The Story of Film: Episode 13

Intro

• The end of an era: celluloid was becoming less used

1990-1998: The Last Days of Celluloid – Before the Coming of Digital.

• Started in Iran
  • The Apple (1998) dir. Samira Makhmalbaf showed how parenal love went wrong for two daughters
  • A Moment of Innocence (1996) dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf man recreated his stabbing, from the victim and the stabber’s points of view
    • It hurt the policeman to go back in his life to heartbreak, but the film came out beautifully
• Kiarostami loved reality, he got rid of all falsehood when filming
  • Where Is the Friend’s Home? (1987) dir. Abbas Kiarostami had his actors do scenes they knew, to make it natural
  • And Life Goes On (1991) dir. Abbas Kiarostami was about human resilience after a tragedy
  • Through the Olive Trees (1994) dir. Abbas Kiarostami was a film about what went on between actors in And Life Goes On
    • He loved to capture the complexities of reality, and how a film can change lives
    • It became almost a trilogy about the circle of life ad love
• Hong Kong had a new era, that seemed to celebrate real life and old film
  • Days of Being Wild (1990) dir. Wong Kar-wai like to depict the sadness in young people, didn’t like the glamour they were always depicted in
  • A City of Sadness (1989) dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien uses single angles, there is little cutting or change
  • Vive L’Amour (1994) dir. Tsai Ming-liang
• Japanese directors were using films to scrae people, there were called J Horror films
  • Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) dir. Shinya Tsukamoto a man begins turning to metal
  • Ringu (1998) dir. Hideo Nakata used innocent images and made them demonic
• In Copenhagen, they were going back to the basics of filmmaking, they had strict rules of what they couldn’t do, ad how minimalist production had to be
  • Breaking the Waves (1996) dir. Lars von Trier used only the truest shots, even if they broke film rules, like the 180 line, they wanted pure scenes
  • Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999) dir. Tom Fontana used a shot that looked down from heaven after someone died
  • Dogville (2003) dir. Lars von Trier (introduced in Episode 2) created a new intimacy between director and actor, they had better communication
    • He often projected himself in the women he portrays
• France celebrated realism, but with far more diversity
  • La Haine (1995) dir. Mathieu Kassovitz was a day-in-the-life film
    • Showed how the working class lived
  • Humanité (1999) dir. Bruno Dumont was less romantic, it was expressionless, and had a hard look
  • Touki Bouki (1973) dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty used choreography more than actual fighting to show aggression
    • Dance sequence at the end used as the main character’s last dream after he kills himself
  • Crows (1994) dir. Dorota Kędzierzawska is completely naturalistic, it is in yellow and greens and connects with humanity as digital struggles to
• End of celluloid
  • Code Unknown (2000) (a.k.a. Code inconnu) (introduced in Episode 5) dir. Michael Haneke shots were individual, showed how modern connections are made
  • Funny Games (1997) dir. Michael Haneke rewinds when the violence happens, as if calling out the audience for enjoying it