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20
00:00:13,233 --> 00:00:16,583
Almost every film made
during the first 100 years
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00:00:16,608 --> 00:00:19,445
of the story of film
was made like this.
22
00:00:20,422 --> 00:00:25,874
To get a shot to move through space,
you put the camera on something that moved.
23
00:00:25,899 --> 00:00:29,401
To film a deer, as we do here,
fleetingly,
24
00:00:29,427 --> 00:00:32,743
you had to find a real
deer and photograph it.
25
00:00:32,768 --> 00:00:36,354
Unless, of course, you drew
an animated deer like Bambi.
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00:00:38,778 --> 00:00:41,759
But then came
the first days of digital.
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00:00:41,784 --> 00:00:43,214
Look at this shot.
28
00:00:43,239 --> 00:00:45,221
Smoke coming out of buildings.
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00:00:45,246 --> 00:00:47,019
Sunlight from top right.
30
00:00:47,020 --> 00:00:49,743
It looks like the camera
was on a helicopter.
31
00:00:49,768 --> 00:00:53,043
All attempts to make the shot
look like a real city,
32
00:00:53,068 --> 00:00:55,210
photographed, but it isn't.
33
00:00:55,235 --> 00:01:00,140
These tiny horses kicking up dust,
look like the deer in the previous shot,
34
00:01:00,166 --> 00:01:02,005
but they're not.
35
00:01:02,811 --> 00:01:05,965
A place like this
is where this shot was made.
36
00:01:05,990 --> 00:01:11,933
Almost everything in the shot
was drawn on a computer, like this one.
37
00:01:11,958 --> 00:01:15,253
D.W. Griffith had to put
a camera on a giant crane
38
00:01:15,278 --> 00:01:18,679
to create this gliding shot
of an ancient city.
39
00:01:21,565 --> 00:01:25,073
Here, in the first days of digital,
director Ridley Scott
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00:01:25,098 --> 00:01:28,691
wanted to create a gliding,
epic shot of an ancient city
41
00:01:28,716 --> 00:01:32,171
with tiny people,
like ants, too.
42
00:01:36,354 --> 00:01:40,467
Computers became central
to cinema in the 1990s.
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00:01:40,492 --> 00:01:46,261
Instead of film imagery being made up
of tiny grains of silver halide on celluloid,
44
00:01:46,296 --> 00:01:51,677
it became tiny rows
of digital information: ones and zeros.
45
00:01:52,207 --> 00:01:58,147
In 1921, a boy electrician called
Philo Farnsworth, was plowing a field.
46
00:01:58,172 --> 00:02:02,945
He looked at the rows of earth
and realized that imagery could be made
47
00:02:02,970 --> 00:02:09,035
of tiny rows of picture information too,
scanned at incredible speeds.
48
00:02:09,060 --> 00:02:12,067
Jump 70 years, and you get this.
49
00:02:17,195 --> 00:02:23,889
A liquid-metal representation of a person
turns into a photographed actor.
50
00:02:26,112 --> 00:02:29,699
Director James Cameron,
had his design and technical teams
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00:02:29,724 --> 00:02:33,421
scan the photographed image
into the computer.
52
00:02:33,446 --> 00:02:37,692
Then they drew shiny surfaces,
movements, and reflections
53
00:02:37,717 --> 00:02:41,103
to make it look like the man
had become Mercury.
54
00:02:43,219 --> 00:02:48,744
The technique became known as
computer generated imagery, CGI.
55
00:02:48,769 --> 00:02:52,181
Live action and animation
had been combined before,
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00:02:52,207 --> 00:02:57,030
as far back as Gene Kelly dancing with
Jerry mouse in Anchors Aweigh.
57
00:02:58,571 --> 00:03:03,492
But this was crucially different,
Jerry looked 2-dimensional.
58
00:03:03,517 --> 00:03:06,314
The light on him doesn't change.
59
00:03:06,339 --> 00:03:08,743
He looked like he'd been drawn.
60
00:03:11,179 --> 00:03:15,121
But the liquid-metal man looked
like he'd been photographed.
61
00:03:15,147 --> 00:03:20,246
The metal seemed to have real substance,
as if it was actually in the helicopter here,
62
00:03:20,272 --> 00:03:24,400
reflecting the light in the shot
and the head of the pilot.
63
00:03:24,411 --> 00:03:25,895
Get out.
64
00:03:33,882 --> 00:03:36,592
The implications
were astonishing.
65
00:03:37,430 --> 00:03:43,063
It was if cinema had been rewound
and started again, from the olden days.
66
00:03:43,089 --> 00:03:47,937
The first animators tried
to show a dinosaur.
67
00:03:47,962 --> 00:03:53,302
The wobbly lines show that it was drawn
with real human hands.
68
00:03:57,829 --> 00:04:02,971
Now, Steven Spielberg could
do so with such hyper-realism
69
00:04:02,997 --> 00:04:06,255
that we could almost smell
a dinosaur's breath.
70
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:10,037
Apprehend the texture
of the dinosaur's skin.
71
00:04:10,062 --> 00:04:15,905
The shadows cast by the small one,
the reflections on the floor
72
00:04:15,930 --> 00:04:18,580
of the feet
of the T-Rex.
73
00:04:21,262 --> 00:04:25,337
This is the only surviving footage
of the ocean liner, the Titanic.
74
00:04:25,362 --> 00:04:30,355
A flickering pan right that shows
its massiveness, its hope.
75
00:04:32,191 --> 00:04:36,687
As we watch we imagine
the grand tragedy that befell it.
76
00:04:39,526 --> 00:04:45,333
Eighty years later, James Cameron
shows us what we've long wanted to see,
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00:04:45,358 --> 00:04:48,598
as if it had
actually been photographed.
78
00:04:48,624 --> 00:04:52,542
The sinking liner, by the light
of the silvery moon.
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00:04:52,568 --> 00:04:56,418
Shots filmed in deep space
to show the height of the boat
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00:04:56,443 --> 00:04:58,700
and the length of the jump.
81
00:05:05,029 --> 00:05:08,468
Seventies cinema had been
about what we wanted to see:
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00:05:08,493 --> 00:05:11,624
Jaws, The Exorcist, Star Wars.
83
00:05:12,296 --> 00:05:16,841
Nineties cinema had become "can
see."
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00:05:16,865 --> 00:05:19,166
This was exciting.
85
00:05:19,192 --> 00:05:23,519
Movies had become spectacle again,
about the thrill of seeing,
86
00:05:23,545 --> 00:05:25,511
as if for the first time.
87
00:05:26,291 --> 00:05:31,209
But once the thrill has passed,
old questions remain.
88
00:05:31,234 --> 00:05:35,269
The first is about admiration
or ethics.
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00:05:35,294 --> 00:05:40,567
Real human courage and imagination
goes into a shot like this.
90
00:05:40,592 --> 00:05:43,916
The camera and the guy
are really strapped to the plane
91
00:05:43,942 --> 00:05:46,956
as it does
a scary loop-the-loop.
92
00:05:52,586 --> 00:05:56,388
Hard work and long hours
spent in relative comfort,
93
00:05:56,413 --> 00:06:00,471
eating pizza,
go into a shot like this.
94
00:06:00,496 --> 00:06:05,460
Despite its bravura,
has reality lost some of its realness?
95
00:06:08,273 --> 00:06:11,764
The second old question
is a human question.
96
00:06:11,789 --> 00:06:14,822
It's the theme
of the story of film.
97
00:06:14,847 --> 00:06:16,652
Innovation.
98
00:06:17,866 --> 00:06:22,497
All techniques, including CGI,
should be used inventively.
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00:06:23,945 --> 00:06:26,624
The first mainstream feature film
to be made
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00:06:26,649 --> 00:06:30,167
entirely with a computer
was this inventive one.
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00:06:30,193 --> 00:06:34,865
Director John Lassiter and his team
use the new possibilities of CGI
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00:06:34,891 --> 00:06:38,510
to render shadows,
do dynamic deep staging,
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00:06:38,536 --> 00:06:43,203
and see from positions that would be
difficult for a real camera to shoot from.
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00:06:53,017 --> 00:07:00,382
This was the pricey end of CGI but, as always,
innovation doesn't need to be expensive.
105
00:07:08,445 --> 00:07:13,548
This film was not only shot
mostly on low-tech digital video,
106
00:07:13,574 --> 00:07:15,938
but marketed on the Internet.
107
00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,706
It has the look and sound
of camcorder video footage.
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00:07:34,731 --> 00:07:39,134
His voice is close to the camera,
recorded by its internal mic.
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00:07:39,159 --> 00:07:44,340
The whites in her face burn out,
a very video effect.
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00:07:47,526 --> 00:07:50,398
In the same year
digital cinemas opened up
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00:07:50,423 --> 00:07:54,513
in America, Korea,
Spain, Germany, and Mexico.
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00:07:55,232 --> 00:07:59,396
And, in 2001 to 2002,
George Lucas shot
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00:07:59,421 --> 00:08:04,094
Star Wars: Episode 2 entirely
without using celluloid.
114
00:08:05,152 --> 00:08:08,858
And, as has often been
the case in the story of film,
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00:08:08,883 --> 00:08:12,797
Asian filmmakers
were even more innovative.
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00:08:12,822 --> 00:08:16,197
Here's Zhang Yimou's
House of Flying Daggers."
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00:08:16,222 --> 00:08:18,494
A blind dancer.
118
00:08:22,601 --> 00:08:30,348
To challenge her, a man flicks a bean
against drums, to create sounds around her.
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00:08:30,378 --> 00:08:34,455
The camera rushes forward
with the bean, then swishes left.
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00:08:34,481 --> 00:08:37,279
The bean's computer generated.
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00:08:37,305 --> 00:08:41,653
Motion blur,
again computer generated.
122
00:08:49,705 --> 00:08:53,664
Then her sleeve garment
picks up a CGI sword.
