Claire Denis

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I agree w/folx abt Denis Johnson btw, a true great

I don't read too many novels tbh but of the ones I've read in the last 10 years or so none has stuck with me like Tree of Smoke
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
so what nobody gonna talk about how her movies capture people from minority groups and backgrounds or is that gonna be me again?
I also haven't seen all her films so can't comment on all but the ones I have seen seem to me like she's usually less guiltily of that than most white directors

35 Shots of Rum for example is a pretty thoughtful portrayal, if indirectly, of race and "French" identity (in a bit of meta a la Midsommar the daughter is an anthropology grad student). I do buy it a bit more in Beau Travail tbf.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
French art cinema has a pretty strong track record of films on the immigrant experience, assimilation/not, what it means to be "French" etc by both white (La Haine, Entre Les Paredes) and POC (The Secret of the Grain, Les Miserables - no not that one, the one by Ladj Ly) directors, it seems?
 

version

Well-known member
Also straight people can certainly direct "queer" films, just like queer people can direct "straight" films, and they don't have to be queer to read their films queer. I mean Billy Budd is like, pretty fucking gay. Not as gay as Top Gun maybe, but close.
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. What I meant was I felt the idea of a female gaze was being sidestepped by some of the commentary online.
 

version

Well-known member
re: Billy Budd and Melville -- A fair few people seem to think Melville, based on his books and on his correspondence with Hawthorne, was actually gay.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
re: Billy Budd and Melville -- A fair few people seem to think Melville, based on his books and on his correspondence with Hawthorne, was actually gay.
I just watched Army of Darkness and Le Dieuxeme Souffle for the first time.
 

version

Well-known member
I haven't fully clicked with his stuff. I quite liked Le Cercle Rouge and Le Samourai, but something stopped me from really loving them. The latter in particular was so restrained and so hollow feeling it started to grate, also the constant chirping of his pet bird drove me insane. I hope they didn't actually torment and kill a bird for it, mind you.
 

forclosure

Well-known member
I also haven't seen all her films so can't comment on all but the ones I have seen seem to me like she's usually less guiltily of that than most white directors

35 Shots of Rum for example is a pretty thoughtful portrayal, if indirectly, of race and "French" identity (in a bit of meta a la Midsommar the daughter is an anthropology grad student). I do buy it a bit more in Beau Travail tbf.
man all the stuff to do with the daughter's university class and they talk about the IMF and how the global south still has this debt to pay to the west and how bullshit it all is.

I remember thinking first time i saw that was like "you mean to tell me some little French woman was addressing this in 2008? what other director was doing this at the time?"
 

catalog

Well-known member
The only film based on a short story collection that comes to mind is The Acid House, but I can't really comment on that as I've seen about five minutes of it and I've never read the book.
it's not very good, they go totally the wrong way on it. particularly annoying is how poor 'a soft touch' is, which is such a good short story. it's only 5 pages or so in the book, but there's so much going on.
 

catalog

Well-known member
French art cinema has a pretty strong track record of films on the immigrant experience, assimilation/not, what it means to be "French" etc by both white (La Haine, Entre Les Paredes) and POC (The Secret of the Grain, Les Miserables - no not that one, the one by Ladj Ly) directors, it seems?
anyone seen that jacques audiard one 'a propet' - i really liked that one. for a while I was following everything he did, but found the films didn't really stand up on a rewatch. i thought 'the beat that my heart skipped' was excellent when i saw it at the cinema, less good 2nd time.

i think he adapted some short stories for rust and bone, but that one didn't chime so well with me. a prophet is really good tho, ive not watched it a 2nd time in case it's also not so good.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
anyone seen that jacques audiard one 'a propet' - i really liked that one. for a while I was following everything he did, but found the films didn't really stand up on a rewatch. i thought 'the beat that my heart skipped' was excellent when i saw it at the cinema, less good 2nd time.

i think he adapted some short stories for rust and bone, but that one didn't chime so well with me. a prophet is really good tho, ive not watched it a 2nd time in case it's also not so good.
I really liked A Prophet but not seen it since.
There was another French film about a criminal around the same time with more hype but A Prophet was much better.

The actor turned up recently in bbc serial killer thing The Serpent.
 

version

Well-known member
I liked Audiard's Sisters Brothers adaptation with Phoenix and Reilly, but can't remember anything about A Prophet.
 
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