Monday, March 29, 2010

news from home

















exterior shots/urban landscapes from
chantal akerman's news from home - 1976

(in connection with)

- the early morning urban photographs of eugène atget (no people)
- movement and abstraction (later images [10-17] abstracted by car and train travel)
- storefront architecture : see the book store front: the disappearing face of new york
- joe zawinul's arrival in new york from the album zawinul - 1971 (the reverse of the closing shot of this film)
- scott macdonald's writings on the urban landscape in the garden in the machine: a field guide to independent films about place
- early martin scorsese films (mean streets, taxi driver, american boy: a profile of: steven prince, san francisco photography in the last waltz)
- the cinematography of babette mangolte
- other street posts * and films listed there (ernie gehr etc.)
- interiors in akerman's films *
- suggestions?, more urban posts to come (because i can no longer stand being in the city?)


11 comments:

bigglesworth III, esq. said...

some key shots in "The French Connection" make a wonderful parallel between NY in the early 70's and hell.

the art of memory said...

very true, similar colour palette

bessfones said...

Many years ago I saw a great b&w NYC film noir, Blast of Silence, at the short-lived tiny theater maybe on Vandam St. operated by a French shrink and his wife(Jackie?). It was part of a summer series of Noir. Half the time I wasn't even charged the entry fee by the shrink/ticket taker. I was aware how anachronistic this place was of a New York already vanished. When does nyc become unbearable? For me after I spent a year working in Turkey. Kate

the art of memory said...

dear martin, thank you for the message.
i love them.. well, the ones i know, esp. hopper, i love his drawing of a man walking down a city street at night. i will check the rest.

kate - hell of a depressing thing to see nyc in this film and compare to now, or cities in general, and see them now. i hate most contemporary architecture... and the cost of things/rents, great places are few and far between.
i am most struck by how beautiful cars are and people's outfits in that time period, now all is ugly.
blast of silence is a great film.

matthew

bessfones said...

Reading a book on Irish lit years ago the editor made an interesting observation about the lack of "aura" in our world. Maybe that's why so many of us are nomadic. I remember somebody's comment about Blast of Silence...that it documented a time when the shop windows sparkled (before the 1970s when the City went broke.)I like Abel Ferrara's King of New York a lot.

the art of memory said...

ferrara has a good "aura", i agree that is part of the attraction of many of the street films from this time period. as with the photographs of atget, such a strong aura from them, it is really quite intense just to look at his photos, even the idea of them... mean streets

bessfones said...

I agree about Atget's "mean streets": they look like living "arteries" and from the little I know he was capturing a vanishing world making it even more poignant.
Honestly, reading your blog which I found through Woolgathersome is a new experience for me as I don't have a computer...I'm on my sister's laptop. It's just fantastic.

the art of memory said...

the wool.... best around.
so beautiful that old atget would get up and shoot at dawn to avoid distractions. and lug around his heavy equipment. quite a fine gentleman, along with j. cornell, another wandering gentleman.
thanks for reading. glad it is enjoyable. and thanks for the fine words.

bessfones said...

Just a question, I want to enjoy the older posts so if I have a comment should I just make it even if it were a couple of years ago?

the art of memory said...

sure - i will see them, or email me on my contact page,
best,
matthew

buyable said...

this is great, thanks.