For my final paper,I have decided to write about Sean Baker’s Tangerine, a 2015 film that follows a transgender sex worker, and gives us a peek into the world of sex work in the trans community. The film explores themes of transphobia, infidelity, drugs, and the sex industry. It was shot entirely on 3 iPhone 5s’s. The film brings awareness and although is written in a comedic style, talks about very serious issues in the trans community. I believe it is under appreciated in the world of film and should be discussed far more.
Taxi Driver and The Searchers: Some Clips
Taxi Driver Opening Credits:
Taxi Driver: phone call to Betsy:
Taxi Driver: Travis builds a gun vise
Taxi Driver Climax (“Shooting Gallery”):
Taxi Driver conclusion:
The Searchers: “Let’s finish the job”:
The Searchers conclusion:
And for a couple of additional intertexts for Taxi Driver, here’s a link to Salvatore Giuliano and Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket (1959), which served as important point of reference for Paul Schrader.
Taxi Driver, Scorcese, and New Hollywood
Please feel free to share any comments or questions about Taxi Driver and/or the recommended screening this week: John Ford’s The Searchers (1956), available on reserve at the Hunter library or to rent on Amazon, etc. (You can also check out Scorcese’s talking about his first impressions of the film.)
In addition to the assigned readings this week—Chapters 17 and 19 from Sklar’s Movie-Made America and the excerpt from Amy Taubin’s Taxi Driver—I also wanted to pass along some additional reading on Scorcese’s film and this period in American cinema. In particular, I’d recommend Todd Berliner’s Hollywood Incoherent: Narration in Seventies Cinema (which includes this chapter on Taxi Driver), and this article on Scorcese’s use of cinematic intertexts. Those interested in learning more about some of the industrial, as well as aesthetic, contexts for the film might also want to consult Justin Wyatt’s chapter, “From Roadshowing to Saturation Release: Majors, Independents, and Marketing/Distribution Innovations.”
Finally, those eager to delve more deeply into this era in American filmmaking might be interested in this installment of the documentary series, The Story of Film, on American Cinema in the 70s (streaming on Kanopy). And of course, there are any number of other films from this period you might want to screen. In addition to touchstones like The Graduate, Easy Rider, and Bonnie and Clyde, check out this great BFI list highlighting “One great New Hollywood film for every year“(1967-1982).
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Fassbinder, and New German Cinema
In addition to sharing any thoughts you have about Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), please identify a particular shot or scene from the film that you’d like to discuss in class next week. (Hint: I’ve chosen my pick for the blog header image this week!) Feel free to include a screenshot in the comments below, or to come to class ready to share your selection (which, of course, can also be the subject of your one-pager.)
In the meantime, I also wanted to encourage everyone to watch the film that inspired Ali, Douglas Sirk’s 1955 melodrama All That Heaven Allows, before Friday’s class; it’s available on reserve in the Hunter library and to rent on Amazon, etc. You might also be interested to check out Criterion’s selection of New German Cinema, many of which are available to stream on Kanopy (including several of Fassbinder’s films), and to read the original Oberhausen Manifesto that inaugurated the movement.
Finally, in addition to the two required readings—Fassbinder’s interview with Norbert Sparrow and the essay by Shohini Chaudhuri—those curious to read more may want to check out Thomas Elsaesser’s book, New German Cinema, or the article by Judith Mayne, “Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul and Spectatorship.”
African Cinema: Djibril Diop Mambéty
Martin Scorcese on Senegalese Director Djibril Diop Mambéty and the importance of diversifying conventional narratives of world cinema:
And for those who are interested, you can find Mambéty’s New Wave-inspired film Touki-Bouki (1973) below, and his second feature, Hyenas (1992) on Kanopy:
Third Cinema: Some Examples
This week, you’ll be reading more about the theories of Third Cinema, which we can think about in relation to Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl. But for those who would like to consider further examples of Third Cinema in practice, here are some additional clips.
The first is from The Hour of the Furnaces (1968), directed by Argentine filmmakers Octavio Getino and Fernando Solanas, also the authors of your reading this week, “Towards a Third Cinema.” This is the first of three parts of the 218-minute-long work, which as I mentioned, just screened in its entirety at BAM, as part of their ongoing Black Skin, White Masks series:
And here’s a clip of the “slaughter sequence” in Sergei Eisenstein’s Strike (1925), an example of the kind of intellectual montage used in some instances of third cinema and an intertext of The Hour of the Furnaces:
Other important touchstones of third cinema from Latin America include Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil (1964), and Cuban director Tomas Gutiérrez Alea’s Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) (the latter, available on reserve at the Hunter library). For a more recent (if more problematic) iteration, you may also want to check out City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002).
Finally, there’s the indelible example of Gillo Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers (1966), about the Algerian War of Independence (trailer below):
European Art Cinema
Clips from some canonical examples of European art cinema.
- The introductory “dream sequence” from 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1962)
- An example of temps mort from Antonioni’s L’avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960), and
- Playing chess with death in The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957).
As you watch, think about how the films relate to Bordwell’s arguments about the distinctive aesthetics and narrative practices of art cinema. To what extent do these clips serve to substantiate or illustrate his theories (or not)?
Midterm Review Questions? Post Them Here!
Please use the comments to post questions about the midterm—and respond to your classmates’ questions! (As an incentive, you’ll receive a point on your midterm exam for every question you answer correctly, up to three points.)
As a reminder, I expect you to know the “terms” listed on the review sheet in relation to class screenings, readings, and lectures. (So, for instance, anything on the exam about the Paramount decree would come from what you read about it in Sklar’s book.) Both the review sheet and take-home assignment are on the “Assignments” page of the blog, if you lose your hard copies.
Breathless Clips
Some clips from Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)
The 1960s: Women’s Cinema, Counter Cinema
A clip from the Czech New Wave film, Daisies (Věra Chytilová, 1966):
Chantal Akerman’s short, Saute ma ville (Blow Up My Town) (1968):
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