12/30/03

Epics, Part 1

Seems to me all the wrong people are going for it. Where are the Griffiths or Eisensteins or Welles who could do the genre real justice?

 

Of those still living, Theo Angelopolous and Bela Tarr and maybe Im Kwon Taek might be capable of doing it (actually their recent output--Eternity and a Day, Satantango, Chunyang--are good examples). Miyazaki--and the Gainax people too, come to think of it. Coppola, if he'd get his head out of his ass, might do so again. Michael Winterbottom I hope can do at least one. Terry Gilliam again, maybe.

 

Ang Lee is too much of a plodder, I think. I'd like to see the crazies, the ones capable of really wild BIG projects. Scorsese proved he could do one--mixed results, but he did. Bertolucci, with a better script than he had for 1900. Spielberg, only I wish he'd...ah, screw it, I wish he'd stick to funhouse films.

 

Terence Malick. Alex Cox. John Woo and Tsui Hark, given decent scripts. And I wonder how Charles Burnett or Larry Cohen would react, given fifty million dollars? Godard would probably fling it back at the giver's face (so would Burnett, I think)--but then again, maybe not. Can you imagine a fifty million dollar Godard movie? It won't just be 'historically accurate,' that's for sure. Emir Kustarica, I'd like to see him try something. Fruit Chan, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Tikoy Aguiluz, Mario O'Hara...the list can be endless, if you look around a little.

 

(con't next post)

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