EDITH KURZWEIL
Film
a
la
n10de
When Californians refer to " th e bu sin ess," th ey mean th e movi es. When
N ew Yorkers refer
to
th e film fes ti va l, th ey pride th emse lves on th eir sense
of di scrimin ation, o n th e ability to di stingui sh between movies that enter–
tain and se ri o us film- amusement as opposed to art. However, th e film
festival-work by th e mos t talented film makers fi·om around th e world–
has become seriou s busin ess .Just to observe produ ce rs, film makers, cri ti cs,
pro fessors o f film , th eir students, and the hangers-on networkin g busil y, yet
seemin gly no nchalant, over coffee and cro issa nts at th e previews o f th e
N ew York Film Fes tival or to follow th e bull etin s about productio ns bein g
pi cked up by one o r ano ther mainstream di stributor will convin ce even
th e mos t skepti ca l that art films are a part of the entertainment busin ess.
Sin ce m y own livelih ood depends on th e university, I could see at
mos t half o f thi s yea r's selec ti o ns, whi ch, howeve r, gave me a sense of th e
entire menu . Acco rdin g to a pre-fes ti va l interview wi th o ne o f th e judges,
th ey inadvertentl y pi cked fill1l s centering on fa mili es . Is that beca use tradi –
ti o nal famil y values once aga in are meant
to
come back into vogue)
Because delving with fi-es h intensi ty into th e compl exities of human
nature will lead vi ewers to sea rch th e ea rli es t and innermost reaches o f
th eir own psyches? Or because fantas ti ca ll y new and speeded- up equip–
ment, artful medl eys of sound mi xes and effec ts th at bust even th e mos t
hardened eardrums, and novel cOl1lbinati o ns of lush , psychedeli c col o rs will
enti ce th e audi ence to free ly associate to successions of spli t second images
th ey are unable to ve rbali ze) Wh en
I ~ol a nd
13arth es wrote of the space
between th e words in writin g, into whi ch readers may proj ec t th eir own
ill usory, tabooed th oughts, he did not wholl y anti cipate a world wi thout
spoken lan guage, a post- modern mode o f express ion through nashing
images and bodily ges tures rather than tongues. (Thi s is what o ccurred to
me whil e li stenin g to a panel of talented Ameri ca n film people explain
th eir work in nearl y inarti cul ate En glish. )
In th e first film I got to see, a
G e rm a n / I ~u ss i a n
produ cti o n o f
Mat/, cr
!l11ri 5011,
th e lo nely , moody scenery serves as th e bac kdrop fo r a conni ct–
ed, ca ring son wh o sac rifi ces hi s life to await hi s mo th er's death . It' s a
curi ous recapitulati o n of renaissance scenes in a painterl y , deso late pano ra–
ma, o f Madonna and child
a
/11
RlIssc.
Here, o utmoded fal1lil y va lu es are too
exaggerated and idea li zed to seel1l probable.
