Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929)
Les Conscrits (Detail)
Oil on canvas
1889
146.05 x 168.275 cm
(4’ 9½” x 5’ 6¼”)
Assemblee Nationale (Paris, France)
Wow
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
This film has been the most persistent and poignant imagery and story telling that I have encountered since Talk to Her (http://www.sonyclassics.com/talktoher/) and Happy Together (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118845/). This film is haunting and beautiful and oddly timeless. Character worship is at the center of the plot, the love and obsession of an insecure person eventually leads to the death of a legend. This mythology and hype is elevated and revered today to an unhealthy level. I am drawn (no pun intended) to this relationship of adorer and adored. Brad Pitt exudes a charisma that is undeniable and Casey Affleck refutes it with his quivery nervous dialogue that evokes an appreciation of his cleverness and embarrassment of his transparent intentions of grandiose delusions. Film and painting implicitly put the viewer in a voyeuristic role. There is typically a distance between viewer and what is viewed. Perhaps fueled by long pauses that emulate real time (this is a long film) or the awkwardness of Pitt and Affleck’s interactions, this film engaged me more than other films. A crew of young men vying for the attention and approval of another man brings back fond memories of the painting department at CSULB. Those were awkward and beautiful times.
There is a stillness and attention to composition that reminds me of a couple phenomenal painters:
Andrew Wyeth
http://www.andrewwyeth.com/index.html
Michael Borremans
http://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/michael-borremans/survey/
The palette is similar with these painters and this film. This film is going to make me trade my brushes for lenses.