123
00:09:03,865 --> 00:09:07,128
Then the man
throws a CGI plate at her.
124
00:09:07,153 --> 00:09:11,647
She's seeing and not seeing,
but so are we.
125
00:09:11,649 --> 00:09:14,851
Images doing things
they could never do before,
126
00:09:14,877 --> 00:09:18,252
all with brilliant
Chinese choreography and grace.
127
00:09:18,259 --> 00:09:20,110
Remarkable innovation.
128
00:09:20,136 --> 00:09:22,823
The theme of the story of film.
129
00:09:45,384 --> 00:09:48,454
But if what ran
through the camera in the '90s,
130
00:09:48,494 --> 00:09:52,373
digital tape rather
than celluloid, changed.
131
00:09:52,399 --> 00:09:57,070
What ran in front of the camera
seemed to change too.
132
00:09:57,072 --> 00:10:00,357
Reality seemed
to lose some of its realness.
133
00:10:00,383 --> 00:10:05,862
Life was no longer just modern,
it became postmodern, playful.
134
00:10:07,866 --> 00:10:12,240
In the '90s, American films
like Schindler's List, LA confidential,
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00:10:12,265 --> 00:10:18,255
and The Silence of the Lambs
were serious '40s genre pictures,
136
00:10:18,281 --> 00:10:20,237
in new guises.
137
00:10:21,448 --> 00:10:26,114
But the real flavors of the times
were irony and postmodernism.
138
00:10:26,121 --> 00:10:31,303
The idea that there are no great truths
and that everything's recycled.
139
00:10:31,329 --> 00:10:36,294
More than previously, filmmakers started
playing games with old genres,
140
00:10:36,319 --> 00:10:40,752
quoting from previous films,
making films about films.
141
00:10:41,856 --> 00:10:45,069
Even the master
of new American cinema of the '70s,
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00:10:45,095 --> 00:10:47,651
Martin Scorsese,
started doing this.
143
00:10:47,678 --> 00:10:51,014
Look at the ending
of Scorsese's film, Goodfellas.
144
00:10:51,039 --> 00:10:54,337
Like several of his movies,
it's about gangsters.
145
00:10:54,339 --> 00:10:56,645
But what's different is
that this gangster
146
00:10:56,670 --> 00:11:01,067
looks right into the camera,
a very post-modern thing to do.
147
00:11:01,871 --> 00:11:04,236
I'm an average nobody.
148
00:11:04,261 --> 00:11:07,619
I get to live the rest
of my life like a schnook.
149
00:11:07,644 --> 00:11:12,960
And then, out of nowhere,
Joe Pesci shoots right down the lens.
150
00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:17,544
A surprising shot, until we remember
that one of the oldest films ever made,
151
00:11:17,569 --> 00:11:21,360
The Great Train Robbery,
did the same thing.
152
00:11:24,870 --> 00:11:28,773
Scorsese knew this shot
and repeated it.
153
00:11:28,798 --> 00:11:30,910
Film quoting film.
154
00:11:30,935 --> 00:11:33,553
A very '90s thing to do.
155
00:11:36,836 --> 00:11:41,762
American movies of the '90s were
full of playful twists on old films.
156
00:11:41,768 --> 00:11:45,018
In this classic film noir
from the '40s, for example,
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00:11:45,044 --> 00:11:47,802
two killers
are about to do a hit.
158
00:11:47,808 --> 00:11:51,724
The lighting's dark,
the shadows are from German expressionism
159
00:11:51,750 --> 00:11:55,484
and, typically,
the killers don't say much.
160
00:11:55,491 --> 00:11:57,720
There's little dialogue.
161
00:12:06,128 --> 00:12:09,772
Compare that to this scene
of two killers about to do a hit
162
00:12:09,797 --> 00:12:14,924
in one of the most influential gangster
pictures of the '90s, Pulp Fiction.
163
00:12:15,256 --> 00:12:18,671
The lighting's much brighter
but what's more noticeable
164
00:12:18,697 --> 00:12:21,423
is that in Pulp Fiction,
they talk.
165
00:12:21,430 --> 00:12:22,537
A lot.
166
00:12:33,472 --> 00:12:36,414
Talking about everyday stuff,
like foot massages,
167
00:12:36,439 --> 00:12:40,188
isn't exactly something
that Humphrey Bogart would have done.
168
00:12:40,213 --> 00:12:45,040
Scenes like this breathed new life
into American screenplay writing.
169
00:12:45,066 --> 00:12:47,836
They stopped the story
but opened up the discourse.
170
00:12:48,944 --> 00:12:51,243
They have no sense of humor
about this shit!
171
00:12:51,269 --> 00:12:54,338
You know what I'm saying?
172
00:12:54,364 --> 00:12:56,605
It's an interesting point.
173
00:12:56,631 --> 00:12:59,068
Come on.
Let's get into character.
174
00:12:59,093 --> 00:13:01,377
It's as if they'd been
out of character.
175
00:13:01,403 --> 00:13:03,764
Like they forgot
that they're in a movie.
176
00:13:05,078 --> 00:13:06,214
What's her name again?
177
00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:07,283
Mia.
178
00:13:07,309 --> 00:13:08,304
Mia.
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00:13:08,420 --> 00:13:12,263
As if to emphasize the dialogue,
the shot remains static,
180
00:13:12,288 --> 00:13:15,826
behind the two guys,
so we listen rather than look.
181
00:13:16,031 --> 00:13:17,121
Take care of her?
182
00:13:17,146 --> 00:13:18,337
No, man.
183
00:13:18,362 --> 00:13:20,008
Just take her out, you know?
184
00:13:20,009 --> 00:13:23,275
Show her a good time.
Make sure she don't get lonely.
185
00:13:23,276 --> 00:13:25,907
You gonna be taking
Mia Wallace out on a date?
186
00:13:25,932 --> 00:13:28,111
It is not a date.
187
00:13:28,137 --> 00:13:30,138
You know, it's just...
it's like if you were
188
00:13:30,163 --> 00:13:32,937
going to take your buddy's wife
to a movie, or something.
189
00:13:32,962 --> 00:13:35,985
It's just good company,
that's all.
190
00:13:40,405 --> 00:13:42,188
It's not a date.
191
00:13:42,214 --> 00:13:44,721
It's definitely not a date.
192
00:13:45,274 --> 00:13:47,892
This emphasis on the surrealism
of everyday talk
193
00:13:47,917 --> 00:13:52,709
became known as Tarantino-esque,
after the film's writer-director
194
00:13:52,734 --> 00:13:54,038
Quentin Tarantino.
195
00:13:56,442 --> 00:14:02,716
Tarantino-esque somehow meant both more real,
and less real than life at the same time.
196
00:14:03,895 --> 00:14:07,461
And Tarantino wasn't only
significant for his dialogue.
197
00:14:07,485 --> 00:14:12,155
Like Scorsese, he was
a hyperlink to film history.
198
00:14:12,181 --> 00:14:18,022
For example he championed in America
this Hong Kong director Wuen Woo-Ping,
199
00:14:18,048 --> 00:14:19,653
whom we've already met.
200
00:14:20,820 --> 00:14:26,049
Tarantino then hired master Yuen
to choreograph the Kill Bill films.
201
00:14:27,431 --> 00:14:30,947
And look at this scene
in Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs.
202
00:14:35,821 --> 00:14:42,789
In long lens, wearing black glasses,
Harvey Keitel shoots the police with two guns.
203
00:14:44,376 --> 00:14:49,633
Five years earlier, in Ringo Lam's
Hong Kong film, City on Fire,
204
00:14:49,658 --> 00:14:55,351
Danny Lee, in black glasses,
shoots the police with two guns.
205
00:14:56,024 --> 00:14:58,835
And here's the climax of
Reservoir Dogs.
206
00:14:58,837 --> 00:15:02,156
Three jewel thieves
pull guns on each other.
207
00:15:02,158 --> 00:15:03,600
A death triangle.
208
00:15:03,602 --> 00:15:04,774
A warehouse.
209
00:15:04,776 --> 00:15:07,224
A police mole's bleeding.
210
00:15:07,226 --> 00:15:10,268
Wide shot then close-ups.
211
00:15:14,765 --> 00:15:17,561
The thieves have just done
a failed heist.
212
00:15:17,587 --> 00:15:21,252
Joey, if you kill that man,
you die next.
213
00:15:21,278 --> 00:15:21,887
Repeat.
214
00:15:21,913 --> 00:15:23,671
If you kill that man,
you die next.
215
00:15:23,696 --> 00:15:26,212
Larry, we have been friends...
216
00:15:29,106 --> 00:15:31,712
And here's the climax of
City on Fire.
217
00:15:31,737 --> 00:15:35,116
Three Jewel thieves
pull guns on each other.
218
00:15:35,141 --> 00:15:36,695
A death triangle.
219
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:38,298
We're in a warehouse.
220
00:15:38,323 --> 00:15:42,459
A police mole
is sitting below them.
221
00:15:48,170 --> 00:15:50,982
Wide shot then close ups.
222
00:15:51,007 --> 00:15:54,399
The thieves have just done
a failed heist.
223
00:15:57,191 --> 00:15:58,977
Talk about déjà vu.
224
00:15:59,002 --> 00:16:02,342
Movie making
about the story of film.
225
00:16:04,094 --> 00:16:07,375
And it wasn't only action cinema
that Tarantino admired.
226
00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:11,428
He loved this art movie,
Jean Luc Godard's Bande à Part.
227
00:16:11,453 --> 00:16:13,299
This is its title sequence.
228
00:16:13,324 --> 00:16:16,069
Fast cut close ups
of the main characters,
229
00:16:16,096 --> 00:16:19,007
the letters cutting
graphically up on screen.
230
00:16:19,032 --> 00:16:23,047
Tarantino used this title
for his own production company,
231
00:16:23,072 --> 00:16:24,749
a band apart.
232
00:16:24,774 --> 00:16:27,815
He was punning on film history.
