elephant, some things just stick in your mind

young man gunned down out of focus

gus van sant editing elephant

images from gus van sant's elephant, 2003

cinematography by harris savides (with work like this, who needs contemporary popular photography?)
editing by gus van sant
sound design by leslie shatz with beethoven’s "für elise" & additional sound by hildegard westerkamp
the most beautiful film so far of the 21st century?
beauty and chaos.......

(fans of this should also see alan clark's film elephant, from which the title comes)



other things that have kept me busy lately:
(films)

-the bourne ultimatum, 2007 (d. paul greengrass) great photography by oliver wood
-vanishing point, 1971 (d. richard c. sarafian) dp. john a. alonzo, and that means darn good
-melvin and howard, 1980 (d. jonathan demme) essential
-the wind blows where it will, 2006 (d. kunal mehra) bressonian dvd sent to the offices of arthur o. memory
-sam fuller criterion set (i shot jesse james 1949, the baron of arizona 1950, steel helmut 1951) steel helmut was my favourite of the lot
-the face of another, 1966 (d. hirsoshi teshigahara) can't seem to get into any of his films besides women in the dunes
-the lives of others, 2006 (d. florian henckel von donnersmarck) not without interest, good photography by hagen bogdanski
-forgotten silver, 1995 (d. peter jackson & costa botes) on the startling achievements of director colin mckenzie
-guilty by suspicion, 1991 (d. irwin winkler) dp michael ballhaus, and that means darn good. martin scorsese as joseph losey (referred to as joe, shows robert de niro a second from his film the boy with green hair 1948, with dean stockwell)


music:

-skoltz_kolgen: silent room faktory box
(enormous thanks to herr in be tween noise)
with 2 audio CDs created with the participation of artists : steve roden, akira rabelais, taylor deupree, sawako, fm3, kenneth kirschner, steinbrüchel and many others.
sound artists asked to produce pieces using only field recordings of the ambient sounds of their apartments as source material, inspired by erik satie's concept of musique d'ameublement
-vashti bunyan: some things just stick in your mind - early singles and demos 1964-1967 (earlier work before diamond day)
some very melancholic tunes as usual
-jefre cantu-ledesma: black is the color of my true loves hair & shining skull breath
2 really great albums (esp. shining skull breath), in addition to his borges related the garden of forking paths
-ben frost: theory of machines
tracks 2 and 4 are truly breathtaking
-richard garet: intrinsic motion
-jim haynes: telegraph by the sea
-valgeir sigurðsson: ekvílibríum
some good tracks, some with insipid beats. includes will oldham
-renaldo rinaldi: hoarse frenzy
-henryk górecki: symphony no. 3, string quartets 1,2
-morton feldman: violin orchestra (1979) with paul zukofsky
-the hafler trio: an answer from allure (fovea hex bonus disc)
stunning like most of his releases
-stephano pilia: the 1 season
-john hudak: pond
good music to listen to while walking around my local lake, minute uncoverings of lost or unnoticeable sounds
-herbert stanley littlejohn: 17th and 18th century works of funerary violin
a great cd just for the name!
-tellemake: elegie aux murmures
beautiful basinski-like loops
-sad hills: sleepwalkers (both thanks to niemand)