DIVA (1981)
1981 French cyberpunk thriller
File Under: French New Wave Revival, Neon Noir, High Style, Operatic Thriller.
Jean Jacques Beinex delivers a feast for the eyes (and ears) in his first feature length “DIVA”, a genre bending cyberpunk thriller, love story, and testament to the power of music. In “Diva” Beinex explodes conventional narrative structure to pursue a new style of filmmaking that would be coined by French critic Raphael Bassan as “cinema du look”.
When an opera recording is pirated by an obsessive fan, the forces of the criminal underbelly of Paris are awakened, events are triggered, characters weave through the futuristic industrial wastelands + subways of the city, storylines combine, an epic chase scene ensues, the clash between high and low brow society forms before our eyes; all moving the visual, thematic and stylistic elements to the fore, further enhanced by a modern remaster of the original 35mm.
"Diva", Jean-Jacques Beineix. 1981, France.
Running Time: 117 Minutes. French.
Available for rent on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
THROW AWAY YOUR BOOKS, RALLY IN THE STREETS
1971 Japanese experimental meditation
Shuji Terayama’s avant-garde film critiques American & Japanese materialism through the narrative of a poor young man trying to make himself a life in a capitalist society with a dysfunctional family. The imagery is psychedelic/ surreal, soundtrack is punk singalong, the cinematography experimental, a script chock full of symbolism and social commentary. Teryama in 1971, a master at work.
RED DESERT
1964 Antonioni classic starring monica vitti
“With one startling, painterly composition after another—of abandoned fishing cottages, electrical towers, looming docked ships—Red Desert creates a nearly apocalyptic image of its time, and confirms Antonioni as cinema’s preeminent poet of the modern age.” - The Criterion Collection
THE ADDICTION
1995 arthouse vampire flick
Shot in black and white in mid 90’s NYC, starring Lili Taylor and Christopher Walken, scored with golden age hip hop tracks, Abel Ferrara’s art house film exploits vampire tropes to explore religious themes of damnation, redemption and the collapse of a moral order. Backdrop of AIDS and addicts… Gritty, philosophical, visceral, adult horror business- Abel and Nicholas St. John doing their thing on the fringes. Available on YouTube and Amazon premium.
Jean Luc Godard
french new wave master
This week’s art post is selected stills from film’s by the great Jean Luc Godard who passed this year at age 91. It is an understatement to say Godard was a giant, he profoundly impacted cinema and modern thinking several times over. His work was always advancing, changing form and challenging the status quo. He was always morally outrages and always willing to stay on the margins. He understood life’s cruelty and saw art as a tool for resistance. He celebrated the defiance of beauty, the grace of charity, and the aunthenticity of being a moral enemy of the state.
Je vous salue JLG!