233
00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:29,253
How '90s.
234
00:16:29,278 --> 00:16:33,295
His company logo appeared
graphically, yellow on black,
235
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,565
at the start of "Pulp Fiction."
236
00:16:40,071 --> 00:16:42,165
Tarantino's postmodernism
was in his writing,
237
00:16:42,190 --> 00:16:45,928
but a look at Natural Born Killers,
made by Oliver Stone
238
00:16:45,953 --> 00:16:51,937
from Tarantino's screenplay, shows that,
visually, Tarantino was a traditionalist.
239
00:16:53,489 --> 00:16:56,091
A young couple is on a rampage.
240
00:16:56,125 --> 00:17:02,512
Stone has this scene shot on film,
on a glide cam, and graded green.
241
00:17:12,688 --> 00:17:16,216
This P.O.V. shot is also on film,
but in full color.
242
00:17:17,396 --> 00:17:20,305
Then we're on handheld video.
243
00:17:23,091 --> 00:17:27,594
This mash up of styles is almost
a definition of postmodernism.
244
00:17:27,596 --> 00:17:30,884
No one type of image
could capture the truth.
245
00:17:30,886 --> 00:17:34,808
Reality was multiple
and fragmented.
246
00:17:37,697 --> 00:17:42,239
A fourth strain of '90s postmodernism
was the kooky, technically brilliant,
247
00:17:42,265 --> 00:17:46,780
films of Minnesota born brothers
Joel and Ethan Coen.
248
00:17:46,789 --> 00:17:50,054
They started the '90s
with this great image.
249
00:17:50,079 --> 00:17:52,904
A hat falls into the foreground.
250
00:17:52,930 --> 00:17:54,877
Trees are out of focus.
251
00:17:57,192 --> 00:18:01,061
Then the wind blows the hat
and the focus follows it.
252
00:18:01,086 --> 00:18:03,451
The forest comes into focus.
253
00:18:03,476 --> 00:18:05,822
Then the story begins.
254
00:18:06,083 --> 00:18:11,088
The Coen brothers became masters
of visual and story precision.
255
00:18:11,114 --> 00:18:16,574
By the mid-'90s, the Coens had honed
their comic-discrepant world view
256
00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:20,743
by focusing on what used
to be called, in Frank Capra films,
257
00:18:20,768 --> 00:18:24,997
the "little man," caught up in events
that he barely understands.
258
00:18:25,022 --> 00:18:28,298
Here the little man is
a novice mailroom worker.
259
00:18:28,323 --> 00:18:32,332
But he becomes a chief executive
with the big cigar to show it.
260
00:18:32,357 --> 00:18:35,161
The film's shot
in blues and Navy's.
261
00:18:35,186 --> 00:18:38,354
The novice
is pure Coen brothers.
262
00:18:38,379 --> 00:18:42,365
A gormless, rather asexual man,
out of his depth,
263
00:18:42,390 --> 00:18:47,769
having strayed into the world of Capra,
or Preston Sturges, or Howard Hawks.
264
00:18:58,079 --> 00:19:02,818
George Clooney played a similar trespasser
in O Brother, where art thou?
265
00:19:23,726 --> 00:19:26,249
Clooney was wide eyed
and clueless.
266
00:19:26,274 --> 00:19:29,559
The imagery this time
was golden.
267
00:19:31,570 --> 00:19:33,527
And talk about wide eyed.
268
00:19:33,552 --> 00:19:37,604
Here's Jeff Bridges,
high as a kite, in The big Leboswki.
269
00:19:37,629 --> 00:19:40,168
A tower of ten pin
bowling shoes.
270
00:19:40,193 --> 00:19:42,708
His are handed out
by Saddam Hussein.
271
00:19:42,733 --> 00:19:46,426
The war on Iraq was on
and the Coen's wanted to refer to it.
272
00:19:46,451 --> 00:19:50,848
And then we're in another '30s genre,
the Busby Berkley musical.
273
00:20:05,021 --> 00:20:09,691
The big Leboswki brilliantly married
slacker dude-ness with surreal design,
274
00:20:09,716 --> 00:20:13,579
a fondness
for old Hollywood and '90s politics.
275
00:20:23,062 --> 00:20:28,207
The Coen's affection for their men
gave their postmodernism heart.
276
00:20:42,792 --> 00:20:45,841
The most daring
American postmodernist of the '90s,
277
00:20:45,866 --> 00:20:51,745
and one of the country's greatest filmmakers,
was this man: Gus Van Sant.
278
00:20:52,505 --> 00:20:56,787
He's influenced by a wide range
of movies, styles and periods,
279
00:20:56,812 --> 00:20:59,173
and refers to them as he talks.
280
00:21:02,407 --> 00:21:08,635
Van Sant's film, My own private Idaho,"
was about this young narcoleptic hustler.
281
00:21:23,325 --> 00:21:26,416
To show what the hustler feels like
when he has an orgasm,
282
00:21:26,441 --> 00:21:30,490
Van Sant used the image
of a barn falling onto a road.
283
00:21:30,820 --> 00:21:34,755
Seldom had a sex scene been
pictured so imaginatively.
284
00:21:34,983 --> 00:21:42,330
I think when I was a painter
and I think by the time I stopped painting,
285
00:21:42,356 --> 00:21:45,738
the last thing
I was painting were these landscapes.
286
00:21:45,763 --> 00:21:50,228
And definitely in My own private Idaho
for instance,
287
00:21:50,253 --> 00:21:56,285
the whole barn crashing into the landscape
was literally from one of the paintings.
288
00:21:59,147 --> 00:22:04,606
The film was full of empty landscape shots,
golden light, the open road.
289
00:22:04,631 --> 00:22:07,646
Van Sant had intended
to shoot other images,
290
00:22:07,671 --> 00:22:11,425
and use them to show what the hustler
felt as he lost consciousness,
291
00:22:11,466 --> 00:22:14,152
but he didn't
have time to film them.
292
00:22:14,550 --> 00:22:18,840
But we did have the one image
of the barn falling.
293
00:22:18,865 --> 00:22:24,655
So, since I had this, like,
singular image, which was somewhat like,
294
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:30,401
I guess, the singular image in The Shining,
of the blood coming out of the elevator.
295
00:22:37,884 --> 00:22:41,343
It was this one stand-alone special effect
that was really beautiful.
296
00:22:41,368 --> 00:22:46,382
So, we tried it just right
in the middle of his orgasm
297
00:22:46,408 --> 00:22:50,365
because it was another kind
of falling, you know, I think.
298
00:22:52,595 --> 00:22:54,974
Van Sant's signature film,
Elephant,
299
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,507
was also about
the fall from grace of young men.
300
00:22:58,533 --> 00:23:03,634
No movie of the '90s was more
complexly connected to film history.
301
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:11,182
Elephant was a response
to the shootings at a school in Columbine.
302
00:23:16,118 --> 00:23:20,507
The film's shot
in the unfashionable, 4x3 screen ratio.
303
00:23:20,532 --> 00:23:23,795
Van Sant follows
young men with a steadicam.
304
00:23:23,820 --> 00:23:25,602
There's little dialogue.
305
00:23:25,627 --> 00:23:27,657
The violence is unexplained.
306
00:23:35,078 --> 00:23:38,673
Fourteen years earlier,
the British director, Alan Clarke,
307
00:23:38,698 --> 00:23:42,720
made a film called Elephant, which used
steadicam to show the driven,
308
00:23:42,746 --> 00:23:46,961
almost trance-like walking
of gunmen in northern Ireland.
309
00:23:59,091 --> 00:24:03,477
HBO was the only company
that was interested in not making
310
00:24:03,502 --> 00:24:06,878
Columbine, but they were
interested in making Elephant
311
00:24:06,903 --> 00:24:09,113
and they were referring
to the Alan Clarke film.
312
00:24:09,138 --> 00:24:14,368
So it became known
to us as Elephant,
313
00:24:14,393 --> 00:24:20,819
because of that label and I think
it was a sort of similar statement
314
00:24:20,844 --> 00:24:27,618
it was a very abstract
statement about Columbine.
315
00:24:31,798 --> 00:24:34,115
The constant walking
in Clarke's Elephant,
316
00:24:34,140 --> 00:24:38,377
influenced the forward walking
in real time, without much cutting,
317
00:24:38,402 --> 00:24:42,919
in Van Sant's Elephant,
and in his earlier movie, Gerry.
318
00:24:42,944 --> 00:24:46,211
These films felt, in some way,
like video games,
319
00:24:46,237 --> 00:24:49,350
which became
a new influence on '90s cinema.
320
00:24:49,375 --> 00:24:53,084
This one, Tomb Raider,
with its image tracking forward
321
00:24:53,109 --> 00:24:57,629
to follow the main character, from place
to place, was particularly popular.
322
00:24:57,654 --> 00:25:02,949
Yeah, the videogame aspect is,
including "Gerry" and "Last Days,"
323
00:25:02,975 --> 00:25:05,741
is coming from video games.
324
00:25:05,767 --> 00:25:10,138
Me playing video games
was an effort for me to understand
325
00:25:10,164 --> 00:25:13,770
what was going on
with the Columbine characters
326
00:25:13,795 --> 00:25:16,483
because it was said
that they had played video games
327
00:25:16,508 --> 00:25:18,663
and so I didn't know
what they were.
328
00:25:18,688 --> 00:25:22,023
And I had a computer
and my assistant said,
329
00:25:22,048 --> 00:25:25,817
"oh, well you can download
the first level of 'Tomb Raider, '"
330
00:25:25,842 --> 00:25:28,128
and I was like, "what's 'Tomb Raider?'"
and he said,
331
00:25:28,153 --> 00:25:30,036
"oh, that's just like a game, you know?
332
00:25:30,061 --> 00:25:31,348
There's lots of different games."
333
00:25:31,373 --> 00:25:35,460
I said, "oh there's different ones?"
Like, I didn't know anything about it.
