I saw it last year and think about it every few weeks. It is like, intentionally trying to make a bad movie, to see if that is possible to yield greatness too. Yet there are these moments and stretches that are sublime.
The home movie gritty feeling of it is kind of ahead of its time in that it immerses in a picture of larger ideas. The fact of this being King Arthur is informing it the entire time and lending it gravitas, even as it is low-fi as possible. The idea of telling big pictures from a modest point of view is still very new.
I remarked at first how dry and poor the acting is, but then yet as I remember it later, every single character is burned into my brain forever. This is not 'good' or 'bad' acting, it is just completely potent.
The Frenchness of it is not just that they are speaking french, but the attitude of the whole pic. And how is Frenchness defined? It is this constant frame, whether it is poetic, or whether it is a dead end, it is restlessly seeking outcomes, contrasts, moments. French to me is also a sort of elegance. And this movie, attempts to be anti-elegant as possible in its dirtiness and grit, but still has this great elegance... in some pose, or some moment of blocking out of nowhere, or some emotional look, or line, the film become immortal and etched in stone.
Bresson's philosophy helps, where he talks about minimalism and how one well placed word can elevate an entire piece that feels very plain on the page. If you want to experiment in writing, you can do the same and tone down your words to the most bare simplicity, experimenting on key word choices, then you really see what he's talking about, that so little can create such a large impact. Any time this film loses me it will throw out something that will re-define what is on screen. It is like a cinema gauntlet, of can Bresson do Lancelot of the Lake.
Even by the end perhaps he is not sure.
Because it is the simplicity of it that gets me, it is like ABCs being taught by someone from another world.
Not sure what else to say. It is one of those films everybody has to see, to either hate, or ruminate on the possibilities of cinema. It got its hooks in me and I became obsessed.
The home movie gritty feeling of it is kind of ahead of its time in that it immerses in a picture of larger ideas. The fact of this being King Arthur is informing it the entire time and lending it gravitas, even as it is low-fi as possible. The idea of telling big pictures from a modest point of view is still very new.
I remarked at first how dry and poor the acting is, but then yet as I remember it later, every single character is burned into my brain forever. This is not 'good' or 'bad' acting, it is just completely potent.
The Frenchness of it is not just that they are speaking french, but the attitude of the whole pic. And how is Frenchness defined? It is this constant frame, whether it is poetic, or whether it is a dead end, it is restlessly seeking outcomes, contrasts, moments. French to me is also a sort of elegance. And this movie, attempts to be anti-elegant as possible in its dirtiness and grit, but still has this great elegance... in some pose, or some moment of blocking out of nowhere, or some emotional look, or line, the film become immortal and etched in stone.
Bresson's philosophy helps, where he talks about minimalism and how one well placed word can elevate an entire piece that feels very plain on the page. If you want to experiment in writing, you can do the same and tone down your words to the most bare simplicity, experimenting on key word choices, then you really see what he's talking about, that so little can create such a large impact. Any time this film loses me it will throw out something that will re-define what is on screen. It is like a cinema gauntlet, of can Bresson do Lancelot of the Lake.
Even by the end perhaps he is not sure.
Because it is the simplicity of it that gets me, it is like ABCs being taught by someone from another world.
Not sure what else to say. It is one of those films everybody has to see, to either hate, or ruminate on the possibilities of cinema. It got its hooks in me and I became obsessed.