johannes k.

last night watched most of a movie by mia hanson love called goodbye first love. i wish i could like her films more, they tick all the right boxes and she says all the right things about film making in interviews — but something is missing. somehow it's as if they are a kind of indulgence. they add nothing to your understanding of the world and what happens in it — nor do they take anything away from it. everything and everyone looks beautiful — lola créton, the actress in the film last night, surely one of the most tragic faces ever seen in cinema and you can barely take your eyes off the screen, but ... when you get three quarters of the way through the film you realise that the maker hasn't actually got anything of any significance to say. what you've been watching is the slow unpacking of an exquisite box of french candies, beautiful and very edible but with no nutritional value. or wait ... actually there are no candies inside. it is a beautiful box with nothing in it.

and is it a coincidence that i feel exactly the same way about the films of her husband, oliver assayas? his films win the most prestigious awards, like best director for personal shopper at cannes etc he works with the best actors, he says the right things, he talks about the influence on his work of bresson and guy debord and i am like, where and how is there any sign of anything in his films that could be remotely to connected with the ideas of debord? it is as if they have employed a publicist who has identified a market segment : would be intellectuals who like to mention the names of certain philosophers and films and filmmakers but who have zero interesting thoughts in response to their work. so the publicist says : ok so for this one what you do is you say that in making this film you were influenced by eric rohmer's the green ray and almost everyone will nod and go, oh how interesting and good. such a great film and no one will ask, in which way exactly is it influenced by the green ray?

so. that is my cynical rant for the day over and done so that's something. i am underslept, yesterday was exhausting and hot and it didn't cool down much during the night.