"Roger Ebert: A Film Critic with the Soul of a Poet"

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/ always was my safety anchor when I had to research for precise and informative reviews. Roger Ebert, a career (and life-time) in film criticism for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967. The first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1975.
His death leaves an empty space in film criticism, especially for he understood both the importance of the conventional media (newspapers, books, etc.), but, also of the Internet, in which he found a way to make film reviews even more accessible. As he said: "All over the web there are some very good critics and it's become for people who are interested. It's become a very good way to get to reviews and involve yourself in discussions."
He always shared his opinion on the world, and that's what I loved in his reviews: they were personal, the kind of writing I prefer, you could feel his personal touch on the telling of the film as much as you could feel the auteur of the film while watching it. A writing style reflecting American society through films, audience's taste, and a subtle reflection on the many taboos still very present.
Thanks to Twitter, especially, I found some good articles paying homage to this great man:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-roger-ebert-20130405,0,1254116.story

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/17320958-418/roger-ebert-dies-at-70-after-battle-with-cancer.html

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=37045

 "Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you."  

(This makes me think about my introduction to this blog, Emotion Pictures.)

"Every great film should seem new every time you see it."

Seven months of BFI Southbank

Since I live at at five-minute walk from the Southbank, I could spend seven months in the cultural heart of
London. In this second semester, unfortunately, I couldn't go to many events, because of essays, readings and tests which took all my time.
However, I still have all my tickets from the events I attended between September and January. Here's a brief summary of them together with films' and readings' suggestions.

What's a MacGuffin? This was the very first event I attended. Since one of my biggest  interest is screenwriting, I wanted to learn more about writing thriller films. The lecture consisted in a nice pastiche of Hitchcock's clips to analyse how the suspense is built through film form and characters. That suspense that Hitch defined as an exquisite torture for the audience. The MacGuffin object is essentially this: a plot device on which to hang the tension in a film, but that in itself could be anything and nothing. Some of the most famous ones in Hitchcock's filmography are: the lighter in Strangers on a Train, the ring and the newspaper in Shadows of a Doubt, the government secrets in North by Northwest, the first Mrs. De Winter in Rebecca, the uranium in Notorius, the suspected murder in Rear Window, the necklace in Vertigo, the $40.000 cash in an envelope and Arbogast's phone booth call in Psycho, the colour red in Marnie, the reason the birds attack in The Birds. As guest star in the last part of the meeting we had the pleasure to meet David Freeman Hitchcock's last screenwriter,who worked with him on Family Plot (1976), he also wrote a book about this collaboration called: The last days of Alfred Hitchcock.


Creative Collaborations: Edith Head and Alfred Hitchcock, see my old post about it here:
http://artbookscinema.blogspot.it/2013/02/characters-come-first.html

Caesar Must Die:
It's always good to feel proud of your own country, this was my feeling when I saw that both Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's film (also winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2012) and Marco Bellocchio's
The Sleeping Beauty (La Bella Addormentata) were being presented at the London Film Festival. The film is a splendid homage to Shakespeare, to the richness of the Italian language, and, above all, to humanity.


 
The Art of Frankenweenie:
Tim Burton's Frankenweenie opened the London Film Festival last year, and the director left the stop - motion characters with all their clothes and settings used on the film plus pictures taken during the creation of them to the BFI for one-month free exhibition. It was fantastic, and the young people working there were all Disney Studios' employers who worked on the film and were ready to explain every single step of the creation of a stop-motion feature-length film. The work behind it is unbelievable, to all those who say Tim Burton is "only" a mainstream director etc., please believe me, he is an artist, with his visionary point of view on the world, and he takes care of every moment of his films until everything meets his taste. Read Burton on Burton if you still have doubts.


Im Kwon-Taek in Conversation - Run Far, Fly High:
The South-Korean director is the winner of the Honorary Golden Berlin Bear (2005) and nominated twice for the Golden Bear with Gilsoddeum (1986), and The Taebaek Mountains (1995) at the Berlin International Film Festival. Moreover, he won as Best Director at Cannes Film Festival with Chihwaseon (2002). He is a key figure to learn about the meaning of working in the film industry during a regime in which most of the topics were taboo. His films reflect on Korean society, on Buddhism, culture, Japanese colonial power. One of the reasons of his success is that he improved throughout his career by always trying something new. Extremely interesting to learn about the battle against censorship from a voice that saw and portrayed history in the moving pictures for 50 years. Suggested viewings: Mandala (1981), The Surrogate Woman (1986), Come, Come, Come Upward (1989), General's Son (1990), and Seopyeonje (1993).Here's the conversation: http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/1013