334
00:25:35,485 --> 00:25:39,611
They were playing "Doom,"
which is a different game,
335
00:25:39,636 --> 00:25:42,219
but I guess you couldn't find "Doom"
on the computer
336
00:25:43,189 --> 00:25:47,851
so I started playing "Tomb Raider"
and became very, you know, amused by it,
337
00:25:46,673 --> 00:25:55,791
and occupied by it in the way people
do become occupied by video games.
338
00:25:55,817 --> 00:26:00,109
And so the video games
were also informing.
339
00:26:00,111 --> 00:26:03,754
Video games are often doing
what we were doing in "Gerry."
340
00:26:03,780 --> 00:26:07,624
To get from point a to point b
you have to actually travel there.
341
00:26:07,630 --> 00:26:10,151
You can't cut like in cinema.
342
00:26:10,177 --> 00:26:11,821
You cut to the new location.
343
00:26:11,823 --> 00:26:14,002
You actually, like, walk.
344
00:26:14,004 --> 00:26:17,225
Like in reality.
345
00:26:24,004 --> 00:26:29,252
Because of that I started thinking
about like, cinema like that.
346
00:26:34,807 --> 00:26:38,542
And if the influences on Van Sant
weren't already rich enough,
347
00:26:38,567 --> 00:26:42,405
he then saw the brilliant
Hungarian films of Béla Tarr.
348
00:26:43,029 --> 00:26:46,433
Tarr's Sátántangó shows the beauty
of walking too,
349
00:26:46,459 --> 00:26:51,198
the epic forward camera moves,
and the expressionism of blowing litter.
350
00:26:56,366 --> 00:27:00,210
Compare this
to Van Sant's film, Gerry.
351
00:27:08,318 --> 00:27:10,552
But this obsession
with the beauty of walking,
352
00:27:10,578 --> 00:27:14,541
moving through space in real time,
couldn't be applied to another
353
00:27:14,566 --> 00:27:17,261
Van Sant film, Last Days,
354
00:27:17,286 --> 00:27:21,016
which was inspired by the death
of rock star Kurt Cobain.
355
00:27:21,041 --> 00:27:29,880
We had made "Elephant", which
was very long, pensive, travelling shots
356
00:27:29,905 --> 00:27:36,335
down the hallways of the high-school,
that recalled Béla's work.
357
00:27:36,362 --> 00:27:41,705
And we had... Now we're in a house
which had no expansive hallways.
358
00:27:41,730 --> 00:27:45,859
And so our DP, sort of like thought
of "Jeanne Dielman" and thought
359
00:27:45,884 --> 00:27:50,398
maybe we should think in terms
of that rather than travelling shots.
360
00:27:50,425 --> 00:27:53,368
Maybe, you know,
maybe more fixed shots which we did.
361
00:27:54,411 --> 00:27:57,662
Jeanne Dielman
is full of such fixed shots.
362
00:27:57,686 --> 00:28:00,908
It's this Belgian film by
Chantal Akerman.
363
00:28:00,934 --> 00:28:06,429
Akerman films square on,
in kitchens and domestic settings.
364
00:28:06,454 --> 00:28:11,460
Some of the shots of the rock star
in Last Days are remarkably similar.
365
00:28:35,940 --> 00:28:38,694
- "Jeanne Dielman" is one
of my favorite films
366
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:40,917
and, in fact, in this documentary that
we're making, in our section on Ozu...
367
00:28:40,942 --> 00:28:41,979
- Right, right.
368
00:28:42,005 --> 00:28:43,917
We put in a bit of Dielman
because the camera is as low as in Ozu.
369
00:28:43,943 --> 00:28:44,335
Yeah.
370
00:28:44,361 --> 00:28:51,365
Ozu was also on our minds,
and because of the...
371
00:28:51,390 --> 00:28:54,444
Where you have your camera
now, I mean, it was,
372
00:28:54,469 --> 00:28:58,455
you know, however many...
30 inches off the ground.
373
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:03,602
I think it was, like,
a 40-millimeter lens, and so, yeah.
374
00:29:03,627 --> 00:29:07,393
We always had it like,
you know, 36 inches off the ground
375
00:29:07,419 --> 00:29:12,007
and it was always
a 35-millimeter lens.
376
00:29:12,032 --> 00:29:16,546
But not even Van Sant's close reworking
of Ozu and European cinema
377
00:29:16,571 --> 00:29:21,703
prepared us for this shot for shot remake
of Alfred Hitchcock's film, Psycho.
378
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,107
The original was based
on a true story.
379
00:29:25,132 --> 00:29:27,565
The remake was based on a film.
380
00:29:28,154 --> 00:29:31,649
Anne Heche was playing
not so much a real person,
381
00:29:31,675 --> 00:29:34,602
as a movie star
playing a real person.
382
00:29:34,627 --> 00:29:37,986
Welcome to the first days
of digital.
383
00:30:00,562 --> 00:30:06,049
Van Sant's movie departed from the original
only in tiny details, such as here,
384
00:30:06,074 --> 00:30:11,746
where he inserts unexpected shots of clouds
into the famous shower sequence.
385
00:30:19,019 --> 00:30:25,430
At the moment of death,
Van Sant's woman's pupil dilates.
386
00:30:46,412 --> 00:30:49,677
And in the '90s
you could show more nudity.
387
00:31:15,923 --> 00:31:20,166
Van Sant couldn't quite keep
his instinctive surrealism in check
388
00:31:20,192 --> 00:31:24,603
but, strangely, thinks his film
is very different from Hitchcock's.
389
00:31:24,614 --> 00:31:27,323
The intentions of the movie
was to see what would happen
390
00:31:27,348 --> 00:31:30,094
if you tried to, you know,
literally do the same thing.
391
00:31:30,217 --> 00:31:32,810
What did happen, and,
what I learned from it,
392
00:31:32,837 --> 00:31:37,339
was that even though
your camera angles are actually the same,
393
00:31:37,365 --> 00:31:43,145
the performances are close,
but the kind of intentions of the filmmaker
394
00:31:43,170 --> 00:31:45,973
and the soul
of the filmmaker is different.
395
00:31:45,999 --> 00:31:48,480
My "Psycho" became devoid of
396
00:31:48,506 --> 00:31:51,486
like some of the most important things
that were in the original
397
00:31:51,511 --> 00:31:57,859
which were these sort of dark,
underlying tensions.
398
00:31:57,886 --> 00:32:00,137
You know, in mine, it's...
399
00:32:00,163 --> 00:32:02,823
the dark underlying tensions
are kind of, like, not there.
400
00:32:02,849 --> 00:32:06,385
There's something else there
that doesn't really fit
401
00:32:06,410 --> 00:32:10,402
with what "Psycho" is,
so it kind of became a, you know,
402
00:32:10,427 --> 00:32:14,840
an example of like how you
can't really copy something.
403
00:32:14,865 --> 00:32:21,374
I think that... I think it's just
the way that I've been,
404
00:32:21,399 --> 00:32:28,042
you know, creating and relating
to film, structurally.
405
00:32:28,067 --> 00:32:35,048
As being a language all its own
406
00:32:35,074 --> 00:32:42,740
and being basically, the language itself,
being what the film is about, you know.
407
00:32:42,766 --> 00:32:44,803
What films are generally about.
408
00:32:44,828 --> 00:32:52,771
They can have subjects but in the end it's
the language that's the true subject.
409
00:32:55,849 --> 00:32:59,864
Jump from Gus Van Sant to this man
in the first days of digital,
410
00:32:59,889 --> 00:33:05,346
and you find someone pushing cinema
even further in the direction of art and ideas.
411
00:33:05,371 --> 00:33:09,325
The New York times called him,
"the greatest artist of his generation."
412
00:33:09,641 --> 00:33:11,904
Matthew Barney
used to be a sportsman.
413
00:33:11,929 --> 00:33:14,297
And just like sportsmen
work up a sweat,
414
00:33:14,322 --> 00:33:19,433
building their bodies, so Barney works
up a sweat making his films.
415
00:33:19,458 --> 00:33:22,690
Here he is doing something
like indoor rock climbing.
416
00:33:22,692 --> 00:33:24,664
But this is no ordinary scene.
417
00:33:24,689 --> 00:33:26,722
Barney's playing a character.
418
00:33:26,747 --> 00:33:30,199
An apprentice-artist,
working hard at his art.
419
00:33:30,224 --> 00:33:33,540
The film's called Cremaster,
after the cremaster muscle
420
00:33:33,566 --> 00:33:36,966
that makes
human testicles rise and fall.
421
00:33:36,991 --> 00:33:40,767
Barney rises,
but other things fall.
422
00:33:43,855 --> 00:33:46,852
And we're in the Guggenheim museum
in New York.
423
00:33:46,877 --> 00:33:50,426
In Barney's film,
it represents a human vagina,
424
00:33:50,451 --> 00:33:54,488
and New York's Chrysler
building represents a penis.
425
00:33:54,513 --> 00:33:58,705
Barney is dressed in Scottish tartan
because in 1992,
426
00:33:58,730 --> 00:34:02,356
he did a drawing of a bagpipe
with five pipes,
427
00:34:02,381 --> 00:34:05,986
each representing a place
where he would film.
428
00:34:06,011 --> 00:34:08,163
One of the places was New York.
429
00:34:08,188 --> 00:34:11,044
That's why we're here.
430
00:34:11,069 --> 00:34:14,616
Maybe this makes the film
sound overloaded with symbolism
431
00:34:14,641 --> 00:34:19,015
but it has the beauty and determination
of this silent comedy,
432
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,061
in which Harold Lloyd
climbs a building.
433
00:34:22,086 --> 00:34:24,790
Lloyd encounters obstacles too.
434
00:34:24,815 --> 00:34:30,552
His climb is a vertical storyline
of little incidents, like Barney's.
435
00:34:41,032 --> 00:34:44,135
Now Barney's apprentice has reached
the top of the Guggenheim,
436
00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:48,487
where we encounter his master,
the sculptor, Richard Serra.
