Nyff 2009

[Chris Knipp]

As I said earlier, If you can't do both, prepare and keep an open mind, you're out of luck. "When ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise." I hope you're not confusing knowledge of a film with preconceptions about its merits.

I could have added before that I'm quite fond of long, intricate sentences. I have a bit of a weakness for writing long, portmanteau-style ones at the beginning of a review to pack in all the basic information. Touché on that one you quote. It would not only need to be rewritten to be read aloud; it needs to be rewritten to make it a better sentence, period.

You may be right on Korean films, but I'm not particularly good at "rating" "national cinemas." Too sweeping for me. Did they have a "resurgence"? I didn't know they were ever great before. Didn't they just have a "surgence", so to speak?

Italian movies -- I can say this -- have long seemed to be in decline. Yesterday, though, I was pleasantly surprised by a new one, Luca Guadagnino's I AM LOVE, with Tilda Swinton. With its Viscontiesque grandeur, it harked back to the good old days, without seeming dated.

I hope somebody if not you will listen to the Truffaut/Hitchcock tapes so we can have a discussion. I definitely do not think Truffaut is too wimpy. I wanted to point out to you that Tom Sutpen, whose blog I got the files of the tapes from, mplies in his comments that Truffaut is too bossy and know-it-all and intrusive. Sort of the opposite of what you were saying about Truffaut based on the book, sounds like. I think Truffaut does a darn good job. Maybe I'm wrong. Again, I have yet to read the book Truffaut made out of the interviews. Nor am I any expert on Hitchcock's "oeuvre."