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In Reply to: Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching posted by dave c on August 4, 2008 at 07:33:04:
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
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Follow Ups
- Peter Greenaway: "Prospero's Books" - Bambi B 08:42:49 08/04/08 (1)
- please release me, let me... - dave c 15:20:23 08/04/08 (0)
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