Althouse: "Faces Places."

January 24, 2018

"Faces Places."

Looks great. At Cinemateque this weekend.

21 comments:

Big Mike said...: Looks like fun, but what's with the warning about "brief nudity." They can't do a simple movie like this one without someone taking off her (I'm assuming) clothes?; 1/24/18, 6:33 PM
john said...: If the brief nudity is Cleo's, then yes. If it's Agnes, no chance.; 1/24/18, 6:41 PM
traditionalguy said...: They say humans automatically focus on a new human's face at 200 yards to analyze the threat.

No mention of breasts and hips, so survival is prioritized over pleasure.; 1/24/18, 6:43 PM
cf said...: Exciting! thanks for pointing it out.

Saw "i, Tonya" on vacation in socal-- first time in a theater in a few years -- at a plush perfect-modern-comfort theater like nothing that the world has ever known, except that its now available anywhere, the new state of the art, very cool!

I want to see this film in a setting like that here at home, hope so.; 1/24/18, 6:44 PM
Anniella said...: This is a fun movie about art that celebrates ordinary people. (I don't remember any nudity, Big Mike.) It's sweet and lighthearted, with an undercurrent of memory and loss. And it's crying out for the "big and small" tag.; 1/24/18, 6:47 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The Trip with a twist... they make art instead of impressions.; 1/24/18, 6:57 PM
Big Mike said...: @Anniella, the green MPAA label at the beginning of the trailer says that the movie was rated PG for “brief nude images and thematic elements.” As you did not notice them I presume the nude images were extremely brief, indeed.; 1/24/18, 7:55 PM
Paco Wové said...: I see... white people!; 1/24/18, 7:58 PM
jwl said...: Is it updated version of Harold and Maude?; 1/24/18, 8:02 PM
YoungHegelian said...: The movie also looks like it'll be a good way to get an honest look at La France Profonde (the French equivalent of "Flyover Country"). The French heartland never gets enough air time because the Parisians absolutely never shut up.

La France Profonde, like much of our flyover country, is hurting & angry. It is also getting denuded of its young folks much worse than in the US.; 1/24/18, 8:05 PM
wild chicken said...: Imagine Harold and Maude with the sexes reversed. Which is more realistic, at least in Hollywood.

Ugh.; 1/24/18, 8:44 PM
Mark said...: Not a movie, but I see that there is a new TV mini-series on Waco. (Hard to believe it has been 25 years since Janet Reno and the Clinton forces caused that fiery hell.)

We really should not be surprised that the Obama DOJ and "law enforcement" agencies would be corrupt and used manufactured disinformation as a pretext to go after someone (in this case Trump). They've been dirty for years. They did the same thing at Waco under Clinton.; 1/24/18, 9:02 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "If the brief nudity is Cleo's, then yes."

No nudity, but if yur goin' French film fiction, why not check Chloe instead of Cleo?

www.imdb.com/title/tt0115856/; 1/24/18, 9:08 PM
William said...: Looks as good as My Dinner With Andre but without the surprise ending and sexploitation.; 1/24/18, 9:23 PM
Bilwick said...: So is this movie Granny Porn? I hope so. The world can't have enough Granny Porn.; 1/24/18, 9:29 PM
EAB said...: No Harold and Maude...just two very talented and accomplished people collaborating in an interesting and sweet way, with insights into how they each work. They spoke together at a screening last October. A relationship of respect but also affection. It's worth seeing. It's human. A lot of movies aren't.; 1/24/18, 9:30 PM
Daniel Jackson said...: I wonder how they handled the problem of authorization. I've been doing a similar project in south France for several years and getting model authorization is a mixed bag. Moreover, the French have this thing about photographing buildings so additional authorization is needed.

Reading about JR's work, I admire what he has done and how well he has been funded (oh, to be young again). At the same time, it is a "fly-by" work of "fly-by country" that gives me a sense of a tourist or traveling anthropologist who captures the image but does not take the time to know his subjects. Eyes on trains, silos, and buildings is a wonderful idea that I would LOVE to do; but, it captures only a surface fleeting image of an individual.

A lot of this kind of work reminds me of Dorothea Lange, a bourgeois girl from San Francisco "flying" through Fly-By country intruding annoyingly into people's private space to get pictures of misery (her subjects were miserable with her as noted by the outtakes). Perhaps in an opposite way, JR ignores some of the angst of Middle France.

Be Happy, Happy; SMILE.; 1/25/18, 2:46 AM
Clyde said...: I would like to see it, but it isn't showing locally. The reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes liked it: 100% Fresh, on 77 reviews, and 92% of the audience liked it. There might be a degree of audience self-selection involved; the sort of person who would prefer an indie foreign-language documentary to some other more pyrotechnical genre is going to be predisposed to like it. Still, that degree of unanimity is unusual and you usually can't go wrong when it's there.; 1/25/18, 7:06 AM
Anniella said...: I wonder how they handled the problem of authorization.

I imagine being Agnes Varda helps!; 1/25/18, 8:12 AM
EAB said...: That was my thought...it's Varda. Authorization is no big thing... There's also a fair amount of time spent with the subjects of the photographs and their lives. Each vignette has a human story. There are also poignant, personal moments for Varda.; 1/25/18, 9:11 AM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Yes, very interesting and nice, but who cleans up after them? I had the same concerns over Christo's stuff. I was somewhat reconciled when I saw "The Umbrellas" first hand and was bowled over. It was magnificent. I believe Christo's budgets include removal. Do JR's?; 1/25/18, 12:35 PM