FEBRUARY 27
Film:
Contempt (Godard 1963) Blu-Ray 072
excerpts:
Breathless (Godard 1959) DVD 3370 – opening to 8:08
Tout va Bien (Godard/Gorin 1972) DVD 1398 - opening – 5:20 and 1:08:14 – 1:14:07.
The Ornette Coleman Quartet performing in 1959
Readings (to be done by March 5):
Gene Youngblood - "Jean-Luc Godard: No Difference Between Life and Cinema," and
Manny Farber - “Jean-Luc Godard,” both in course reader.
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essays to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring printed copies to class:
There is no new written assignment for this week.
Next week's class is the cutoff date: all five of the previous assignments (on 1/ The Battle of Algiers; 2/ neo-realism; 3/ Fort Apache; 4/ Bresson, Ray or Clarke; and 5/ voice-over in the French New Wave) must have been turned in by the beginning of the next class, on March 6.
Students who have not done so will be dropped from the class with a grade of NC.
Please note that there is no need to bring all your corrected assignments back to class next week! You simply need to bring any of the first five assignments that you have not yet turned in.
FEBRUARY 20
Films:
Shoot the Piano Player (Truffaut 1960) DVD 3050
The Bakery Girl of Monceau (Rohmer 1962) DVD 2028
Ulysse (Varda 1982) DVD 2979
excerpt:
Band of Outsiders (Godard 1965) DVD 623 – 45:07 to 51:50
Reading (to be done by February 26):
François Truffaut - "Evolution of the New Wave," in course reader.
Jonathan Rosenbaum - “Sexism in the French New Wave.”
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
All of tonight’s films make very particular, idiosyncratic use of voice-over. I want you to discuss how the voice-over operates in one of these films – or two or more of them, if you can do it in just two pages and offer both a solid argument and strong examples.
Films:
Shoot the Piano Player (Truffaut 1960) DVD 3050
The Bakery Girl of Monceau (Rohmer 1962) DVD 2028
Ulysse (Varda 1982) DVD 2979
excerpt:
Band of Outsiders (Godard 1965) DVD 623 – 45:07 to 51:50
Reading (to be done by February 26):
François Truffaut - "Evolution of the New Wave," in course reader.
Jonathan Rosenbaum - “Sexism in the French New Wave.”
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
All of tonight’s films make very particular, idiosyncratic use of voice-over. I want you to discuss how the voice-over operates in one of these films – or two or more of them, if you can do it in just two pages and offer both a solid argument and strong examples.
FEBRUARY 13
Films:
A Man Escaped (Bresson 1956) DVD 1296
Elephant (Clarke 1989) DVD 1441 (also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyRL73HIvqg)
Reading (to be done by February 19):
Robert Bresson, Notes on Cinematography (pages 1-21), in course reader.
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
Explore the Implications of the idea that “every tracking shot is a moral choice” in The Music Room, A Man Escaped or Elephant – consider how either Ray, Bresson or Clarke depict a single character in one very short scene. How do the aesthetic decisions (framing and camera angle, camera movement, lighting, color, performance style, score) lead us to judge that character and their behavior?
Films:
A Man Escaped (Bresson 1956) DVD 1296
Elephant (Clarke 1989) DVD 1441 (also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyRL73HIvqg)
Reading (to be done by February 19):
Robert Bresson, Notes on Cinematography (pages 1-21), in course reader.
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
Explore the Implications of the idea that “every tracking shot is a moral choice” in The Music Room, A Man Escaped or Elephant – consider how either Ray, Bresson or Clarke depict a single character in one very short scene. How do the aesthetic decisions (framing and camera angle, camera movement, lighting, color, performance style, score) lead us to judge that character and their behavior?
FEBRUARY 6
Film:
The Music Room (Ray 1958) Blu-Ray 084
excerpts:
The World of Apu (Ray 1959) DVD 952 – 134:16 to end
Ellam Inba Mayam (Rangarajan 1981) personal DVD, entire
Do Bigha Zamin (Roy 1953) DVD 2604 – 2:15 to 6:30
Reading (to be done by February 12):
Michael Sragrow - “An Art Wedded to Truth”
There is no written assignment this week. Please use this week to make up any missing assignments and to catch up on your reading for the class.
Film:
The Music Room (Ray 1958) Blu-Ray 084
excerpts:
The World of Apu (Ray 1959) DVD 952 – 134:16 to end
Ellam Inba Mayam (Rangarajan 1981) personal DVD, entire
Do Bigha Zamin (Roy 1953) DVD 2604 – 2:15 to 6:30
Reading (to be done by February 12):
Michael Sragrow - “An Art Wedded to Truth”
There is no written assignment this week. Please use this week to make up any missing assignments and to catch up on your reading for the class.
