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I just watched THE BABY OF MACON again recently, which has triggered another round of viewings of some of my favourite Greenaway films.While I can certainly understand how his style may be a turnoff for some viewers, I have always liked his movies, if only because he exploits the medium to its fullest, pushing the boundaries of cinematography and narrative structure. A bit of background knowledge (OK, maybe more than a bit) regarding art history and dramatic forms definitely helps.
As an aside, if you're looking for the perfect antidote to all this Mel Gibson business, I recommend THE BABY OF MACON or Ken Russell's THE DEVILS--you will feel better afterwards, trust me.
djprobed
Follow Ups:
n
...either in the cinema or on home video, as far as I know. However, as Mr. Khomenko rightly points out, it is available on eBay.A word of caution: the only DVD version currently available is defective--the frame was unevenly cropped so that about 10% is missing from the left side only, which of course is disastrous for the composition--not only is that much content missing, but what remains is noticeably off-centre as a result. (I learned this the hard way.) The best option right now is to find someone selling an NTSC conversion from the UK widescreen PAL VHS release, which is what I have. I am not in the video business, nor do I want to give anyone any free pubicity, so if you're interested, contact me privately and I'll tell you how I got it. (By the way, the same goes for PROSPERO'S BOOKS, with the exception that it is not available on DVD at all!)
Strange, in this day and age, that we still have to resort to this kind of thing occasionally...
djprobed
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Greenaway would have been nothing without Sacha Vierny's beautiful cinematography.
Do you need more comment ?
tho' I thought his Pillow Book was a real stinker
The Draughtsmans Contract, A Zed and Two Noughts, The Cook/Thief, etc. and Drowning by Numbers are the ones that I can watch again but only once in Blue Moon...
Quirky themes and scripts but great acting and cinematography
I think he was a major talent
Grins
Obviously not a widespread release compared to his other films. This one was the most "normal" of his films. The plot wasn't obscured with distraction and moved from A to B unlike most of his work.The real star of the film was Rome and Wim Wenders score.
As "Belly" has not been released to DVD, I presume it was not as widely received as his other films.
Yes the pleasure too lookk at his films is very, how should I say...Sophisticated and intellectual & Fancy & always perfectly photographed..In one word a feast for our senses and a challenge toward our minds.
I like him for his thick image mastery, but generally consider him a poor artist overall.The reason is he tends to go for simple effects in order to impress and sometimes shock. So in the Cook the beautiful voice is contrasted against the horrible backdrop of rotting flesh, and on, and on... and that is his trademark. Too primitive to be worthy of a top class master.
But as an image creator he is exceptional. Except there he also knows not where to stop, so his Prospero's Book is just way too thick for its own good - the beautiful images have to be cut with the chain saw, and one can hardly make it through this visual feast - I felt like walking through a molasses-filled tunnel.
Not exactly my idea of fine art.
The " Contract.. " was in my view a fine piece of art!
I also liked THE DRAUGHTSMAN'S CONTRACT (interestingly, the French title translates as "Murder in an English Garden"), which according to most sources is the film that first brought Greenaway widespread attention as a director of feature films.I suppose one of the things that makes his work so appealing to me is that it exploits film for things that only film can do--superimposition of images and pictures within pictures (such as we see in PROPSERO'S BOOKS and THE PILLOW BOOK) are only two of the most obvious purely "filmic" techniques, but there are others. Take, for example, the deliberate continuity errors in COOK, THEIF when Helen Mirren's costume changes from red to white as she leaves the dining room and enters the bathroom. Or the way he plays with the physical setting of the play-within-a-movie in BABY OF MACON (some are inside the Church/Theatre, some are outdoors, others in different physical settings altogether such as the manger where the Bishop's son is killed.)
Quite apart from the visual style, however, are the thematic considerations. Greeanaway is well-versed in a number of idioms including medieval mysteries and morality plays, Elizabethan and Jacobean revenge plays, French "well-made plays" (there are never any loose ends in his movies), English murder mysteries... and a near-obsession with formalism (witness his many numbered lists and things like the menu cards announcing each "chapter" in COOK, THIEF).
I also feel a certain Brechtian influence, as one's suspension of disbelief is never fully engaged... his style, in and of itself, ensures this is so, without the need for explicit reminders that we are watching a film. In the end I think his films produce their effect chiefly on the aesthetic and symbolic levels; the emotional response is entirely in the eyes of the beholder. My interpretation of THE BABY OF MACON leaves me feeling more sad and cynical than outraged, because of what I perceive the message to be. I bristle at the violence in COOK, THEIF and then feel the intended catharsis at the end. I am unmoved emotionally by A ZED AND TWO NOUGHTS but I find its peculiar internal logic irresistible.
djprobed
First I must say that the quality of your review is what we are sorely missing here. You bring the best out of the shadow and lift it to the light. I wish that you would be an example here, and example that some would follow....
So, " English Gardens" have the reputation all over Europe to be the perfect showcase of a certain kind of jardening ( Jardin Anglais Englischer Garten in Munich, I may think that was the reason, to be more abordable in the pubic spirit than the original title for the changing of the guards. Maybe.
Recently I had in Paris, at the opera, a similar experience with a modern ballet( J. Cage music ) a mixe of real time dancers and moving pictures surimposed.
Greenway profound culture shine through.
And you gave me more lust to see all his other pictures I still havenīt.
Merci.
nt
djprobed
Typically, semi-chaotic Greenaway. It was fun counting down the numbers and noting all the references to numbers and games. Where he finds his concepts are beyond me--he seems to be the Anglo Fellini with the gobs of abstract notions collected together in the length of a single film.
But also quite forgettable.
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