Unresolved Stories and Open-Ended Narratives

[Chris Knipp]

You're welcome. I'm sure it's true.

[oscar jubis]

I opened a thread in the Favorite Films section to discuss a film under consideration because of its unresolved story and open-endedness. It is TWO LANE BLACKTOP.

[Chris Knipp]

Good. I would like to see Two Lane Blacktop again on a big screen. I'm afraid Road to Nowhere was disappointing, and others seem largely to share that opinion.

Link to Oscar's new thread on Two Lane Blacktop.

[oscar jubis]

I am not dissuaded by the mixed reviews. I'm interested in Monte Hellman's work. Thanks for the link, Chris. Nice.

[Chris Knipp]

You're welcome.

Oh you will definitely want to see it, and it's quite unique. For an auteur one must see all, good and bad and in between.

[oscar jubis]

Almost two years since the first post and I've completed bibliographic research for this book project. I have also written the first draft of the Introduction and began writing chapter one, Antonioni, which will focus on L'avventura, Blowup, The Passenger, and Identification of a Woman.

The provisional title for the book is:

Resolution and Closure in Modernist Cinema:
Antonioni/Resnais/Robbe-Grillet/Duras/Haneke/Martel

[Johann]

Awesome. Congratulations!

[oscar jubis]

Thanks. One of the challenges involved is saying something new about filmmakers like Antonioni and Resnais because they have generated so much scholarship. All angles seem to have been exhausted. As I write in my office, I am banking on my interdisciplinary approach, a mix of analytic film criticism, narratology, philosophy, phenomenology, and history, giving me a fresh perspective.

It's less of a challenge to write about Robbe-Grillet and Duras because most of the criticism available in English is strictly from the perspective of literary theory.

I am re-watching all of Antonioni's movies. Currently I am trying to understand precisely why L'avventura was so hated (Monica Vitti cried "come una bambina" after all the sneering and catcalls at the Cannes premiere) and loved (voted 2nd best film ever in the 1962 Sight & Sound poll) when it came out. This is the film that most eloquently expressed the art and entertainment divide that goes back to the 1910s.

[Chris Knipp]

My father and I saw L'AVVENTURA in New York when it was brand new and we both absolutely loved it. I think those who "hated" it were not very sophisticated, like the people who "hated" Picasso or Matisse in earlier years, or perhaps the films of earlier great directors you would know more about than I do. Sneers and catcalls at Cannes reflected the lack of a conventional "narrative arc," obviously; the superficial judgment that "nothing was happening." In general, it doesn't seem that boos at Cannes first screenings are very revealing, except that they may be good publicity. I might add that my father had a "thing" for Monica Vitti, and I loved watching her myself, in anything.

[arsaib4]

So the site's resident plagiarist has written a book? Congrats, indeed!

[oscar jubis]

I'm all original Babe! Glad you've been checking us out.

[arsaib4]

No problem, Rebecca Bell. How is Leeds? It was good to see you at MUBI. I hope you enjoyed our conversations. How many other fake accounts do you have there and at other sites?

[oscar jubis]

Not me (must be some smart gal!). I posted a little as "OrsonLubitsch" on the TCM boards about 5 years ago. But that's the extent of my online writing. Of course I always use my name in print publications.

[arsaib4]

Which name is that?

I'm glad no one bothers with your "print publications." People know when they're reading something they've read before. Heck, you still copy from me!

It's amazing to me how utterly shameless you truly are.

[oscar jubis]

My father and I saw L'AVVENTURA in New York when it was brand new and we both absolutely loved it. I think those who "hated" it were not very sophisticated, like the people who "hated" Picasso or Matisse in earlier years, or perhaps the films of earlier great directors you would know more about than I do. Sneers and catcalls at Cannes reflected the lack of a conventional "narrative arc," obviously; the superficial judgment that "nothing was happening." .

The vitriol of the Cannes audience was unbelievable. I've read several accounts by people who were in attendance, like critic Penelope Houston. I would call this behavior philistene. But there were some reasonable critics (and moviegoers) who simply did not find it to be a good experience, and I think you're right to bring up narrative. The events depicted do not constitute what Aristotle called "a complete action", something that audiences then and now generally demand.