437
00:34:48,513 --> 00:34:50,883
In dark clothes here,
438
00:34:50,932 --> 00:34:53,263
who's melting vaseline
which will trickle down
439
00:34:53,288 --> 00:34:55,169
the corkscrew of the building.
440
00:34:55,194 --> 00:34:57,171
Rise and fall.
441
00:34:57,196 --> 00:35:01,077
Barney the surrealist loves
the texture of vaseline.
442
00:35:14,822 --> 00:35:20,745
On lower levels we glimpse a punk band
who've impeded Barney's climb.
443
00:35:20,770 --> 00:35:25,677
The first days of digital were full of films
referring to other movies and ideas,
444
00:35:25,703 --> 00:35:29,105
but few looked from such
a great height as Barney's.
445
00:35:29,619 --> 00:35:31,865
There are five cremaster films.
446
00:35:31,867 --> 00:35:35,895
They're a movie world
all of their own.
447
00:35:42,404 --> 00:35:44,955
The coming of digital
and postmodernism in cinema
448
00:35:44,980 --> 00:35:49,401
made America in the '90s
fizz like lemonade,
449
00:35:49,426 --> 00:35:52,787
but the movies of the times
were innovative in another way.
450
00:35:52,812 --> 00:35:54,566
Through satire.
451
00:35:55,185 --> 00:35:58,421
Two of the ballsiest satires
of the late '80s and '90s
452
00:35:58,446 --> 00:36:03,416
were directed by Paul Verhoeven
and written by this man, Ed Neumeier,
453
00:36:03,441 --> 00:36:05,863
who's as hyperactive
and as full of ideas
454
00:36:05,889 --> 00:36:08,549
as his films, and his times.
455
00:36:08,573 --> 00:36:11,559
Their first collaboration
was Robocop.
456
00:36:11,585 --> 00:36:16,021
It was certainly a reaction
to what was in the Reagan era,
457
00:36:16,023 --> 00:36:19,146
particularly though...
it was a reaction to...
458
00:36:19,172 --> 00:36:23,189
There was in the '80s,
there was a period where businessmen...
459
00:36:23,215 --> 00:36:27,471
Japan was on the rise,
and businessmen started kind of reading
460
00:36:27,497 --> 00:36:30,709
those samurai books and talking
about themselves as killers.
461
00:36:30,735 --> 00:36:35,047
And so there was this notion
of trying to bring actual violence
462
00:36:35,073 --> 00:36:36,923
into the boardroom, as it were.
463
00:36:36,905 --> 00:36:39,445
That was part of the idea.
464
00:36:39,470 --> 00:36:43,770
You now have 15 seconds
to comply.
465
00:36:43,795 --> 00:36:47,815
Businessmen want to make money
by launching this new police robot.
466
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:50,093
It roars like a lion.
467
00:36:50,118 --> 00:36:52,609
We're in a typical
power boardroom.
468
00:36:52,634 --> 00:36:53,820
Fast cutting.
469
00:36:53,845 --> 00:36:55,857
Steely blue colors.
470
00:36:56,423 --> 00:37:00,012
I am now authorized
to use physical force.
471
00:37:13,327 --> 00:37:16,370
I had a theory,
which is not an original theory,
472
00:37:16,395 --> 00:37:19,997
that if you did something very violent
in a movie and then you told a joke,
473
00:37:20,022 --> 00:37:21,474
that you would use...
474
00:37:21,499 --> 00:37:24,584
The tension of the violence
would come out in the laugh.
475
00:37:24,696 --> 00:37:27,734
Can you pull the plug
on this thing?
476
00:37:27,759 --> 00:37:30,139
Don't touch him!
477
00:37:30,164 --> 00:37:32,470
Don't touch him!
478
00:37:32,495 --> 00:37:36,684
He didn't hear it!
479
00:37:36,709 --> 00:37:40,976
Dick, I'm very disappointed.
480
00:37:41,001 --> 00:37:42,651
I'm sure it's only a glitch.
481
00:37:42,676 --> 00:37:44,068
A temporary setback.
482
00:37:44,093 --> 00:37:46,314
You call this a glitch!?
483
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,846
But the businessmen try again
and come up
484
00:37:49,871 --> 00:37:52,869
with a more liberal
policing machine this time,
485
00:37:52,894 --> 00:37:56,126
a dead cop brought back
to life as Robocop.
486
00:37:56,151 --> 00:37:58,574
What their parents only read
about in comic books.
487
00:37:58,599 --> 00:37:59,817
Robo!
Excuse me, robo!
488
00:37:59,842 --> 00:38:04,408
Any special message
for all the kids watching at home?
489
00:38:04,434 --> 00:38:05,688
Stay out of trouble.
490
00:38:05,714 --> 00:38:09,757
Neumeier wrote scenes
that mocked the happy talk of TV news,
491
00:38:09,782 --> 00:38:12,540
the kind of satirical writing
that we saw in films
492
00:38:12,565 --> 00:38:16,475
like The Graduate
and Catch 22, written by Buck Henry.
493
00:38:16,501 --> 00:38:20,376
I think that people like Buck Henry
were luckier because
494
00:38:20,402 --> 00:38:23,673
they were working at a time
where you could be a little bit more free
495
00:38:23,698 --> 00:38:28,434
about making those kinds of comments
and being overtly satirical.
496
00:38:29,529 --> 00:38:33,607
We've also moved into an era
of marketing
497
00:38:33,632 --> 00:38:36,160
and sort of the corporate
blockbuster era
498
00:38:36,185 --> 00:38:39,411
where they're really going
for the widest possible audience.
499
00:38:39,412 --> 00:38:42,808
They want what they call "four quadrants,"
they want everybody to like the picture
500
00:38:42,834 --> 00:38:44,663
and they want them to like it
all over the world,
501
00:38:44,688 --> 00:38:47,050
almost regardless of culture.
502
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:52,317
Ten years after Robocop,
503
00:38:52,342 --> 00:38:56,471
Neumeier penned this even
more satirical postmodern film,
504
00:38:56,497 --> 00:38:59,383
which was based
on a rabidly right-wing novel
505
00:38:59,408 --> 00:39:03,182
about the threat
to humans by alien bugs.
506
00:39:06,653 --> 00:39:09,951
The battle scenes were
as exciting as Star Wars.
507
00:39:09,976 --> 00:39:13,196
The bugs were
entirely computer generated.
508
00:39:17,268 --> 00:39:22,170
The look was bright and shiny,
the sound track was explosive.
509
00:39:29,883 --> 00:39:33,385
That scene where Johnny walks in,
Johnny Rico walks in
510
00:39:33,410 --> 00:39:39,688
to the brain bug cavern
and confronts the brain bug, is, you know,
511
00:39:39,713 --> 00:39:44,226
that's every American,
maybe not just American,
512
00:39:44,251 --> 00:39:47,360
but that's every soldier
in the world coming in saying,
513
00:39:47,385 --> 00:39:50,735
"yeah, you may be smart,
but I got a gun," you know?
514
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:53,827
And "now who's smart?"
515
00:39:55,126 --> 00:39:59,346
Do you know what this is?
516
00:39:59,372 --> 00:40:01,441
Sure you do.
517
00:40:01,466 --> 00:40:07,126
You're some kind of big, fat,
smart bug aren't you?
518
00:40:07,128 --> 00:40:09,396
But the politics
of Starship Troopers
519
00:40:09,421 --> 00:40:12,485
went deeper than making fun
of macho soldiers
520
00:40:12,510 --> 00:40:14,963
and came from a surprising source.
521
00:40:14,988 --> 00:40:19,591
Paul said, “oh I've always
wanted to make this movie set
522
00:40:19,617 --> 00:40:24,073
in Germany in 1935
and it's about a bunch of teenagers.
523
00:40:24,098 --> 00:40:28,771
And they're all coming into their life,
and its exciting time,
524
00:40:28,797 --> 00:40:32,521
and things are happening in the country,
and everybody's joining the Nazi party.”
525
00:40:32,547 --> 00:40:36,142
And the thing that he thought,
that what was amusing to him
526
00:40:36,168 --> 00:40:38,572
was he said,
“and nobody knew it was wrong.”
527
00:40:38,597 --> 00:40:41,144
And I said to him, "oh, they'll
never let us do that!"
528
00:40:41,169 --> 00:40:46,304
In Hollywood, a real story
about 1935 Nazi Germany, you know.
529
00:40:46,331 --> 00:40:49,507
Young Nazi's who before
they know they're bad.
530
00:40:49,509 --> 00:40:51,712
But that's
where Starship came in.
531
00:40:51,738 --> 00:40:56,519
It's about, oh, I guess,
it was about 5 years later I thought,
532
00:40:56,521 --> 00:40:58,763
“oh, you could do that with this.”
533
00:41:00,726 --> 00:41:02,158
Officer on deck.
534
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:04,177
Carry on.
535
00:41:04,203 --> 00:41:06,216
Varial detail.
536
00:41:06,218 --> 00:41:06,758
Dismissed.
537
00:41:06,783 --> 00:41:08,788
I think some people
consider it camp.
538
00:41:08,813 --> 00:41:11,895
And what Paul and I
decided to do was
539
00:41:11,929 --> 00:41:14,157
we decided not to tell anybody
what we were doing.
540
00:41:14,182 --> 00:41:16,784
We decided never, ever let on,
"oh yeah, these are the bad guys,
541
00:41:16,810 --> 00:41:19,173
these are the good guys,"
whatever.
542
00:41:19,198 --> 00:41:21,523
We just played it straight
down the middle.
543
00:41:21,548 --> 00:41:24,529
We sort of tip our hand
in the third act
544
00:41:24,555 --> 00:41:27,605
where Neil Patrick Harris comes
out in a Nazi uniform.
