tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8762075.post3431207944039931212..comments2024-03-29T00:37:54.787-07:00Comments on Alienated in Vancouver: Diabolique! (Or, Les Diaboliques!) and other goodies at the CinemathequeAllan MacInnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05394301776870727673noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8762075.post-53427018320316857712019-07-03T23:58:31.029-07:002019-07-03T23:58:31.029-07:00Hm. No on this Denis, by me.
I have now seen six...Hm. No on this Denis, by me. <br /><br />I have now seen six of Claire Denis' films. Beau Travail and L'Intrus I simply did not get. White Material disappointed me, amounting to less, in the end, than I'd hoped for. Bastards, I liked, but didn't really feel profound interest in; it seemed ultimately "just" a cynical crime film, pointing an accusatory finger at the decadence of the rich, but offering little take-away. The one film of hers I truly value, Trouble Every Day, I have liked or loved to varying degrees over the course of four or five viewings, and found a lot to think about in, so much so that I will no doubt see it again someday. <br /><br />High Life, not so likely. It has a fairly dark view of humanity, and a fairly seedy view of sex; it also has at least one apparently healthy relationship in the film. It is visually compelling throughout, and an oddly persistent narrative tension, but in the end, its parts didn't add up into anything interesting or particularly meaningful to me. That's true, perhaps, of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, too - but that film has the great advantage of historical importance, even if it ultimately kind of confuses you; so much weight is attached to the film that you want to try to figure out what that ending means, what the point of the whole thing is. Similarly, High Life does have enough going on in it that one feels if you did the work, you could say something meaningful about humanity based on the film, but it has nothing to make you want to DO that work. The images are pretty, and the film holds your attention, but there's no great sense that it has something to communicate - at least nothing very useful. There are many, many other films in the world I could have watched tonight. I wish I had picked one of those...Allan MacInnishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05394301776870727673noreply@blogger.com