Monday, September 01, 2008

Film by Samuel Beckett

Beckett wrote (but didn't direct) this, called Film. It's almost completely silent:





Who is the camera in the movie? It features a lot of first person shots, which have always been rare in movies. Jonathan Demme's the exception - think of all those people looking right at you in Silence of the Lambs, from Hannibal Lecter to the state troopers.

However, despite the the prevalence of first person POV shots, other shots enforce a strictly third person perspective. For most of the movie, we try to see his face and he avoids our gaze. We even sneak up for a peek while he's asleep and he's startled. Frequently the audience is seeing a third person's perspective on a scene. The film, though, neatly resolves this first/third person perspective conflict.

Overall, an interesting curiosity if you like Beckett. Loads more in the wikipedia about this.

No comments: