jacob wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:42 am
It's hard to portray the supposedly "rich and complex inner life" of an introvert, so TV ends up with a projection on extrovert terms which often ends up looking rather lame.
tv can suck. but the people in this film ARE suffering from poverty, loneliness, grief, lack of healthcare, lack of resources, insufficient accommodations, etc. that's clearly being portrayed.
loneliness is not the same as solitude. solitude is delicious. loneliness is a lack, like a vitamin deficiency. solitude is a month at the library. loneliness is being stranded on an empty road at midnight in a blizzard with no help on the way.
there are many great films that portray the inner life of introverts, but this one movie was about actual pain and actual misery. so it's different.
recommended directors for introvert portrayals: antonioni, jean pierre melville, jim jarmusch, cathérine breillat, the cohen brothers, terrence malick, kurosawa, scorsese, ingmar bergman, fellini, jacques tati, chantal akerman, noah baumbach, greta gerwig, sofia coppola, wes anderson, sam mendes, jared and jerusha hess, buster keaton, charlie chaplin, etc etc etc.
a lot of artists are in fact introverts depicting inner lives, so the above list could grow endlessly.
werner herzog. lars von trier. jane campion. jill soloway. robert bresson. miranda july. kathryn bigelow. richard linklater. lina wertmuller. luis buñuel. kristof(sp?) kieślowski. stanley kubrick. david lynch. maya deren. kenneth anger. park chan-wook. wong kar-wai. apitchapong weerasethakul. ken loach. david cronenberg. peter greenaway. jean-luc godard. konstantina kotzamani. alain resnais.
kill your network tv and check out the criterion channel instead.
eta: a brief compilation of some great documentaries portraying complex issues or inner states etc:
the act of killing
paris is burning
exit through the gift shop
the thin blue line
inside job
burden of dreams
(+ werner herzog eats his shoe)
buena vista social club
paris is burning
crumb
enron: the smartest guys in the room
f is for fake
the fog of war
les glaneurs et la glaneuse (the gleaners and i)
grey gardens
harlan county usa
i am not your negro
jiro dreams of sushi
kooyanisqatsi
samsara
searching for sugarman
waltz with bashir (cartoon!)
when the leevees broke
man with the movie camera
david lynch: the art life
the gates
night and fog
the up series
the many underwater films of jean painlevé
the power of nightmares
manufacturing consent
plus many more i have not had the chance to see and/or can't remember right now
making documentaries is an art. yes it is cheaper and easier with cheaper cameras so more people are making them these days. but an artist is an artist is an artist, regardless of gear. eg. see: agnès varda.
--
later: inspired by my little list above watched 2 great short documentaries this evening:
-gap toothed women (les blank, 1987, 31m). the real subject is the joy of life. delightful!
-vive le tour (louis malle, 1962, 18m). the tour the france on steel bikes! brilliantly shot and edited, and more real than real because you're everywhere. they'd grab free beers from roadside taverns?