Hilarious read. I literally laughed out loud at Tarkovsky's response to the student film that was shown after Brakhage's films.vogler wrote:The whole story as told by Brakhage can be found here. It really is hilarious. Needless to say I completely disagree with Tarkovsky but we all have different tastes.
Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
- jon
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- Cold Bishop
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- MichaelB
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Well, his friend and former co-screenwriter Andrei Konchalovsky more or less made that journey, from Andrei Rublev in the 1960s and Siberiade in the 1970s to, erm, Tango and Cash in the 1980s.Cold Bishop wrote:Just imagine, Tarkovsky, after fleeing from Russia, directing films for AIP. What kind of B-Movie brilliance would that of been?
Mind you, the closest he came to B-movie brilliance was Runaway Train, which despite coming from the Golan-Globus schlock factory must have one of the most unlikely credits list of any film of its decade - aside from Konchalovsky, the original story by Akira Kurosawa was beefed up with hardcore prison slang by Edward Bunker (the real-life ex-con best known for playing Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs).
And while I wouldn't exactly recommend a double bill with Siberiade, given the latter's length, they chime together surprisingly well - not least given their recurring images of a path through a seemingly endless snow-shrouded forest.
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- vogler
- Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:42 am
- Location: England
I believe it. Kenneth Anger placed the curse of the toad (or was it the frog?) on Bobby Beausoleil and shortly after that his car broke down outside the Manson Family house, he joined their gang and then ended up in prison for his part in the Manson murders. This is Anger's story anyway. I think Anger felt guilty about this later though and he was sad that Bobby Beausoleil has got to spend the rest of his life in prison 'just for killing one musician'.GringoTex wrote:Speaking of director infighting, Brakhage told me Kenneth Anger placed a voodoo curse on him.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Tarkovsky was a great filmmaker, but a cranky, arrogant and blinkered person. Anybody wishing to preserve their illusions about their favorite filmmakers being nice guys should steer well clear of his diaries. (Still, it's not their job to be nice.)vogler wrote:Indeed. Bergman criticising directors in an interview is one thing but Tarkovsky's behaviour just strikes me as deeply wrong on a basic human level. He's still a genius though, but I don't suppose that means I have to like him as a person.David Ehrenstein wrote:Tarkovsky was just plain rude.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
I think that last sentence is the key to any Anger anecdote. I could listen to him spin yarns for hours, but I'd take anything he said with a Lot's wife of salt. When I heard the story, Bobby was the founding member of Love (Arthur who?), and the curse also put paid to his promising music career.vogler wrote:I believe it. Kenneth Anger placed the curse of the toad (or was it the frog?) on Bobby Beausoleil and shortly after that his car broke down outside the Manson Family house, he joined their gang and then ended up in prison for his part in the Manson murders. This is Anger's story anyway.
- vogler
- Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:42 am
- Location: England
Yes, definitely. At the London Film Festival he told us a great one about Marianne Faithfull. He told of how he pleaded with her not to smuggle drugs across borders when they were making Lucifer Rising, especially when entering Egypt since the penalty was death. He said she didn't listen though and smuggled it mixed in with her make up. Allegedly the makeup on her face in Lucifer Rising was in fact heroin and he said if we ever see the film to 'watch out for her'. I've never laughed so much in all my life as when listening to Kenneth Anger talk.zedz wrote:I think that last sentence is the key to any Anger anecdote. I could listen to him spin yarns for hours, but I'd take anything he said with a Lot's wife of salt.
Oh, and then there were the stories of Jimmy Page and Mickey Mouse and so many more.
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I find Tarkovsky's diaries dispiriting - or is it instructive?
from 31st March 1982:
"We watched Ozu's Autumn on television. I don't remember precisely what autumn. Dreadfully boring; rather like a Mendeleyev table."
The question is, how is an Ozu film (Late Autumn, Early Autumn?) like a periodic table, and isn't that an interesting idea for a film...
from 31st March 1982:
"We watched Ozu's Autumn on television. I don't remember precisely what autumn. Dreadfully boring; rather like a Mendeleyev table."
The question is, how is an Ozu film (Late Autumn, Early Autumn?) like a periodic table, and isn't that an interesting idea for a film...
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
So -MichaelB wrote:He's no slouch at writing either: his is one of the standout contributions to the BFI's new Gothic anthology.zedz wrote:I'm always amazed at how great Guillermo del Toro is talking about other people's films.
Filmmakers who can be trusted to say intelligent things about other filmmakers' work:
Martin Scorsese
Guillermo del Toro
???
(First person to say "William Friedkin" gets whacked.)
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
Re: 643 The Man Who Knew Too Much
Soderbergh. Bogdanovich. Baumbach.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Re: 643 The Man Who Knew Too Much
I'll give you Soderbergh, and I forgot Todd Haynes. Can't recall what Baumbach has done, and Bogdanovich is decidedly a mixed blessing in my book.
EDIT: Tavernier, of course.
EDIT: Tavernier, of course.
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
I was mainly thinking of Baumbach's interviews with Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory on Criterion's My Dinner with Andre release and with Brian De Palma on Blow Out.
I suppose you're correct about Bogdanovich in that he can't necessarily be trusted to say something intelligent.
I suppose you're correct about Bogdanovich in that he can't necessarily be trusted to say something intelligent.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
On the other hand, he can be 100% trusted to deliver a mediocre impersonation of whoever he's talking about!Matt wrote:I suppose you're correct about Bogdanovich in that he can't necessarily be trusted to say something intelligent.
- Moe Dickstein
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Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
And to wear a cravat to cover his neck.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
We're still doing anti-Bogdanovich schtick on this board? I thought that shit went out with the old guard
- MichaelB
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Re: 643 The Man Who Knew Too Much
And John Waters.zedz wrote:I'll give you Soderbergh, and I forgot Todd Haynes. Can't recall what Baumbach has done, and Bogdanovich is decidedly a mixed blessing in my book.
EDIT: Tavernier, of course.
- Mr Sausage
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:02 pm
- Location: Canada
Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
David Cronenberg. Although I haven't heard a ton in the way of criticism, his occasional comments on, say, a top-whatever list he's drawn up are always fascinating.
- NABOB OF NOWHERE
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Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
Olivier Assayas
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- Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:01 am
Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
Don't get me starting. There can be really crap films that we all praise about. Aki Kaurismäki could tell you right away, that it is no use to weight shit.
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- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2010 6:42 pm
Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
I remember him criticizing the portrayal of mental illness in A Beautiful Mind on Charlie Rose.Mr Sausage wrote:David Cronenberg. Although I haven't heard a ton in the way of criticism, his occasional comments on, say, a top-whatever list he's drawn up are always fascinating.
Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
I wouldn't say that I always agree with Tarantino's opinions on other filmmakers, though they certainly are interesting to listen to.
On a related side note, I found this video on YouTube the other day, where Quentin basically dismisses both Kubrick and Welles.
On a related side note, I found this video on YouTube the other day, where Quentin basically dismisses both Kubrick and Welles.
- Forrest Taft
- Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:34 pm
- Location: Stavanger, Norway
Re: Filmmakers on Other Filmmakers
Richard Lester and Alex Cox! John McTiernan too.