Friday, September 19, 2008

Ranting

As I continue to view and explore those canonical films of the past I've come to the following conclusions:

1) I wish I had been born forty years earlier (and lived in a culturally active city) so I could have seen the great craftsmen (Kurosawa, Bergman, Goddard, Bresson, etc) and their works when they came out originally.

2) I love films that tackle BIG themes and I wish more would do so in this day and age. There is nothing more fascinating to me than Bergman tackling the idea of religion or Tarkovsky asking what true love is.

And since I can't be born earlier than I was, I want to implore the filmmakers of the cinematic world to start making BIG theme films. Sure we are going to get a lot of crap but were occasionally going to get a great film. The key is to never propose an answer, just set up the question probe the edges a bit and leave us thinking for ourselves. Fellow blogger cinemaromantico just posted a rant on similar themes and gave us this great line "I hold the high the opinion that a movie can only explain the most pertinent, most essential mysteries of life without truly discussing them." (Cinema Romantico)

Three of my favorite films ever all deal with BIG nay HUGE themes, some multiple themes. Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris handles love, memory, and countless other themes. Ingmar Bergman's Winter Light deals with the silence of god, love (again), miscommunication, and I could go on and on. And of course Terrence Malick's Thin Red Line well sweet maria what doesn't it tackle: war, peace, paradise, paradise lost, religion, love (yet again), sacrifice, man, nature and it goes on and on. And I love every one of those movies because they have a thousand points to investigate and you are rewarded with something great each and every time you view it.

As soon as I can make sense of my own thoughts (and probably after reviewing each a couple of times just to remind me how fantastic they are) I plan to rant at length on each of these films. Of course that is a big as soon as, since my mind is a jumble of desire to vomit forth everything I am thinking about each and every scene in these movies. Which would not only bore the life out of all you obligatory readers but would probably make people angry as well.

So I'm here waiting for a movie that will tell a story worth telling and while its going along suddenly I'll wide eyed and smiling realize holy crap its not just about the story, its about ten thousand things more. Its about love and mistakes and the human condition and sweet maria these movie is wonderful. Is that too much to ask?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stop saying "sweet Maria!" You are over-using it, and Maria's starting to get pissed off.

Nick Prigge said...

I, for one, cast a vote in favor of you vomiting forth everything. Vomit forth, Rory. Vomit forth.