Great Directors

The trailer for Angela Ismailos' new documentary about, yes, you guessed it! I would like to see this!

Directors on set

Francois Truffaut (in the back of a 2CV!)

I LOVE each of these pictures. Directors in action. Part of me would be very, very happy to be a set stills photographer for the rest of my life. But when I look at these pictures, I truly know that being a filmmaker is what I want to do. Something about pictures like these spark some kind of excitement and inspiration in me, but it's really hard to pinpoint! I guess it just looks like good fun.

Roman Polanski (behind camera)

Rainer Fassbinder

Otto Preminger

Luchino Visconti

Martin Scorsese (with black goatee and beltbuckle)

Woody Allen (in Gilligan Hat)

Stanley Kubrick (I think this is my favorite.)

David Lynch

Agnes Varda (director of Cleo de 5 a 7)

Federico Fellini (update: No, this is my favorite. Fellini is somehow unbelievably photogenic, how is that?!)

Except for the Francois Truffaut one at the top, these are all from http://www.anneyhall.tumblr.com/

Cleo de 5 a 7 (1961)

Agnes Varda's contribution to the French New Wave is one of my favorites. It is an example of the magic of character, film, and zeitgeist, in that it is very basic in its structure and story, but is not limited in any way. The film is basically Cleo, from 5pm to 7pm, wandering Paris, talking to people, friends, strangers, colleagues, and herself. She is a successful Parisian chanteuse who is anxious about the impending results of a biopsy. Cleo fears the worst, and sets out to the streets of Paris on her own to process the dread, the grief, and the beauty of the here-and-now.

What I love about the film is, like I said, the simplicity. There is something so appealing to me about someone just wandering the streets of Paris. It is such a beautiful, elegant, unusual, and magical city that is best seen by just walking. The handful of times I have been fortunate to explore Paris, I always find myself getting off a random bus or metro stop and walking. Jean-Luc Godard once said "All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl," and here instead of a gun, you have a telephone call, a meeting with a doctor, some bad news. Cleo takes in the world through slightly jaded eyes, she's forlorn and obsessed with omens. She gives meaning to everything in her life that could be a symbol, a metaphor, or a sign from the heavens. She is obsessed with both life and death, and the anxiety of sitting on the fence between the two is driving her crazy. Nobody she knows seems to understand her or are able to comfort her, and she only eventually finds solace with a soldier she meets while wandering through a park. He is full of life despite having seen the horrors of war and his own impending departure back to active duty, he still manages to inspire Cleo to take life as it comes and appreciate the little things.

This is one of my favorite films, and certainly one of the most interesting and accessible films to come out of the New Wave. It shows the creativity, the simplicity, and the excitement of possibility in cinema during the early sixties in France. It is shot in glorious black and white. I own this, if you know me I can lend it to you!