545
00:41:27,630 --> 00:41:30,700
And that was a bit
of a controversial decision
546
00:41:30,725 --> 00:41:34,733
because originally you were supposed
to understand that through his speech only.
547
00:41:34,758 --> 00:41:36,856
He makes a speech
about numbers and this and that
548
00:41:36,882 --> 00:41:38,314
and "i have to kill
people every day."
549
00:41:38,339 --> 00:41:39,984
It's a very fascistic idea.
550
00:41:41,308 --> 00:41:42,782
You don't approve?
551
00:41:42,807 --> 00:41:44,414
Well too bad.
552
00:41:44,439 --> 00:41:46,795
We're in this for the species,
boys and girls.
553
00:41:46,820 --> 00:41:47,783
It's simple numbers.
554
00:41:47,808 --> 00:41:48,868
They have more.
555
00:41:48,893 --> 00:41:50,884
And every day I have
to make decisions
556
00:41:50,909 --> 00:41:53,612
that send hundreds of people
like you to their deaths.
557
00:41:53,637 --> 00:41:56,134
Didn't they tell you, colonel?
558
00:41:56,159 --> 00:41:58,067
That's what
the mobile infantry's good for.
559
00:41:58,539 --> 00:42:01,488
Later I think we both decided
that that was,
560
00:42:01,513 --> 00:42:04,714
to make sure you got it,
that that was really the moment.
561
00:42:04,715 --> 00:42:06,902
And I think the audience
doesn't like that moment.
562
00:42:06,928 --> 00:42:09,782
I remember being in a preview
with...
563
00:42:09,807 --> 00:42:13,933
In the bathroom afterwards
when all these young men were coming in,
564
00:42:13,958 --> 00:42:16,386
they'd seen the picture
and they were kind of upset
565
00:42:16,410 --> 00:42:19,626
because this was a picture
they wanted to embrace
566
00:42:19,652 --> 00:42:24,970
but something in that ending had said,
no, maybe these aren't your heroes
567
00:42:24,995 --> 00:42:27,823
or maybe there's something...
I think it put a little bit of doubt
568
00:42:27,849 --> 00:42:30,367
into them about it or something like that.
I don't know.
569
00:42:30,702 --> 00:42:31,939
Whatcha thinking, colonel?
570
00:42:32,294 --> 00:42:36,744
This is the ending that Neumeier mentions,
filmed in golden hues.
571
00:42:36,769 --> 00:42:38,615
The enemy is humiliated.
572
00:42:38,641 --> 00:42:39,943
Tied up.
573
00:42:39,945 --> 00:42:42,966
It has a doleful look.
574
00:42:50,321 --> 00:42:52,042
It's afraid.
575
00:42:53,164 --> 00:42:56,029
It's afraid!
576
00:42:56,522 --> 00:42:59,460
Triumphal music begins to play.
577
00:43:01,877 --> 00:43:04,988
Science fiction particularly
allows you to do things politically
578
00:43:05,013 --> 00:43:05,967
that you wouldn't do...
579
00:43:05,992 --> 00:43:08,891
That might not be accepted
as easily if you did them straight
580
00:43:08,915 --> 00:43:11,877
because it's not here,
it's slightly over here.
581
00:43:11,903 --> 00:43:14,562
It's a little bit skewed
and I think humor does the same thing.
582
00:43:14,588 --> 00:43:16,922
And if you add them together
in the right way
583
00:43:16,947 --> 00:43:21,074
then you can probably get away
with murder if you want.
584
00:43:21,928 --> 00:43:25,681
Neumeier and Verhoeven combine
science fiction and politics
585
00:43:25,706 --> 00:43:30,496
to create the spiciest entertainment
cinema of their times.
586
00:43:36,078 --> 00:43:39,361
On the other side of the world
from America in the '90s,
587
00:43:39,386 --> 00:43:44,638
in Australia and New Zealand, at first
it looks like the big trends of the time,
588
00:43:44,664 --> 00:43:50,386
digital, post modernism,
and satire, were having no impact.
589
00:43:50,412 --> 00:43:53,039
This New Zealand director,
Jane Campion,
590
00:43:53,064 --> 00:43:56,543
emphasizes one of the timeless themes
in the story of film,
591
00:43:56,567 --> 00:44:01,884
that to make great movies you must
get your unconscious juices flowing.
592
00:44:01,911 --> 00:44:06,133
The unconscious mind is
a little bit like a quite shy pet.
593
00:44:06,159 --> 00:44:12,012
And you have to set conditions
where it trusts
594
00:44:12,037 --> 00:44:15,778
that if it comes out and plays
you'll feed it, you'll pay attention to it,
595
00:44:15,804 --> 00:44:19,139
you won't ignore it,
you won't scare it.
596
00:44:19,165 --> 00:44:24,639
So, like, when I first started writing,
one of the things that I realized
597
00:44:24,666 --> 00:44:26,943
was that, you know, like,
for the first, like,
598
00:44:26,968 --> 00:44:32,985
3 hours when you sit down to something,
you know, nothing really happens.
599
00:44:33,010 --> 00:44:36,733
It's like it's testing you:
Will you stay for that fourth hour?
600
00:44:36,758 --> 00:44:39,966
I always thought...
I always think, you have to create
601
00:44:39,991 --> 00:44:42,760
a very safe environment,
you know, personally for yourself.
602
00:44:42,786 --> 00:44:48,238
And also, I think, when you collaborate
with actors and people like that too.
603
00:44:48,264 --> 00:44:51,437
Their unconscious selves,
you know, which you want to get into play
604
00:44:51,463 --> 00:44:53,643
because that's where the genius is.
605
00:44:53,669 --> 00:44:58,090
It's also shy, it's when
you know it's going to be safe.
606
00:44:58,115 --> 00:44:59,913
Once all the signs, you know?
607
00:44:59,938 --> 00:45:01,764
That, you can make mistakes,
it doesn't matter,
608
00:45:01,789 --> 00:45:04,293
you can be a fool,
it doesn't matter.
609
00:45:04,318 --> 00:45:07,613
We're here to play really.
You know?
610
00:45:09,955 --> 00:45:12,627
Campion's great film
An Angel at my Table,
611
00:45:12,652 --> 00:45:14,768
is about this very thing.
612
00:45:14,793 --> 00:45:18,169
A shy young woman
with a lively unconscious mind,
613
00:45:18,194 --> 00:45:21,909
Janet Frame,
doesn't feel safe in the world.
614
00:45:21,934 --> 00:45:24,138
Frame's training
to be a teacher.
615
00:45:24,163 --> 00:45:28,526
The whole class is looking,
and so is the training assessor.
616
00:45:33,802 --> 00:45:37,799
In this moment, Frame freezes,
has a panic attack.
617
00:45:37,824 --> 00:45:43,163
Campion and actress, Kerry Fox,
focused the scene on a piece of chalk.
618
00:45:43,188 --> 00:45:45,842
Campion has it filmed
in close-up.
619
00:45:58,668 --> 00:46:01,665
I didn't know why, "that will work",
that's what I thought, "that will work."
620
00:46:01,691 --> 00:46:03,262
I was looking for something,
you know.
621
00:46:03,288 --> 00:46:05,090
I have to admit that when I
was doing that I was going:
622
00:46:05,115 --> 00:46:06,972
"Well what's going
to make her turn," you know?
623
00:46:06,997 --> 00:46:09,569
How can we visually
kind of do something with it?
624
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:16,693
And then just the idea
that I guess her world
625
00:46:16,718 --> 00:46:20,278
kind of crunched
into that piece of chalk.
626
00:46:26,471 --> 00:46:29,291
I like to be able to say,
"look, I'm really, "
627
00:46:29,316 --> 00:46:34,183
if I need to, " I'm confused
about what to do next."
628
00:46:34,208 --> 00:46:38,169
You know, I'm not really sure we've got
this scene or I'm not feeling the drama.
629
00:46:38,195 --> 00:46:40,604
It's all about a feeling for me,
again, you know.
630
00:46:40,629 --> 00:46:43,646
If I'm feeling it through my body,
I can feel it if it's happening
631
00:46:43,671 --> 00:46:47,041
and if it's not you have to say
something, because you can't pretend.
632
00:46:47,066 --> 00:46:47,679
You know?
633
00:46:47,705 --> 00:46:50,731
You've got to kind
of explore it.
634
00:46:50,756 --> 00:46:55,034
I think one of the things
I believe is that you have to be
635
00:46:55,060 --> 00:46:58,615
strong about vulnerability,
you know, like, stand up for it.
636
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,835
And stand up for gentleness
and softness
637
00:47:01,860 --> 00:47:06,924
'cause I think they're
really powerful qualities.
638
00:47:06,949 --> 00:47:11,547
And...'Cause I think, you know,
the so called "bluff leadership"
639
00:47:11,572 --> 00:47:15,380
qualities of you know,
megaphone type voice on set,
640
00:47:15,405 --> 00:47:20,975
isn't really helpful when it comes for,
you know, actors feeling anxious and nervous
641
00:47:20,999 --> 00:47:26,056
and trying to make themselves vulnerable
because they're trying to find their channel too.
642
00:47:26,082 --> 00:47:28,347
You know, trust their instrument
and if they,
643
00:47:28,372 --> 00:47:31,743
"everybody! Okay! One, two, three. Off you
go, argh, argh, argh." You know?
644
00:47:31,768 --> 00:47:33,709
It doesn't respond.
645
00:47:33,734 --> 00:47:42,287
So I always try to create a really
relaxing and forgiving atmosphere.
646
00:47:49,996 --> 00:47:54,086
Campion's film, The Piano,
used very subjective images and sounds
647
00:47:54,111 --> 00:47:57,864
to suggest the inner world
of a girl who's growing up.
648
00:47:58,318 --> 00:48:00,699
Here the child is looking
through her fingers.
649
00:48:00,701 --> 00:48:04,873
They look like red curtains
about to open onto life.
650
00:48:07,579 --> 00:48:11,828
The voice you hear
is not my speaking voice.
