, she had been married to someone else. Armstrong also followed some of their kids, and the truth of their parents' mistakes had driven a rift between them and their parents on some occasions - the truth that Josie didn't know who the father of her oldest daughter was; the fact that Diana had an affair; etc.
It was interesting noting the differences that time period and age had on each of the girls. However, Diana never lost her insecurity, Josie never found stability in her life, and Kerry never seemed to go through as much misfortune as the other two. Josie and Diana seemed so normal at the beginning, but everything flipped upside-down for them. You never really can tell how different people will be in just a few years' time.
NIRVANA Smells Like Teen Spirit
This film was so captivating. The other film - honestly - did not have much appeal to me, but not every film interests every person. NIRVANA was about something of great interest to me: music. I'd never been much of a Nirvana fan before this because I'd never taken the time to sit down and listen to their music, but after viewing this film, I really like them.
The thing I really appreciate about Nirvana after viewing this film is the amount of passion they put into their music. A lot of their lyrics are rather nonsensical because Kurdt Cobain just put words in that flowed with the music; however, they also have plenty of songs that are bone-chillingly relatable, or otherwise really good. There is so much passion and heart they put into their music, and it is so inspirational.
At points, their producer would play bits of some of their songs, and he would relate the process of recording the songs. He would play just parts of their songs at times, like just the drums and bass, or just the vocals, or one vocal track and he would layer on the others one by one, etc. It gave insight into why professionally recorded songs sound so complete, as opposed to amateur albums or live tracks. It was also very interesting to learn of the band's process and progression through the songs. As a whole, the documentary also gave a feel for the time period, when "pop" and "rock" stopped meaning the same thing, and Grunge was very popular. It was an enrapturing film.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Documentaries: Reality Through Someone Else's Eyes
I never found much of a love for documentaries. However, documentary filmmakers have a love for what they are attempting to convey. They find a passion for something and feel that the world needs to know about it. The passion they exude is inspirational. They put their whole beings into the recreation of a world that already exists, hoping that others will see what they see in it. We are so blind to the world that is right in front of us, and the directors of documentaries want us to trip on it instead of just step over it.
What struck me is that the division between documentaries and narratives for these filmmakers is virtually nonexistent. It makes a lot of sense. After all, narratives must have some basis in reality, and documentary filmmakers attempt to make others conscious of reality in order to influence others' lives, and possibly inspire a narrative. Of course, a lot of imagination goes into a lot of narratives, but even imagination must be based on reality - have you ever tried to imagine a new color? It's impossible. Documentarians blur the lines between reality and story.
Now I see how much interest there is in real life. Narratives may make you think or sigh or cry or laugh or scream or doze off, but their effects are ephemeral. After a documentary is over, you know that it is still going on. There will always be a sequel - all you have to do is go out and look at the real world. Documentaries can bring an awareness of something that changes the way you feel about the world forever. It will go on forever, and influence your reality, which might inspire a documentary, which may change someone else's views, inciting an endless chain reaction.
What struck me is that the division between documentaries and narratives for these filmmakers is virtually nonexistent. It makes a lot of sense. After all, narratives must have some basis in reality, and documentary filmmakers attempt to make others conscious of reality in order to influence others' lives, and possibly inspire a narrative. Of course, a lot of imagination goes into a lot of narratives, but even imagination must be based on reality - have you ever tried to imagine a new color? It's impossible. Documentarians blur the lines between reality and story.
Now I see how much interest there is in real life. Narratives may make you think or sigh or cry or laugh or scream or doze off, but their effects are ephemeral. After a documentary is over, you know that it is still going on. There will always be a sequel - all you have to do is go out and look at the real world. Documentaries can bring an awareness of something that changes the way you feel about the world forever. It will go on forever, and influence your reality, which might inspire a documentary, which may change someone else's views, inciting an endless chain reaction.
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