[Frameworks] Drama films and the Avant-Garde

Wed Jan 26 19:13:56 CST 2011

Mat Fleming:  For me Avant Garde is much more about breaking up the orthodox systems 
of false realism in narrative than it is about messing with the 
material/photography (which I love too).

I absolutely agree with that because if it is about breaking new ground and discovering new forms of production, then anything from Jurassic Park to Pixar is experimental.  It is definitely, at least for me too, about breaking systems of false realism.

And I find interesting what Mat says about the Bourne Ultimatum.  I haven't seen it, but very often in extremely commercial Hollywood productions I see this pattern of loosing sense of logic and storytelling.  I saw a way worst film the other day: Prince of Persia.  It was interesting that at points it didn't matter who was killing who or even who was who, it was more about the abstract play in the imagery with all the action-cgi shots.  And it makes sense with Jack Smith's comment about cinema not needing a storyline or anything since it's a purely visual medium (after analyzing von Sternberg's films).

Jorge L.

Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:52:53 +0000
From: matfleming76 at googlemail.com
To: frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Drama films and the Avant-Garde

I feel daft as I write this and maybe I was drunk and impressionable when I first saw it (in fact I know I was) but honestly I thought the Bourne Ultimatum approached being deserving of being a bit Avant-Garde. 
I say this in the sense that it pushes the boundaries formally. It is pure action from start to finish. I don't think there is a shot in that whole film that lasts more than 4 or 5 seconds. There are nearly no establishing shots or interludes while story is developed - story and action are one. And no interlude for love and all that normal routine. I think the trilogy has changed that kind of action film forever - Bond looks ridiculous once you've seen Bourne. You can tell the producers of the last one Quantum of Solace were trying to incorporate the editing style but they missed the point completely and the film is crap as a result in my opinion.

I'm not saying it's a great film or anything; thematically it's rubbish and it's certainly not subversive - which I am always looking for in AG film - but I do think that it's experimental in a similar way to Hitchcock's formal feature experiments. And as a result it's exciting on a certain level. For me Avant Garde is much more about breaking up the orthodox systems of false realism in narrative than it is about messing with the material/photography (which I love too).

Mat

On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 11:45 PM, Francisco Torres <fjtorrespr at gmail.com> wrote:

Inland Empire
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