651
00:48:11,853 --> 00:48:14,665
But my mind's voice.
652
00:48:18,417 --> 00:48:21,337
I have not spoken
since I was 6 years old.
653
00:48:23,113 --> 00:48:27,142
No one knows why.
Not even me.
654
00:48:30,699 --> 00:48:33,306
The Piano is the only film
directed by a woman
655
00:48:33,331 --> 00:48:36,534
to win the Palme d'Or
at the Cannes film festival.
656
00:48:36,972 --> 00:48:41,042
The majority of, and the highest paid,
screenwriters in early Hollywood
657
00:48:41,067 --> 00:48:45,393
were women, but then
filmmaking became more male.
658
00:48:45,831 --> 00:48:50,628
Women make up about 50%
of the whole world,
659
00:48:50,653 --> 00:48:58,695
but there's only about 3%
of women who are directors
660
00:48:58,720 --> 00:49:03,428
or are actually
probably selecting content.
661
00:49:03,453 --> 00:49:07,744
And, you know, it just seems to
me really sad that...
662
00:49:07,769 --> 00:49:11,675
Because women's, I think, interests
are a lot more, a lot different
663
00:49:11,701 --> 00:49:19,131
than male interests in large, you know,
they're, I think, they're a lot more nurturing.
664
00:49:19,156 --> 00:49:21,948
They're much more orientated
to connection.
665
00:49:21,973 --> 00:49:25,670
And male interests are much more
interested in, sort of, building,
666
00:49:25,695 --> 00:49:29,081
identifying their, sort of,
blustering egos or whatever.
667
00:49:29,106 --> 00:49:34,139
Bombing things, blowing things up, being
strong men, Spiderman or whatever, you know?
668
00:49:34,164 --> 00:49:36,640
Which I don't think women do
and I think, you know,
669
00:49:36,665 --> 00:49:39,552
what's important is to try
and not change the guys.
670
00:49:39,577 --> 00:49:41,429
I mean, I think it's fun
what they do but to,
671
00:49:41,454 --> 00:49:45,365
sort of, get the balance, you
know, have what women do.
672
00:49:45,391 --> 00:49:49,472
But because most of the men
run the business I think that's...
673
00:49:49,496 --> 00:49:53,102
They understand or identify much
better with what the male interests.
674
00:49:53,128 --> 00:49:59,965
But the audience is actually
probably more identifiably female.
675
00:49:59,990 --> 00:50:02,742
Sometimes one of the great
betrayals of the female
676
00:50:02,767 --> 00:50:06,366
is that they want to see
themselves through male eyes.
677
00:50:06,391 --> 00:50:09,245
So they're very interested in
what men do too.
678
00:50:10,503 --> 00:50:14,221
If Jane Campion was the Ingmar Bergman
of Australasian cinema,
679
00:50:14,246 --> 00:50:17,100
making films about
intense human psychology,
680
00:50:17,126 --> 00:50:21,530
this man, Baz Luhrmann was
its flamboyant Vincent Minnelli.
681
00:50:30,031 --> 00:50:33,114
Campion's films could have been made
in the 1920s
682
00:50:33,139 --> 00:50:37,850
but Luhrmann's bring us
carousing back into the postmodern '90s.
683
00:50:38,078 --> 00:50:41,976
Baz Luhrmann defined
the first days of digital.
684
00:50:42,001 --> 00:50:45,535
Like the man himself,
his films are a meteor shower
685
00:50:45,561 --> 00:50:49,379
of references to everything
from Shakespeare to Bollywood.
686
00:50:49,404 --> 00:50:52,819
Shakespeare and Bollywood cinema
had something in common
687
00:50:52,844 --> 00:50:58,133
and what they had in common
was the blindness to taste
688
00:50:58,159 --> 00:51:04,320
or style or any of those imposed...
Posed ideals about art.
689
00:51:04,345 --> 00:51:08,471
What they were singularly focused on
was the engagement
690
00:51:08,496 --> 00:51:14,220
of as many human beings as possible,
from as many types of humanity,
691
00:51:14,245 --> 00:51:17,812
to be moved
and touched by story.
692
00:51:17,837 --> 00:51:22,686
To deliver a big idea, a big idea
through an emotional experience.
693
00:51:23,845 --> 00:51:26,502
Luhrmann used
these all-encompassing ideas
694
00:51:26,527 --> 00:51:31,172
about emotion and art,
what he called participatory cinema,
695
00:51:31,197 --> 00:51:33,962
to make one of the key films
of the '90s,
696
00:51:33,987 --> 00:51:37,965
his hyperactive version of
Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."
697
00:51:37,990 --> 00:51:43,751
Captions, fireworks,
splintered edits, flash forwards, choirs.
698
00:51:50,411 --> 00:51:52,858
A dog of the house of Capulet!
699
00:51:52,883 --> 00:51:57,196
Shakespeare starts "Romeo and Juliet'
with very broad, high comedy.
700
00:51:57,221 --> 00:51:59,029
You know?
Standup routine, really.
701
00:51:59,054 --> 00:52:01,214
You know?
Almost addressed to camera.
702
00:52:01,238 --> 00:52:05,518
You know? But it had to be broad,
it had to be fun, it had to be standup.
703
00:52:05,544 --> 00:52:07,836
Right? To engage the audience,
to disarm all of them,
704
00:52:07,861 --> 00:52:11,666
before he suddenly goes:
Enter the romantic lead.
705
00:52:12,273 --> 00:52:13,455
Romeo.
706
00:52:14,772 --> 00:52:19,764
Leonardo DiCaprio, back lit,
at sunrise, long lens.
707
00:52:23,364 --> 00:52:26,507
In the text the boys meet
in the town square.
708
00:52:26,534 --> 00:52:29,174
We're now transporting
"Romeo and Juliet"
709
00:52:29,199 --> 00:52:32,021
to a contemporary world
that is Miami life,
710
00:52:32,046 --> 00:52:34,337
where religion and politics
are mixed up with each other.
711
00:52:34,363 --> 00:52:38,597
There is no town square
in an American contemporary city.
712
00:52:38,599 --> 00:52:40,308
But there is a gas station.
713
00:52:40,310 --> 00:52:43,679
Because everybody, they don't ride horses,
they drive in trucks and cars.
714
00:52:43,705 --> 00:52:45,642
Where do those cars meet?
At the gas station.
715
00:52:45,644 --> 00:52:47,958
Where is the town square?
The gas station.
716
00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:51,860
What if we ironically quote
the world of cinema?
717
00:52:51,886 --> 00:52:56,039
What if it is like a Sergio Leone,
you know, piece of cinema?
718
00:52:56,065 --> 00:52:58,176
And what if it's like a western?
719
00:52:58,202 --> 00:52:58,696
Right?
720
00:52:58,697 --> 00:53:00,374
That would be a good way
of doing that.
721
00:53:00,376 --> 00:53:08,322
Sergio Leone shootout meets the town
square gas station in high comedy style.
722
00:53:08,347 --> 00:53:10,513
Whether you think
we've done it well or not,
723
00:53:10,538 --> 00:53:13,405
if you look at that sequence
I think you can see
724
00:53:13,430 --> 00:53:18,663
that that set of choices
has at least led to that result.
725
00:53:18,688 --> 00:53:21,544
Whether you agree with it or not,
that's how we got there.
726
00:53:21,569 --> 00:53:26,345
I will bite my thumb at them
which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.
727
00:53:32,344 --> 00:53:35,231
Shakespeare's exact comic dialogue.
728
00:53:35,256 --> 00:53:38,275
But his swords are guns here.
729
00:53:44,591 --> 00:53:48,490
And knights have become
street kids in Hawaiian shirts.
730
00:53:48,493 --> 00:53:49,498
I do bite my thumb, sir.
731
00:53:49,500 --> 00:53:52,059
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
732
00:53:52,084 --> 00:53:53,852
Is the law of our side,
if I say aye?
733
00:53:53,877 --> 00:53:54,620
No.
734
00:53:54,645 --> 00:53:57,899
No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you,
sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.
735
00:53:57,924 --> 00:53:58,791
Do you quarrel, sir?
736
00:53:58,816 --> 00:54:00,069
Quarrel, sir!
737
00:54:00,094 --> 00:54:00,913
No, sir.
738
00:54:00,938 --> 00:54:04,022
But if you do, sir, I am for you:
I serve as good a man as you.
739
00:54:04,055 --> 00:54:04,969
No better?
740
00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:08,727
A Sergio Leone gunfight shot
in close-up.
741
00:54:08,752 --> 00:54:11,105
A track in.
742
00:54:11,131 --> 00:54:13,150
Draw, if you be men!
743
00:54:15,919 --> 00:54:16,720
Part, fools!
744
00:54:16,746 --> 00:54:18,363
You know not what you do.
745
00:54:18,455 --> 00:54:23,643
A Leone widescreen composition
and the pan pipe music from his films.
746
00:54:25,671 --> 00:54:28,911
One of Luhrmann's biggest challenges
in the film was how to stage,
747
00:54:28,936 --> 00:54:31,472
in an innovative way,
the famous scene
748
00:54:31,497 --> 00:54:34,655
where Romeo and Juliet
meet for the first time.
749
00:54:35,774 --> 00:54:39,700
The audience know
this is going to happen.
750
00:54:39,725 --> 00:54:46,895
How can it happen a way
in which their delicious expectation
751
00:54:46,921 --> 00:54:49,704
and enjoyment of,
"it's going to happen,"
752
00:54:49,729 --> 00:54:52,291
can be suspended so that,
when it happens,
753
00:54:52,316 --> 00:54:56,744
it's a surprise that they knew
was going to happen.
754
00:54:56,989 --> 00:54:58,442
It was so perplexing.
755
00:54:58,466 --> 00:55:01,761
We were in Miami
and this is, I suppose,
756
00:55:01,787 --> 00:55:05,766
the spontaneous,
artistic, creative bit of it.
