Masterclass in world cinema

I rarely watch contemporary movies.  I find it difficult to devote hours of my life to sitting still, without having to get up and do something.  So, when the Criterion channel offered a week of free streaming, I was interested in their lineup of iconic films. I don't stream movies on my laptop.  I consider myself to be a sentimental film purist, who still believes that movies should be experienced in a movie theater.  But I haven't seen a movie in a theater in years, despite being within walking distance to one. 

Yet, here I am, staring into my laptop, to watch the movie, Breathless, by French New Wave auteur, Jean-Luc Godard.  I was introduced to his work in a college survey cinema course (a prerequisite for a film studies minor) through his film, Masculine-Feminine.  Stuck in the full auditorium for three hours, I became hypnotized by the young French actors, exploring pop culture themes in a romantic metropolis.  At the time, I didn't grasp how privileged I was to be earning credit for watching movies. Godard's seminal film did not disappoint, in that it held my attention for the most part, due to the film's pacing and the actors' magnetism. The film balances cinéma vérité with modernity, that is personified in the film's climactic bittersweet ending.  Jean Seberg's cool je nais sais quoi left me breathless.

Later in the evening, I watched my first Ingmar Bergman film, Persona, another 1960s avant-garde film by another auteur.  The film is too avant-garde for my taste, but some of the imagery, especially close ups of the main female characters are striking.  I can see how Bergman's aesthetic influenced later directors I would come to admire. The film presents a bold study of contrasts, upheld by the female leads’ nuanced performances. I am entranced by the understated beauty of Liv Ullman.

 

The following day, I spent the afternoon watching Federico Fellini's opus, 8 & 1/2.  I was introduced to Fellini’s work in another college film course focused on Italian Neorealism. Instead of being in the more comfortable auditorium, this class was in a typical cold classroom with hard chair desks.  I recall the few much older students (the current age I'm now in), who constantly posed questions about the movies afterwards.  My worrisome self was more preoccupied with trying to catch the last bus to go home.  

Watching Fellini's masterpiece was the more challenging of the trilogy.  The protagonist’s creative crisis felt like an eternity.  The film’s ensemble and symbolism are beyond avant-garde, in comparison to La Strada’s emotional ending heightened by a sweeping musical score and my personal favorite, La Dolcé Vita.  Fellini's signature troupe inhabiting his cinematic mise en scène emerge, even within the confines of a laptop screen.

This week somehow flew by again, but watching these three classic films prompted me to pause. They unexpectedly provided a necessary distraction from my reality, reminding me of why I was drawn to the art of cinema. They transported me to faraway worlds and unknown psyches.  I can check them off my auteur bucket list, and I can recognize film clips within the context of their actual movies.  As my family and I age, I ponder mortality.  And then I remember, like the ending to a marathon Fellini movie, we are meant to celebrate the journey for as long as we can.