Friday, 31 August 2012
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
The Great Acting Blog: "Why We Make Art"
What happens if he doesn’t get it?
I always taught that this was a key question when analyzing a script for action, as in: What does the protagonist want? What happens if he doesn’t get it? In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus wants to raise the plague on Thebes, in Bob Le Flambeur, Bob wants to rob 800 million bucks from acasino, and in The Wizard Of Oz, Dorothy wants to go home. The stakes are high in each, the characters have a lot to lose.
My theory on why some people become artists is that the tension of not creating work is so tremendous that they cannot bear it, and so the artist will rush off, often against all reason, like some kind of junkie, and make work. People are not driven to become artists because of politics or out of some intellectual predilection or even by the desire to do good works, but because of some unbearable tension which may only be relieved while the artist is at work. This tension exists in all people, but for the vast majority it can be satiated by consuming some form of art (reading a novel, listening to music, watching a movie etc), and for some others the tension may be a little stronger and so they take up some form of art as a gentle hobby, but it is only a small minority for whom the tension is so fierce that they must immerse their lives in work, giving up the comforts of a regular life. This also explains why the drop-out rate is so high (certainly it is in acting); when the young hopeful sees that regular work (let alone fame) is not forthcoming, they quit and pursue something less arduous and more routine. For an actual artist, quitting is not an option, their work is their life. For the artist, creative rythmn is everything, as is the sense of a repression being lifted at the close of a piece of work, these are the moments an artist lives for, along with his new, thrilling discoveries.
So what happens if you don’t get it? The “it” here meaning work. Well, the true artist will find a way to work, he’s driven to do so, otherwise he’ll go mad. The ones who sit around moaning will soon fade away, and perhaps that is for the best.
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Bergman's The Seventh Seal [Trailer] - Big thanks to The Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green...
Big thanks to The Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green for a wonderful screening of Bergman's masterpiece. The Gallery does free screeningss every Monday - Check them out on Facebook
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
The Great Acting Blog: As The Blog Reaches It's 2nd Birthday, Here's A List Of All Movies Mentioned In The Last Year"
It has been another wonderful year of blogging, again I have made many wonderful friends through doing it, and I've taken great delight that so many readers have identified with and responded strongly to what I have written, and I've enjoyed arguing with those who haven't agreed with my point of view. I'm very proud to have introduced guestsposts this year too, they have been of very high quality, and added richly to our conversation about acting. I offer a big thank-you to all those who have supported the blog through the year, and to all those who've contacted me with positive comments - it really means a lot. I hope you keep reading, and I look forward to another 12 months of blogging.
I do hope you are able to sample some of the films below, there are some real masterpieces in there, and I've added a link to the blogposts in which each film was mentioned.
James.
1. Will It Stop Raining In Summer (James Devereaux) - The Joy Of Acting, Stills For Will It Stop Raining In Summer, 22 Principles For Better Acting, Acting Weird, Will It Stop Raining In Summer.
2. Piccadilly (EA Dupont) - Actors Need To Reclaim Acting
3. Audition (Milos Forman) - Authenticity
4. Phone Box Gun (James Devereaux) - Phone Box Gun
5. Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen) - Actor As Auteur - Woody Allen
6. Manhatten (Woody Allen) - Actor As Auteur - Woody Allen
7. Chimes At Midnight (Orson Welles) - Why Actors Quit
8. Les Choses Sa La Vie (Claude Sautet) - Life Through The Dramatic Prison
9. I Hried A Contract Killer (Aki Kaurismaki) - The Acting Style Of Phone Box Gun
10. Colour Me Kubrick (Brian W Cook) - Make Choices You Enjoy - John Malkovich In Colour Me Kubrick
11. Moborosi (Hirokazu Koreeda) - Actor As Artist - Makiko Esumi In Maborosi
12. Farewell Home Sweet Home (Otar Ioselliani) - On Actors' Aura
13. The Double Life Of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski) - The Shy Poetry Of Irene Jacob
14. Trois Couleurs: Rouge (Krzysztof Kieslowski) - The Shy Poetry Of Irene Jacob
15. The Dust Of Time (Theo Angelopoulos) - The Shy Poetry Of Irene Jacob
16. The Unbelievable Truth (Hal Hartley) - A Beautiful Object
17. Le Samourai (Jean-Pierre Melville) - Artist As Movie Star
18. Boredom Of The Disgust And Monotony Of The Tediousness (Rouzbeh Rashidi) - Boredom Of The Disgust And Monotony Of The Tediousness
19. HE (Rouzbeh Rashidi) - With And Without Object
20. The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (William Dieterle) - A True Actor-Director Collaborator
21. I Do Adore (Mario Mentrup) - I Think I Let Him Play A F**ky Vampire
22. L'Histoire De Marie Et Julien (Jacques Rivette) - There's No Such Thing As A Transformational Actor
23. La Belle Noiseuse (Rivette) - There's No Such Thing As A Transformational Actor
24. L'Enfer (Claude Chabrol) - There's No Such Thing As A Transformational Actor
25. Nelly & Monsieur Anaud (Claude Sautet) - There's No Such Thing As A Transformational Actor
26. Un Coeur En Hiver (Claude Sautet) - There's No Such Thing As A Transformational Actor
27. The Audition (James Devereaux) - The Audition Lowdown
28. Tales Of Ordinary Madness (Marco Ferreri) - Acting, Ambivalence & The Creative Urge
29. Under The Sun Of Satan (Maurice Pialat) - Gerard Depardieu In Under The Sun Of Satan
30. We Need To Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay) - 5 Best Performances In Films I Happened To See In 2011
31. Archiepelago (Joanna Hogg) - 5 Best Performances In Films I Happened To See In 2011
32. The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar) - 5 Best Performances In Films I Happened To See In 2011
33. A Matter Of Life And Death (Powell & Pressburger) - 5 Best Performances In Films I Happened To See In 2011
34. The Shop On Main Street (Jan Kadar/Elmar Klos) - 5 Best Performances In Films I Happened To See In 2011
35. Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi) - A Tragic View
36. Somewhere (Sophia Coppola) - Create Precisely The Body Of Work You Want
37. Mr Smith Goes To Washington (Frank Capra) - Why James Stewart Quit
38. Closure Of Catharsis (Rouzbeh Rashidi) - Closure Of Catharsis Q and A
39. Jeanne Dielman (Chantal Akerman) - Delphine Seyrig in Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman
40. The Homo Sapiens Project (Rouzbeh Rashidi) - Reality & Illusion
41. Repast (Mikio Naruse) - The Narusian Setsuko Hara
42. Ladybird Ladybird (Ken Loach) - Crissy Rock In Ladybird Ladybird
43. My Name Is Joe (Ken Loach (Ken Loach) - Crissy Rock In Ladybird Ladybird
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