| Reel Recommendations 06.2010 |
 JUNE is the special month of BIRTHDAYS, according to me...
Needless to say, MY BIRTHDAY is in JUNE! And as a special treat to myself, I thought I’d recommend a couple of films very close to my heart and introduce these filmmakers, AUTEUR filmmakers to be exact, whom I hold in very high regard for their distinctive style and radical vision. POWER TO THE AUTEURS!  THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER (1989) Directed by Peter Greenaway Anyone who has ever asked me what my absolute favourite film of all time is would have heard of this lengthy title. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is ironically one of the most palatable (you will appreciate the irony after you have watched it) of Peter Greenaway films. I’ll admit that a lot of Greenaway’s films, especially the earlier ones, have a mentally masturbatory quality about them that make them highly inaccessible to the uninitiated mass audience. This British avant-garde auteur stands out for his artistic leanings, his individualism and eccentric, often controversial content, which is indisputably an acquired taste. Now that right there is yet another fully intended pun in reference to this particular film! And I think I have dropped enough crumbs for a trail…  THE IDIOTS (1998) Directed by Lars von Trier Danish director Lars von Trier is the genius behind the avant-garde cinematic movement known as Dogme95, which advocates filmmaking without frills. The Idiots is von Trier’s first contribution to a collection of controversial films that comply with the Dogme95 Manifesto. This highly experimental art house film is provocative on many levels. While the content, chronicling the anti-bourgeois confrontations of a group of people pretending to be mentally retarded, sparked controversy and invited streams of debate, von Trier’s use of sexually explicit images started a new wave of art house films with unsimulated sex. I suppose this could be a natural progression for someone brought up by communist-nudist parents with whom holidays were spent in nudist camps. But for the rest of us, we might need a film like that to awaken our inner idiots and help release our inhibitions!
 About A.D. Chan
Having made two films that have won awards and travelled to international film festivals, A. D. hopes to build her filmmaking legacy as an auteur with a creative vision and a distinct filmmaking style that is radical and revolutionary. In the meantime, she writes her two cents worth about other people’s films for some extra cash, in true struggling artist fashion. |