757
00:55:08,093 --> 00:55:12,417
That night we went out to dinner
and there was a nightclub.
758
00:55:12,442 --> 00:55:14,763
What happened was
I went to the bathroom.
759
00:55:14,788 --> 00:55:16,666
And I was thinking
about the problem.
760
00:55:16,691 --> 00:55:18,273
I go into the bathroom,
I'm thinking about the problem,
761
00:55:18,298 --> 00:55:24,735
and as I am down washing my hands I look
up and can see a girl's hair.
762
00:55:24,735 --> 00:55:29,070
And I look and I think,
"this is the most brilliant thing."
763
00:55:29,095 --> 00:55:33,323
It's the anti-chamber
of the girl's bathroom.
764
00:55:33,348 --> 00:55:36,185
And after you come out of the bathroom,
like I was, you wash your hands,
765
00:55:36,210 --> 00:55:41,848
you comb your hair and there's a fish tank
dividing the boy and the girl's anti-chamber.
766
00:55:43,520 --> 00:55:46,908
And it was as simple as going:
"That's it! That's the moment."
767
00:55:46,933 --> 00:55:49,347
And that's where it came from.
768
00:56:13,052 --> 00:56:19,030
So it was a combination
of extremely academic work,
769
00:56:19,055 --> 00:56:25,070
followed by methodology, just work,
labor, process, and
770
00:56:25,095 --> 00:56:33,167
I think maybe being open
to the world around us, and luck.
771
00:56:35,299 --> 00:56:38,833
So that's how it happened,
that was that one.
772
00:56:42,975 --> 00:56:48,352
Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge" took his ideas
about innovative cinema even further.
773
00:56:48,377 --> 00:56:50,921
At the start of the film,
the camera sweeps
774
00:56:50,946 --> 00:56:56,335
through model and computer generated shots
of the gray, dank alleyways of Paris,
775
00:56:56,360 --> 00:56:59,207
and then swoops up
to the garret of a poet.
776
00:57:11,434 --> 00:57:15,661
His face tear stained
because he has loved and lost
777
00:57:15,686 --> 00:57:17,698
a beautiful courtesan.
778
00:57:18,336 --> 00:57:22,093
Then we flash back
to the famous nightclub, the Moulin Rouge,
779
00:57:22,119 --> 00:57:24,032
where the love story took place.
780
00:57:24,038 --> 00:57:30,741
It's a frenzied, red, Luhrmann world
of wild postmodern song, and love, and space.
781
00:57:30,766 --> 00:57:34,348
At one point the girls sing
"voulez-vous couchez avec moi?"
782
00:57:34,373 --> 00:57:38,213
from LaBelle's Lady Marmalade
whilst the men crash into
783
00:57:38,238 --> 00:57:41,617
the chorus of nirvana's,
"Smells like teen spirit."
784
00:58:23,847 --> 00:58:29,834
No-one in the world was mashing up
Sergio Leone, MTV, Hispanic telenovelas,
785
00:58:29,859 --> 00:58:33,993
fashion, cross-dressing,
and the kaleidoscopic cinema
786
00:58:34,017 --> 00:58:37,699
of '90s Hong Kong
with such aplomb.
787
00:58:37,726 --> 00:58:40,993
Reality had lost
its realness in Bazland.
788
00:58:40,994 --> 00:58:44,314
The very definition
of the first days of digital.
789
00:58:58,577 --> 00:59:01,388
Luhrmann called Strictly Ballroom,
Romeo + Juliet,
790
00:59:01,413 --> 00:59:04,314
and Moulin Rouge
the red curtain trilogy.
791
00:59:05,153 --> 00:59:08,928
To make them he set himself rules,
a kind of manifesto,
792
00:59:08,953 --> 00:59:13,012
that were almost the opposite
of Lars Von Trier's dogma rules,
793
00:59:13,037 --> 00:59:16,003
the other great
'90s movie manifesto.
794
00:59:16,028 --> 00:59:21,424
The first of Luhrmann's rules
was that we need to know the story upfront.
795
00:59:21,727 --> 00:59:22,417
You get the feeling...
796
00:59:22,442 --> 00:59:24,994
I mean, "Moulin Rouge" opens, I think,
with the opening line, it's something like,
797
00:59:25,020 --> 00:59:29,059
"the woman I loved is dead.
She was the star of the Moulin Rouge."
798
00:59:29,084 --> 00:59:31,595
"Romeo + Juliet" opens
with something like,
799
00:59:31,620 --> 00:59:37,379
"doth with their death
bury their parents strife."
800
00:59:37,404 --> 00:59:43,925
You are told right up front
that the lovers or a lover is going to die.
801
00:59:43,958 --> 00:59:49,698
And by the way, a recent epic, sort of,
participatory cinematic work
802
00:59:49,723 --> 00:59:53,790
in the beginning called, "Titanic,"
it's pretty clear in the beginning
803
00:59:53,815 --> 00:59:57,018
one of them's going to end up
below the waters.
804
00:59:57,043 --> 01:00:00,157
So, you... That's one rule:
You know where it's going to conclude.
805
01:00:00,183 --> 01:00:02,594
Two, in this red curtain trilogy,
806
01:00:02,619 --> 01:00:05,583
to keep the audience alive
and, by the way,
807
01:00:05,608 --> 01:00:06,675
it's kind of after the fact.
808
01:00:06,701 --> 01:00:08,930
I say you've got to have
a device, right?
809
01:00:08,955 --> 01:00:10,384
A distancing device.
810
01:00:10,409 --> 01:00:13,503
But really, why would you do
a musical without music?
811
01:00:13,505 --> 01:00:18,678
But essentially there's got to be something
that keeps the whole cinematic experience heightened.
812
01:00:18,703 --> 01:00:23,537
So you don't fall into, ever, a feeling
that it's somehow "keyhole."
813
01:00:23,562 --> 01:00:25,172
That's it's psychological.
814
01:00:25,197 --> 01:00:27,773
You know? In the case
of "Strictly Ballroom," you know?
815
01:00:27,799 --> 01:00:30,145
Even dramatic scenes
are danced out, you know?
816
01:00:30,147 --> 01:00:32,867
"Wes, come here!" You know?
It's dance.
817
01:00:32,892 --> 01:00:35,871
And "Romeo + Juliet" it's the
language, you know?
818
01:00:35,896 --> 01:00:39,071
"Do you bite your thumb
at me, sir?"
819
01:00:39,072 --> 01:00:42,095
And then "Moulin Rouge,"
of course, it's song, it's music.
820
01:00:42,121 --> 01:00:43,611
? I was made ?
821
01:00:43,637 --> 01:00:45,078
? for loving you, baby ?
822
01:00:45,079 --> 01:00:47,794
? you were made for loving me ?
823
01:00:47,796 --> 01:00:49,709
? the only way of lovin' me ?
824
01:00:49,711 --> 01:00:53,567
? baby, is to pay a lovely fee ?
825
01:00:53,569 --> 01:00:55,613
? just one night ?
826
01:00:55,616 --> 01:00:57,123
? just one night ?
827
01:00:57,125 --> 01:00:59,036
? there's no way ?
828
01:00:59,038 --> 01:01:00,749
? 'cause you can't pay ?
829
01:01:00,750 --> 01:01:04,069
? in the name of love ?
830
01:01:04,071 --> 01:01:05,212
? one night ?
831
01:01:05,214 --> 01:01:07,441
? in the name of love ?
832
01:01:07,467 --> 01:01:12,544
Visually this is pure romantic cinema:
moonlight, a rooftop tryst,
833
01:01:12,569 --> 01:01:15,941
reverse angle
editing, two shots.
834
01:01:15,966 --> 01:01:19,850
But the music is a wild '90s
mash up of pop songs,
835
01:01:19,875 --> 01:01:24,917
used almost like dialogue, as if reality
had been remixed by a DJ.
836
01:01:25,586 --> 01:01:30,630
? Don't leave me this way ?
837
01:01:30,655 --> 01:01:32,542
? you think that people ?
838
01:01:32,567 --> 01:01:34,415
? would have had enough ?
839
01:01:34,440 --> 01:01:37,570
? of silly love songs ?
840
01:01:37,595 --> 01:01:39,114
? I look around me ?
841
01:01:39,139 --> 01:01:42,575
? and I see it isn't so ?
842
01:01:42,802 --> 01:01:45,793
In this participatory cinema,
in particular, say, a musical,
843
01:01:45,818 --> 01:01:51,955
you need to know where it's heading
and you need the story to be extremely linear.
844
01:01:51,980 --> 01:01:55,784
One thing happens precisely
after the other, like math,
845
01:01:55,810 --> 01:01:59,088
so that you can save time,
so that you can take the human moment,
846
01:01:59,113 --> 01:02:04,342
"oh, I love you, I love you, I love you,"
which in a psychological scene might be,
847
01:02:04,367 --> 01:02:06,820
"you know, I really love you."
848
01:02:06,863 --> 01:02:13,779
And music, and the expression
of that could take an extra 3 minutes.
849
01:02:13,804 --> 01:02:21,698
And we could expand the emotional experience
of that beyond the reality in life.
850
01:02:21,724 --> 01:02:24,781
And that's where the romanticism
comes in is that we're making
851
01:02:24,806 --> 01:02:28,387
something that happens in life,
better than it is in life.
852
01:02:28,412 --> 01:02:29,944
Bigger than it is in life.
853
01:02:33,891 --> 01:02:36,247
Better and bigger than life.
854
01:02:36,273 --> 01:02:38,759
Exactly what many movie
makers aimed for
855
01:02:38,784 --> 01:02:42,064
in the last days of digital
at the end of the old millennium.
856
01:02:42,585 --> 01:02:45,853
The story of film was full
of the fizz and feedback
857
01:02:45,878 --> 01:02:49,534
of those days, and the rapture
of self-loss.
858
01:02:49,560 --> 01:02:53,487
But then came the 21st century.
76921
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