The justAtad Essentials: Close-up
Nothing short of one of the best films I’ve ever seen. The film plays is structured like a documentary, and it reenacts a true story with the real people involved, but it also plays around with fiction, and it’s all very odd. The “meta” layer added to the film makes it bold in a way I have rarely seen in any film. What that layer does is allow us to examine the story with a great deal of questioning. There are elements of the film that feel completely natural and documentary-like, yet there are other scenes that are very clearly composed for the film. Because of this there is no sure footing and we are left to question the main character, Sabzian, in much the same way as the judge in the court proceedings.
That questioning reveals a character of unique complexity. A man with an urge to escape his misery, not through the normal means, or even drugs or suicide, but by becoming another man entirely. In his own life he is hardly respected, but by becoming one of his favourite directors he finds that respect and that dignity he strives for. And that’s what this film is really about: dignity. It’s about being able to look at oneself and find that reason for being, whether it be through work or through life or through friendship or through art. It’s also one of the most beautiful expressions of the importance of art I have ever seen.
I love Truman show and I love your love declaration for it. It’s one of those movies I’d be happy to revisit given the opportunity. I’ll keep my eyes open.
I love the inferiority complex inherent in your enjoyment of jokes at your nationality’s expense.
Anyway, three of the four this time around that I have seen would certainly make my essentials list, and six of ten so far.
I’m a big fan of regional jokes in general, it just helps when there’s an inferiority complex to go along with them.
Last Temptation is an amazing film, one of Scorsese’s best. I love the portrayal of Jesus as human as well, and the real struggles that anyone would have in his circumstances.
Your interest in religious film is interesting to me, Corey. Why would you be interested in a film deeply rooted in mysticism and a prophetic sensibility? I can see that anyone would appreciate some of the struggles of the characters– political action v. personal action is one of the many themes in this film. But, still, it is based on a religious presupposition– that God speaks to men and that communication is better and more important than the normal pattern of human life. Do you just ignore that? Or assume it is part of their culture, even if not your own?
Well, there are four things involved in my enjoyment of religious stories and films like The Last Temptation of Christ.
I am good so long as I feel a film’s core purpose is not to preach doctrine. A good story is a good story, so stick to that and I’m generally good.
Also, though I am not at all religious, being from a Jewish family and living in a predominantly Christian country, I am more than a bit exposed to Judeo-Christian stories and philosophies and traditions. I may not buy into the truth of the stories or the existence of God, but I can still relate because they are a part of the culture I have been raised in.
Extending beyond that, I could still relate even if it wasn’t a part of my culture. It’s not so much that the film is based on a religious supposition. It is a story, a story like any other. Some might claim it is a story based on events that actually occurred, I beg to differ, but it doesn’t change the potential power of the story. (That’s the same way I approach any film, including those based on a true story, by the way.)
Finally, I think the reason I am attracted to such stories, beyond their being an integral part of Western culture, is the same reason I love magical realism or fantasy or science fiction stories. The mystical elements of the story may be considered fact by some, but even to those people they serve as concepts rife with symbolism. Great literature is great literature, God’s word or not.
Oh yeah, and the funniest film ever made is a tie between The Emperor’s New Groove and Monty Python’s Meaning of Life. Just thought you should know.
What people find funny can be a crapshoot. It’s very personal. I love Meaning of Life. It’s would probably be up there as one of the funniest films I’ve seen, but South Park is tops for me. I find it endlessly hilarious.
Two of these are on my list. And therefore you have 2/5.
Great seeing Truman and The Prestige on your list, both films I love, too. And you remind me that I need to see Close-up!
Get your ticket and jump on the Close-up Train. I think that for the most part the people who have watched it under my recommendation have not hat the immediate personal reaction I had to it, but they’ve all at least liked it and found it a really valuable film.
Thanks for your response, Corey, re: religious film. That makes a lot of sense, and matches my own sensibility.
That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to do a post about the value I find in religious stories while being completely anti-religion. I should get on that.
Looks like I need to add Close-Up to my must see list. Agree with the other selections listed. Though The Last Temptation of Christ has not aged well for me. Does not carry the same punch it once had.
The idea of Last Temptation not aging well is funny to me, mostly because I only saw it for the first time a few years ago, and while it definitely feels like it was made at a certain time, the film completely overcomes that for me.
And yeah, Close-Up a very special film. Thankfully it’s quite easy to find since being released on Blu-ray by Criterion.