A notebook of links and commentary on film and the arts, with occasional stabs at understanding current events. A mix of the serious and the silly, and with a special emphasis on Ms. Natalie Portman.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Auteur Shmateur?
How far do we stretch the "auteur" theory? Director William Richert - best known for playing the Falstaff figure in My Own Private Idaho - makes a case for the film that became A Night In The Life of Jimmy Reardon. (Chicago Reader)
Richert directed a wild film called "Winter Kills" which is worth your time. It's all over the place but it's a lot of fun.
Richert reminds me of Richard Rush -- another filmmaker with loads of talent and loads of ego who made one great film ("The Stunt Man" for Rush, "Winter Kills" for Richert) and then flamed out. Cautionary tales abound here...
The author of the Chicago Reader post I linked to preferred the studio cut of "Jimmy Reardon" to Richert's. That says something about directorial ego to me....
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2 comments:
The Onion A. V. Club, of all people, had a much more positive take on Richert's original cut of "Jimmy Reardon" here:
http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/my_year_of_flops_case_file_89_aren
Richert directed a wild film called "Winter Kills" which is worth your time. It's all over the place but it's a lot of fun.
Richert reminds me of Richard Rush -- another filmmaker with loads of talent and loads of ego who made one great film ("The Stunt Man" for Rush, "Winter Kills" for Richert) and then flamed out. Cautionary tales abound here...
The author of the Chicago Reader post I linked to preferred the studio cut of "Jimmy Reardon" to Richert's. That says something about directorial ego to me....
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