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There are those who think PG's films are pretentious drivel and want to leave 5 minutes after they start.
If you are one of those I don't think this film will convert you.
It is what I take to be one of the "hidden" stories or meanings behind paintings of which PG has done several as "live" performances.
IT stars Martin Freeman completely unrecognisable from his days in The Office (British version) as Rembrandt.
IT is bawdy, dirty and conveys the spirit of the age whilst still looking completely unreal.
I won't give away what is within the painting or how it comes to be but if you like Greenaway then this is 2 hours plus that is well spent.
As you might expect the music is fitted like a ballet score and the usual group scenes are cut by passing people and crowds and twice by a herd of cows.
There is a lot of swearing and nudity.
Toucan equally read it as a discussion on the nature of reality which makes more sense of the UN reality of many scenes or or the meaning of art.
Quite specific in this case or in general.
Beautifully lit and photographed.
Especially the faces.
You will know whether or not you want to see this film so all I can really say is"HEY... it's released".
In fact it may not be released yet as this was part of the Brisbane International Film Festival.
Well, it'll be out soon then!!!
Follow Ups:
...I can't wait to see this. I just don't know *how* or *when*.
Harmonia,
I'm very interested in Greenaway's "Nightwatching" also. I'd read on the Imdb that the movie was released in "November, 2007 (Poland)". On the off chance, I tried Amazon and with partila success:
http://www.amazon.com/Nightwatching-Martin-Freeman/dp/B001ALD4CO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1217949388&sr=1-4
-and there it is on DVD- but is only on Region 5 format, and currently unavailable.
Region 5= Africa, Central and South Asia, Belarus, Mongolia, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine
But- close!
Meanwhile, Greenaway has done a 172-page book on the subject:
http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Greenaway-Nightwatching/dp/9086900135/ref=pd_cp_d_2?pf_rd_p=413864101&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001ALD4CO&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0RNKB2EJW3FMH1F0NAFM
-perhaps this can tide us over,...
Cheers,
Bambi B
...a yahoo Greenaway group. Someone there has gotten the Russian DVD fairly recently so it's available.
Don't think there's much chance of seeing this in theaters, unless there's a local filmfest.
The book was released August 1.
Harmonia,
I've been to the official Greenaway site, which has a fuller description of "Nightwatching" :
http://www.petergreenaway.info/content/view/63/64/
-but in the section for buying films reffers again to the unavailable Amazon Polish release.
There is a contact address and I've written asking for a DVD source.
Cheers,
Bambi B
Good news on the book.
I have been out of the loop this year - but I hope NW will hit a special screening in Chicago or one of the filmfests.
Greenaway's movies really need to be seen on the big screen.
I have spent an hour or so on three occasions staring at The Nightwatch
and just looking at its complexities, and it truly is one of the great wonders of the world.
my favorite Greenaway is the Draughtsman's Contract, a story that slowly changes until what you thought you knew is not happening at all. It is not quite as visual as some of his other efforts but the story is delicious. Also try a Zed and Two Naughts - wacked to the max!
thanks
Phil
Saw 3x in theaters when it was first released. Gorgeous. Produced for TV in Old Blighty.
Also...I'm terribly fond of Drowning By Numbers, In The Belly Of The Architect, Prospero's Books and The Pillow Book. I was always surprised that TCTTHWaHL was an art-house hit - whooda thunkit? I guess anything's possible if Twin Peaks can be a hit TV series.
I have the series of shorts, which I find quite droll.
Greenaway is not for everyone, or even most people - he irritates the heck out of some of my best friends. The films aren't organized around typical plotlines, there's no concession to commerciality and Greenaway's uninterested in conventional narrative.
The films are highly structured however - just the opposite of David Lynchn, a filmmaker Greenaway admires. They are simply structured more like paintings or perfromance art. And he's a bit arrogant too.
I got a bootleg copy of The Baby Of Macon the this spring - my VHS player is on the fritz.
dave c,
For me, Greenaway's work is a bit uneven, but he certainly provides consistent intensity. I really was uneasy with "The Thief, his Wife, the Cook, and her Lover" as violence against women and canabalism is fatiguing- even if it was a good metaphor for conspicuous consumption US. "The Belly of an Architect" was distractingly obscure but visually intriguing. I did really enjoy "Lumiere et compaganie" to celebrate 100 years of movies by using an 1895 camera to mkae a series of 50 second movies by famour directors. The restrictions of the early camera lead of course to some wonderful images. This movie was so much fun that when a friend was winding up the estate of her father, who was a camera dealer, there were all these old 35mm lenses and movie cameras going begging that from "Lumiere" I thought to build a replica of an early camera and play around with very short movies within those restrictions.
But, the best and most interesting Greenaway for me is the 1991 version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" called "Prospero's Books". This movie for me is in the range of genius- Shakespeare- and often plays in general- seems really difficult to get right on film- for example the painfully amateur and arrogant attempts by Branaugh, even Mel Gibson did his stupid vanity "Hamlet".
Plus, "The Tempest" is one of the more abstract plays of them all- an alchemical romp through a kind of proto-psychology in which the action- the island and the 100's of naked Dutch people is all really taking place inside Prospero's feverish brain- a warning of the dangers of a hermetic life. It's intensely visually inventive and even the disruptive voice-overs describing the various animated books strenmgthens the air of magical documentary to it- the audience is given the sensation of looking into a very private universe. The constant references to water and the compellingly strange dance-like movements of Caliban, played by dancer/choreographer, Micheal Clark were -plus Gielgud was the perfect Prospero- light as air. Overall, a brilliant, memorable illumination of the themes of "The Tempest".
A lot of my studies at university were in art history, and 17th Century Dutch painting is a special favourite. The "Nightwatch" which is the unofficial title to a painting of dandied well-to-do Amsterdamers in a gentlemen's militia did have a strange and stormy history that seriously affected Rembrandt's career and life in the early 1640's. The plot concerning the painting as an uncovering of a murder is not familiar to me as real- and smacks a bit of daVinci Code dramatic extrapolation into a painting, but reality is the constant price of entertainment!
As a long-time Rembrandt fan, I'll look forward to "Nightwatching". By the way, the Imdb lists "Nightwatching" as having been released in November 2007.
- Good on ya for bringing this one up!
Cheers,
Bambi B
I have no idea if this film was released last year.
It certainly hasn't screened near here!
Do I remember Propsero's Books as a TV production in Britain... maybe I am thinking of something else... Dante's Inferno perhaps...
The convoluted reasons for what is included in the painting may or may not be true.
But it does appear to have effected his life...
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