Paul Schrader

version

Well-known member
Sadly, looks like he might be on the way out.



He's been in and out of hospital for a while with breathing issues and apparently he's gotten Covid again whilst in Venice to collect his lifetime achievement award.

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version

Well-known member
Fascinating figure, imo.

Strict Calvinist upbringing - didn't see a film until he was eighteen, mother used to stick pins in his fingers and talk to him about Hell, entertainment was debating theology - gets taken under Pauline Kael's wing and becomes a critic until he decides he'd rather write screenplays and she drops him, goes on to collaborate with Scorsese on some of his most famous films, writes and directs several great films himself, eventually gets written off after a string of flops and curiosities, makes a comeback with First Reformed in 2017 and a new stripped down production process and launches into a trilogy of films, the last of which he makes on oxygen and with one eye due to health issues and postponing surgery for the sake of the film; now looks to be on his deathbed days after accepting a lifetime achievement award at Venice.

Not to mention the Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer book, the proto-incel / mass shooter flavour of a lot of his work, the outlandish social media pesence and probably some other things I've forgotten.

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Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Weird film. There are times I've watched it and loved it and times I couldn't stand it. Introduced me to Van Morrison's T.B. Sheets though.
I actually thought it was like a mix between Taxi Driver and After Hours. I'm usually lukewarm when it comes to Scorsese, but I really liked this one.

I'm also a Nic Cage appreciator, so there's that.
 

version

Well-known member
I'm sure the Safdies are big fans, there was a bit of it in Good Time. That frenetic New York thing. Smeared lights, the underbelly.
 

version

Well-known member
I haven't seen everything of his, but Blue Collar, Mishima and Light Sleeper are my favourites of Schrader's.
 

version

Well-known member
Good Time feels a bit too raw and gritty for Mann, imo. Mann's slick. They're not the sort of characters Mann deals with either. Different layer of society.
 

linebaugh

Well-known member
Good Time feels a bit too raw and gritty for Mann, imo. Mann's slick. They're not the sort of characters Mann deals with either. Different layer of society.
The grit and class element is the new York portion. I feel the cinematography, lighting, and music is very Mann.
 

version

Well-known member
The French Connection, some of Abel Ferrara's stuff and bits of Cassavetes is what first comes to mind when I think of Good Time. The sleaze and rawness combined with the "guerrilla" thing of them pulling in randoms, casting non-actors, shooting without permits, etc.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Tonally they aren’t dissimilar. Actually I would never have been able to guess this was a Schrader film if I hadn’t known up front.
 

sus

Well-known member
He's been in and out of hospital for a while with breathing issues and apparently he's gotten Covid again whilst in Venice to collect his lifetime achievement award.
The lesson here is to despise awards and refuse any that are offered to you, or, at the very least, to refuse any sort of legitimation of the award (e.g. by attending a ceremony)
 

sus

Well-known member
He says God (and or the body, same thing) is getting revenge for trying to push the limits of artistic endeavor

Possibly literally biologically true, but symbolically/archetypally false

What he is being punished for is his vanity
 
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