BAFTA Screenwriters' Lecture Brian Helgeland: always connected to my interest in screenwriting I wanted to attend this event which is part of a collaboration between the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the BFI. 2012 was the third year in which those two institutions celebrate the artistic role of screenwriters in films. My lecture was with Brian Helgeland. Celebrated Oscar-winner for his script of L.A. Confidential. He talked about his career, obstacles and success, and about his personal style. For example, he is not concerned with the camera movements in his scripts, but he focuses on the psychology of the characters. He also talked about adaptations and said that you have to admire a book to do it, it's useless to rewrite something you don't even like. One of the most interesting things he said was that he fell out of love with movies after seeing how they are made, and, at that point, he fell in love with making movies. You can find his biography here:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/brian_helgeland/biography.php
If you're interested in the topic you can watch some other screenwriting's lectures here: http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/872


Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss: preview for BFI Members of this BBC 4 programme with Mark Gatiss (author of the series A History of Horror, 2010):
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFJXeVtHrkE
The screening consisted of his trip around Europe to research the roots of the horror genre in the 20th century: from the castle of Nosferatu and the German Expressionism, to the Italian giallo followed by the Belgian lesbian vampires and the ghosts of the Spanish Civil War to the 70s Italian horrors with De Palma, Dario Argento and Emilio Bava. Full of content and very rich with directors' interviews done for the occasion, visits on film's locations, and a proper narrative behind it exploring less-known films, totally worth watching. To conclude the meeting had a Q&A with Gatiss.

Screen Epiphanies: John Landis introduces 2001: A Space Odissey.
The director of The Blues Brothers and Animal House, films which shaped my childhood and that I rewatch whenever I can plus one my favorite director's masterpieces. Each month the BFI presents the Screen Epiphanies in which a big film director, producer, actor, etc. introduces the film that made them love cinema, and took them into that world. Here is the director's introduction:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/1016

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures.
I have always wanted to see this documentary, and I had a very special chance. Introducing it and sitting among us there was nonetheless than Jan Harlan, Kubrick's friend and producer throughout his career. Every time I meet someone who played such a big role in the films I love the most, I feel very honoured, because it motivates me to keep on loving my subject, and hoping for the future. The documentary presents a very personal and well-rounded portrait of Stanley Kubrick, it was directed by Harlan, after the director's death (1999) and released in 2001. It narrates and celebrates his career, his attitude during the films' creation, and his actors talking about him along with his wife, Christiane Kubrick, his daugther, Vivian Kubrick and Jan Harlan (it was such a weird feeling to watch him on the screen and then turn my head and see him sitting there.) Here is the link to the complete documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR-loS9MHww

 
The Shining: nothing more to add, I love Kubrick, I love Jack Nicholson, and I love love love The Shining, I went to see the director's cut which was released by the BFI for the first time. Just amazing. And, actually, a few days ago, thanks to a classmate's presentation on Swedish cinema, I found out that the sequence of Jack breaking the door with an axe is inspired by a silent horror film: The Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjostrom, 1921). You can find it on Youtube, I watched it and it's awesome, I highly recommend it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg7hAwUGQmo

Amour : certainly not a film for everyone, you have to enter the cinema being aware that you are about to watch something psychologically very strong and disturbing. I started crying just at the beginning, because I couldn't think of a better title to express what we see rather than AMOUR. Watch it if you feel ready, but bare in mind that it is not an easy experience, but one that is definitely worth the effort. Absolutely deserved Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar plus other four Oscar nominations. Thanks Michael Haneke.

What shall I read today? Part 5

Total Kheops (1997), Chourma (1996), Solea (1998)            

Jean - Claude Izzo

Imagine mixing French contemporary history, a detective story, three friends loving the same woman, Lole, and the unforgettable setting of Marseille. With constant references to poetry and music, this trilogy makes you feel so immerse in the story that you almost hear the sound of the sea, while Montale is drinking Lagavulin and listening to his vynils. Amazingly written, a human manifesto against racism, against the boundaries of power, and, most of all, a declaration of love for the Mediterranean sea. I read them all, while I was on holiday with my family in Cap D'Antibes, South of France, the perfect setting for such readings, I couldn't take my eyes off of the pages. Even if it was very successful at its time, it's less-known now, so get ready for a fresh, original, poetical, and breath-taking story.

If you're interested in the author's biography I have found a nice article on The Guardian, published in 2000 after Izzo's death: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/feb/02/news.obituaries
I apologise for the use of Italian quotes for Chourmo and Solea, but, unfortunately, I couldn't find them in English, and I don't want to ruin the book with my translation. I read all of them in Italian and these are the quotes I highlighted at the time.

Favourite quotes:

Total Kheops

“I felt suffocated. And alone. More alone than ever. Every year, I ostentatiously crossed out of my address book any friend who'd made a racist remark, neglected those whose only ambition was a new car and a Club Med vacation, and forgot all those who played the Lottery. I loved fishing and silence. Walking the hills. Drinking cold Cassis, Lagavulin, or Oban late into the night. I didn't talk much. Had opinions about everything. Life and death. Good and evil. I was a film buff. Loved music. I'd stopped reading contemporary novels. More than anything, I loathed half-hearted, spineless people.”