JANUARY 30
Film:
Fort Apache (Ford 1948) Blu-Ray 182
Reading (to be done by February 5):
Jim Kitses, “Authorship and Genre: Notes on the Western,” in course reader.
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
The ending of this film is notoriously tricky. Depending upon how one approaches it, it can mean a number of different things. I want you to consider the ending very carefully, in light of the rest of the film. Are we intended to read Wayne’s final speech as bitter irony, or as a statement of fact? Is it both? How can a five minute scene reshape or overturn the two hours and five minutes that preceded it? There is no necessarily right or wrong answer here – this ending is controversial for the very good reason that it is expansive, offering up a number of possibilities. All too often, the fact that it is a Western leads people to take it at face value, assuming that it could mean nothing more than what it directly says. You might agree with that after careful consideration. But I want you to think hard about it and write about what you feel the ending really says.
Film:
Fort Apache (Ford 1948) Blu-Ray 182
Reading (to be done by February 5):
Jim Kitses, “Authorship and Genre: Notes on the Western,” in course reader.
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
The ending of this film is notoriously tricky. Depending upon how one approaches it, it can mean a number of different things. I want you to consider the ending very carefully, in light of the rest of the film. Are we intended to read Wayne’s final speech as bitter irony, or as a statement of fact? Is it both? How can a five minute scene reshape or overturn the two hours and five minutes that preceded it? There is no necessarily right or wrong answer here – this ending is controversial for the very good reason that it is expansive, offering up a number of possibilities. All too often, the fact that it is a Western leads people to take it at face value, assuming that it could mean nothing more than what it directly says. You might agree with that after careful consideration. But I want you to think hard about it and write about what you feel the ending really says.
JANUARY 23
Film:
Bicycle Thieves (DeSica 1948) DVD 4300
excerpts:
Open City (Rossellini 1945) DVD 2658 – 46:40 to 57:00
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Garnett 1946) DVD 4235 – 1:19 to 5:54
Ossesione (Visconti 1943) DVD 527 – 1:29 to 8:20
Umberto D (DeSica 1952) DVD 2661 – 30:40 to 35:36
Reading (to be done by January 29):
Cesare Zavattini - "Some Ideas on the Cinema"
Amédée Ayfe, “Neo-Realism and Phenomonology,” both in course reader.
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
Imagine one of your favorite narrative films as a neo-realist film. How does it change the look and the story, the texture and the editing of the film? Be specific, and root your discussion in just one short scene, which you describe in detail.
Film:
Bicycle Thieves (DeSica 1948) DVD 4300
excerpts:
Open City (Rossellini 1945) DVD 2658 – 46:40 to 57:00
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Garnett 1946) DVD 4235 – 1:19 to 5:54
Ossesione (Visconti 1943) DVD 527 – 1:29 to 8:20
Umberto D (DeSica 1952) DVD 2661 – 30:40 to 35:36
Reading (to be done by January 29):
Cesare Zavattini - "Some Ideas on the Cinema"
Amédée Ayfe, “Neo-Realism and Phenomonology,” both in course reader.
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
Imagine one of your favorite narrative films as a neo-realist film. How does it change the look and the story, the texture and the editing of the film? Be specific, and root your discussion in just one short scene, which you describe in detail.
JANUARY 16
Film:
The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo 1965) BluRay 030, DVD 1300
Reading (to be done by January 22):
Edward Said - "The Dictatorship of Truth: An Interview with Gillo Pontecorvo" and Irene Bignardi, "The Making of The Battle of Algiers," both in course reader.
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
Listen carefully to the music played during the aftermath of the first French bombing of the Casbah. The music reappears roughly ten minutes later, in the aftermath of the bombings in the cafe, discotheque and Air France. Discuss the impact of reiterating that specific piece of music in that place in the film, particularly in terms of audience empathy and our emotional response to the scene.
Film:
The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo 1965) BluRay 030, DVD 1300
Reading (to be done by January 22):
Edward Said - "The Dictatorship of Truth: An Interview with Gillo Pontecorvo" and Irene Bignardi, "The Making of The Battle of Algiers," both in course reader.
Assignment for the week. Graduates, please email essay to me at elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates, please bring a printed copy to class:
Listen carefully to the music played during the aftermath of the first French bombing of the Casbah. The music reappears roughly ten minutes later, in the aftermath of the bombings in the cafe, discotheque and Air France. Discuss the impact of reiterating that specific piece of music in that place in the film, particularly in terms of audience empathy and our emotional response to the scene.
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