Saturday, May 9, 2009

Rivette on His Cahiers Days

Here's a Saturday treat for you all! Claire Denis tapes Serge Daney interviewing Jacques Rivette on his early interest in filmmaking, his days with Cahiers du cinéma, and his first meetings with Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Eric Rohmer. A must watch!



7 comments:

marvinc said...

very nice. now random question to a film connosieur, is the cinema a language that evolves, in a way that certain practices like narrative or character psychology can be left behind as something "outdated" in benefit of more "sophisticated" forms of representation? yes-no-maybe
feel free to ignore, just wanted to know your opinion

filmbo said...

If we assume that style and aesthetics are extensions of language, then yes maybe it's language that can be 'outdated.' Though I think that the linguistic rules remain constant, while a filmmaker's use of the language, or an academics theory of the rules are what change over time -- though not necessarily in a more sophisticated language.

marvinc said...

so not a teleology of artistic "progress" but a non-hierarchical set of changing conventions ,maybe?
is dismissing a director for being "academic" a valid criticism or just a tired modernist gesture?

filmbo said...

Yeah, I would say convention over progress, but then I might advise that stance again at some point.

And hasn't the 'too academic' criticism existed forever (though maybe without using the word academic)?

Catherine Grant said...

Thanks a lot for this, Filmbo. Good to see it having heard so much about the Denis film.

filmbo said...

Hey Catherine-- Thanks for stopping by!

nitesh said...

Thanks a lot for this video.