“Sometimes, all it takes is one gesture, one word, to change the course of someone's life. Even if you know it won't last forever.”

“...I understand where you're coming from. I know it isn't just a question of revenge. It's the feeling there are some things you can't let pass. If you did, you wouldn't be able to look at yourself in the mirror afterwards.”

“So much violence. If God existed, I'd have strangled him on the spot. Without batting an eyelid. And with all the fury of the damned.”

“Days are only beautiful early in the morning. I should have remembered that. Dawn is merely an illusion that the world is beautiful. When the world opens its eyes, reality reasserts itself, and you're back with the same old shit.”

"Why was it so difficult to make new friends once you were past forty Was it because we didn't have dreams anymore, only regrets?”

“The sensuality of desperate lives. Only poets talk like that. But poetry has never had an answer for anything. All it does it bear witness. To despair. And desperate lives. ”

“We fought over a girl's smile, not because of the color of our skins. It created friendships, not hatreds.”

“Leila was untouchable. She was in my heart now, and I'd carry her always, on this earth that every day gives men a chance.”

“Killing was easy. Dying was something else.”

“Marseilles isn't a city for tourists. There's nothing to see. Its beauty can't be photographed. It can only be shared. It's a place where you have to take sides, be passionately for or against. Only then can you see what there is to see. And you realize, too late, that you're in the middle of a tragedy. An ancient tragedy in which the hero is death. In Marseilles, even to lose you have to know how to fight.”

“Outside, the sun hit me full in the face. I had the feeling I was coming back to life. Real life. Where happiness is an accumulation of insignificant everyday things. A ray of sunlight, a smile, washing drying at a window, a boy dribbling with a tin can, a song by Vincent Scotto, a slight breeze lifting a woman's dress...”

Chourmo

"Di fronte al mare la felicità è un'idea semplice."

"Non ho mai creduto che gli uomini siano buoni. Ma meritano di essere tutti uguali."

"Va bene amarsi. Ma non possiamo vivere in un museo, i n mezzo ai ricordi. Le persone che abbiamo amato non muoiono mai. Viviamo con loro. Sempre..."

"Mettersi in regola con la vita significava mettersi in regola con i ricordi."

"Credevo solo a questi momenti di felicità. Alle briciole dell'abbondanza. Avremo solo ciò che riusciremo a mietere, qui e là. Questo mondo non aveva più sogni. E neppure speranza."

"Gli eccessi sono da condannare. Troppo alcol o troppa religione, è la stessa cosa. Fanno male. E sono quelli che hanno fatto le peggiori cose che vogliono imporre il proprio modo di vedere! Di vivere."

"Sembrava sempre vicina a quel limite estremo dove la specie umana confina con la bellezza animale. L'avevo capito nell'istante in cui l'avevo vista."

"I grossi numeri azzerano la morte. Più ce ne sono, meno contano. Troppi morti sono come l'ignoto. Lontano, non reale. E' vera solo la morte individuale. Quella che ti tocca personalmente. Quella che vediamo con i nostri occhi, o negli occhi di un altro."

"Anche i rimpianti appartengono alla felicità."

Solea

"Era una delle ultime settimane di vita insieme. Una di quelle notti in cui ci sfinivamo a discutere per ore e ore, fumando una sigaretta dietro l'altra e bevendo bicchieri pieni di Lagavulin."


"Quando non si può più vivere si ha il diritto di morire e di trasformare la propria morte in un'ultima scintilla."

"Ma Lole, l'avevo aspettata per tutta la vita, quindi non avevo intenzione di rinunciarci. Avevo bisogno di credere che sarebbe tornata. Che avremmo ricominciato. Perchè i nostri sogni, i nostri vecchi sogni che ci avevano unito e dato già tanta felicità, potessero realizzarsi."

"Sempre in ritardo sulla morte. E sempre in ritardo sulla vita. Sull'amicizia. Sull'amore."

"Li seguii con lo sguardo, scommettendo che si erano incontrati lì, a sedici o diciassette anni. Tre amici e tre amiche. E invecchiavano insieme. Con la gioia semplice del sole sulla pelle. Qui la vita non è altro. Una fedeltà ai gesti più semplici."

" 'Sono spesso degli amori segreti...' cominciai.
'Quelli che dividiamo con una città' continuò con il sorriso sulle labbra. 'Anch'io amo Camus.' "

"Era sempre un buon giorno per amare."

"Perchè non era facile lasciarsi così. Era un po' come perdersi prima ancora di essersi trovati."

"Tutti i veri amori sono così. Fragili come il cristallo. Che l'amore tende gli esseri fino al limite massimo."


Next "What shall I read today?":
My Dark Places (James Ellroy) and Invisible Monsters (Chuck Palahniuk).