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vogler wrote:The whole story as told by Brakhage can be found here. It really is hilarious. Needless to say I completely disagree with Tarkovsky but we all have different tastes.

Hilarious read. I literally laughed out loud at Tarkovsky's response to the student film that was shown after Brakhage's films.

MichaelB wrote:because he had a secret liking for violent American exploitation films.

Now this is something I'd like to hear more about.....

Just imagine, Tarkovsky, after fleeing from Russia, directing films for AIP. What kind of B-Movie brilliance would that of been?

Cold Bishop wrote:Just imagine, Tarkovsky, after fleeing from Russia, directing films for AIP. What kind of B-Movie brilliance would that of been?

Well, his friend and former co-screenwriter Andrei Konchalovsky more or less made that journey, from Andrei Rublev in the 1960s and Siberiade in the 1970s to, erm, Tango and Cash in the 1980s.

Mind you, the closest he came to B-movie brilliance was Runaway Train, which despite coming from the Golan-Globus schlock factory must have one of the most unlikely credits list of any film of its decade - aside from Konchalovsky, the original story by Akira Kurosawa was beefed up with hardcore prison slang by Edward Bunker (the real-life ex-con best known for playing Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs).

And while I wouldn't exactly recommend a double bill with Siberiade, given the latter's length, they chime together surprisingly well - not least given their recurring images of a path through a seemingly endless snow-shrouded forest.

His Shy People is also quite teriffic.

Speaking of director infighting, Brakhage told me Kenneth Anger placed a voodoo curse on him.

GringoTex wrote:Speaking of director infighting, Brakhage told me Kenneth Anger placed a voodoo curse on him.

I believe it. Kenneth Anger placed the curse of the toad (or was it the frog?) on Bobby Beausoleil and shortly after that his car broke down outside the Manson Family house, he joined their gang and then ended up in prison for his part in the Manson murders. This is Anger's story anyway. I think Anger felt guilty about this later though and he was sad that Bobby Beausoleil has got to spend the rest of his life in prison 'just for killing one musician'.

vogler wrote:

David Ehrenstein wrote:Tarkovsky was just plain rude.

Indeed. Bergman criticising directors in an interview is one thing but Tarkovsky's behaviour just strikes me as deeply wrong on a basic human level. He's still a genius though, but I don't suppose that means I have to like him as a person.

Tarkovsky was a great filmmaker, but a cranky, arrogant and blinkered person. Anybody wishing to preserve their illusions about their favorite filmmakers being nice guys should steer well clear of his diaries. (Still, it's not their job to be nice.)

vogler wrote:I believe it. Kenneth Anger placed the curse of the toad (or was it the frog?) on Bobby Beausoleil and shortly after that his car broke down outside the Manson Family house, he joined their gang and then ended up in prison for his part in the Manson murders. This is Anger's story anyway.

I think that last sentence is the key to any Anger anecdote. I could listen to him spin yarns for hours, but I'd take anything he said with a Lot's wife of salt. When I heard the story, Bobby was the founding member of Love (Arthur who?), and the curse also put paid to his promising music career.

zedz wrote:I think that last sentence is the key to any Anger anecdote. I could listen to him spin yarns for hours, but I'd take anything he said with a Lot's wife of salt.

Yes, definitely. At the London Film Festival he told us a great one about Marianne Faithfull. He told of how he pleaded with her not to smuggle drugs across borders when they were making Lucifer Rising, especially when entering Egypt since the penalty was death. He said she didn't listen though and smuggled it mixed in with her make up. Allegedly the makeup on her face in Lucifer Rising was in fact heroin and he said if we ever see the film to 'watch out for her'. I've never laughed so much in all my life as when listening to Kenneth Anger talk.

Oh, and then there were the stories of Jimmy Page and Mickey Mouse and so many more.

I find Tarkovsky's diaries dispiriting - or is it instructive?

from 31st March 1982:
"We watched Ozu's Autumn on television. I don't remember precisely what autumn. Dreadfully boring; rather like a Mendeleyev table."

The question is, how is an Ozu film (Late Autumn, Early Autumn?) like a periodic table, and isn't that an interesting idea for a film...

MichaelB wrote:

zedz wrote:I'm always amazed at how great Guillermo del Toro is talking about other people's films.

He's no slouch at writing either: his is one of the standout contributions to the BFI's new Gothic anthology.

So -

Filmmakers who can be trusted to say intelligent things about other filmmakers' work:
Martin Scorsese
Guillermo del Toro
???




(First person to say "William Friedkin" gets whacked.)

Soderbergh. Bogdanovich. Baumbach.

I'll give you Soderbergh, and I forgot Todd Haynes. Can't recall what Baumbach has done, and Bogdanovich is decidedly a mixed blessing in my book.

EDIT: Tavernier, of course.

I was mainly thinking of Baumbach's interviews with Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory on Criterion's My Dinner with Andre release and with Brian De Palma on Blow Out.

I suppose you're correct about Bogdanovich in that he can't necessarily be trusted to say something intelligent.

Matt wrote:I suppose you're correct about Bogdanovich in that he can't necessarily be trusted to say something intelligent.

On the other hand, he can be 100% trusted to deliver a mediocre impersonation of whoever he's talking about!

And to wear a cravat to cover his neck.

We're still doing anti-Bogdanovich schtick on this board? I thought that shit went out with the old guard

zedz wrote:I'll give you Soderbergh, and I forgot Todd Haynes. Can't recall what Baumbach has done, and Bogdanovich is decidedly a mixed blessing in my book.

EDIT: Tavernier, of course.

And John Waters.

David Cronenberg. Although I haven't heard a ton in the way of criticism, his occasional comments on, say, a top-whatever list he's drawn up are always fascinating.

Olivier Assayas

Don't get me starting. There can be really crap films that we all praise about. Aki Kaurismäki could tell you right away, that it is no use to weight shit.

Pedro Costa

Mr Sausage wrote:David Cronenberg. Although I haven't heard a ton in the way of criticism, his occasional comments on, say, a top-whatever list he's drawn up are always fascinating.

I remember him criticizing the portrayal of mental illness in A Beautiful Mind on Charlie Rose.

I wouldn't say that I always agree with Tarantino's opinions on other filmmakers, though they certainly are interesting to listen to.

On a related side note, I found this video on YouTube the other day, where Quentin basically dismisses both Kubrick and Welles.

Richard Lester and Alex Cox! John McTiernan too.