A couple of months ago, Kevin Lee asked me to watch Peter Greenaway’sThe Draughtsman’s Contract, #922 on the They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They? list of the 1,000 Greatest Films of all time, so that I could contribute to his series of video essays devoted to the films on the list.

I’ve actually been known in the past as something of a Greenaway apologist, but for whatever reason, I found Draughtsman’s ridiculously difficult to get through. I kept returning to a note that I jotted down within the first couple of minutes of the film: “What was Derek Jarman doing the year this film was made? What was Duran Duran doing?” It’s that axis of British culture of the early 1980s that Kevin and I ended up exploring in the above video. But if it was my idea idea to travel down this road, the brilliance of applying the video effects from Rio to footage of Margaret Thatcher on the eve of the Falklands War was all Kevin. Watch and discuss.

My favorite part of this NY Times story about filmmaker Peter Greenaway’s “dazzling confection” Leonardo’s Last Supper––wherin he “enhanced” the original painting for one night only by introducing sweeping lights, “rhythmic” music, and the generally ill-advised planetarium aesthetics––is the explanation of why the event almost didn’t happen:

A vigorous debate erupted earlier this year after some art historians recommended that Mr. Greenaway be denied access to “The Last Supper.” They feared for the well-being of the painting, which began to deteriorate only 20 years after its completion in 1498.

Cultural officials also objected to what they saw as the improper use of a monument with an intrinsic universal value…“I don’t know why we would allow anyone to run the risk of possibly damaging a work of art in which the Italian state has invested a huge number of resources in the last 20 years,” said Marisa Dalai Emiliani, one expert who opposed the project.

While champions insisted that the project would lend new meaning to Leonardo’s painting, she said, “ ‘The Last Supper’ doesn’t need any added value.”

I’m no expert, but from the writeups of the event and the above, frustratingly unprofessional video document, it sounds like the worst fears of Emiliani and friends were justified.

…Read more

Peter Greenaway’s Nightwatching turns the making of Rembrandt’s The Night Watcher into an epic tale about marriage, color, the secret lives of paintings, the nature of looking, and the impossibility of a peaceful relationship between commerce, politics and artistic genius. It’s pretentious and stagey, both visually decadent and over-talky, and, from what I saw of it, kind of wonderful. My biggest regret of the 2007 Toronto Film Festival is that, in the middle of the press screening, with a hot cup of coffee in my hand, I fell asleep.

I really don’t think it was Greenaway’s fault. I do understand that his highly-theatrical tableau and inflated speeches of philosophical exposition can turn viewers off, and this film, like his best works, has an implacable rhythm to it that could be misconstrued as monotony. But I’m a reluctant sucker for Greenaway’s style, so I can’t really blame my unfortunate press screening narcolepsy on the director. I absolutely loved the first 15 minutes of the film, in which Greenaway introduces us to Rembrandt, his somewhat fantastic home life, and his unconventional but deeply touching bond with his wife Saskia. I could probably write a full-length review of a single early scene, in which Rembrandt, played by Martin Freeman of the UK version of The Office, addresses the camera with the story of how he and Saskia got together, but I feel like I really *shouldn’t* write anything more without seeing the full film. Since Nightwatching doesn’t yet have U.S. distribution, I’m not sure when that will be.

So, while I curse my brain for failing me in the clutch, across the jump you’ll find a look at what other people are saying about it.

…Read more

Todd Brown stayed up late last night working on Twitch’s massive gallery of Toronto trailers. Go on over and browse–it’s set up by program section–but keep in mind that some of the links lead to YouTube clips that have been removed by their copyright holders. Just perusing Twitch’s gallery, I saw a number of films that I’ve been looking forward to have been added to the Toronto schedule since the last time I looked (I’m especially excited about Starting Out in the Evening and Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely). Based on my own browsing, I’d have to say the must-watch clip in this gallery is the trailer for Peter Greenaway’s aforementioned Nightwatching, which, until its final 30 seconds, looks nothing like any trailer I’ve ever seen.

I’ve been so consumed with Mumblestuffs and the upcoming double-onslaught of Telluride and Toronto that I totally forgot about the Venice Film Festival, which begins today. Here’s a look at some of the better preview pieces floating around today:

• It’s the festival’s 75th birthday, and Reuters has an historic timeline.
• “Following recent wins for Vera Drake and The Queen, four out of the 22 films competing for the festival’s main award, the Golden Lion, have British directors,” writes Helen Pidd for The Guardian.
• One of those directors is Peter Greenaway, whose Rembrandt biopic Nightwatching marks a return to something resembling narrative filmmaking after almost ten years spent on experimental video work. Pidd’s colleague Peter Bradshaw hasn’t seen it, but thinks it should win the Golden Lion anyway. “[F]or sheer shake-up value, giving Greenaway the Golden Lion would probably be the most gratifying.”
• Bradshaw also reviews Atonement, another homegrown production and Venice’s opening night film. “It is clever, sophisticated: though perhaps multiplex audiences might find it a little too tricksy. Time will tell. Atonement will certainly provide food for thought and a colossal sugar-rush of romance for Venice festivalgoers tonight.”
• Filing a report on Glenn Kenny’s blog (the Premiere critic says he’s skipping the Lido because he’s “a Toronto guy, and only the most peripatetic of critics can do both fests”), Mark Salisbury has great praise for Atonement’s lead performances. Keira Knightley gives “yet another fine performance that should silence her detractors…But even she is outshone by [James] McAvoy. So good in The Last King Of Scotland (and so overlooked, too, because without his counterpoint, Forest Whitaker’s Amin wouldn’t have been half as effective) McAvoy asserts his position as Britain’s brightest male star with a performance of such range, dignity and humanity that it should, if there’s any justice, find recognition come awards season.”
• For Reuters, Mike Collett-White notes that Venice programmers have amped up the Hollywood star factor this year, perhaps in an attempt to stave off competition from other festivals. Most of the must-sees at Venice (Lust, Caution, I’m Not There, The Darjeeling Limited) are world-premiering there before hitting festivals like Toronto and New York in the coming month.