Rolando Teco, fearless leader of the blog Extra Criticum, threw down a challenge. Here is his comment to my post “Five Films that Influenced My Film.”
David. I’m surprised that your list consists entirely of docs. “Well, A Life’s Work is a doc, Rolando!” I know, I know, but knowing that you are also a fantastic screenwriter and a passionate lover of narrative film, I am absolutely convinced (whether you’ll admit this or not) that you could construct a list of narrative feature films that have had an equal impact on A Life’s Work. Feel free to take this as a challenge. 😉
Rolando is correct. Narrative films (and books, too!) have greatly influenced this documentary. So, never one to back down from a challenge, or to shy away from compiling a list, here are the narrative feature films that have influenced A Life’s Work.
Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog. This is almost cheating, since I hint at this Herzog film in the original post, but as an outsized portrait of the force of will, it can’t be beat. Curiously, none of the subjects in A Life’s Work act like the possessed title character played by the inimitable Klaus Kinski; the people I have interviewed burn quietly and steadily. Still, their drive, like Fitzcarraldo’s, is what I want to reveal.
The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer. This silent film is practically a 90-minute exploration of one woman’s face as it expresses every emotion known to human kind. I clung to the idea of no talking heads for too long (see What Was I Thinking; had I seen this film during that delerium I would have snapped out of it much quicker.
The Antoine Doinel films by François Truffaut. A story and characters that span twenty years. Truffaut obviously couldn’t shake Antoine Doinel, and I doubt he wanted to. I want to make a sequel to A Life’s Work twenty years after it’s completed, revisiting the people and the places, because these people and this idea, I am sure, will be with me then, and beyond. Good lord willing and if the water don’t rise and all that.
The Films of Yasujiro Ozu. Another director who loved the human face. But Ozu’s influence on A Life’s Work is more a matter of tone and his camera work. I find watching his films to be an almost meditative experience. I want the audience to feel refreshed and inspired after seeing A Life’s Work. Ozu’s camera is still and lets the viewer absorb what’s being shown. For a good essay on why Ozu is important, read this short essay, “Ozu v Avatar – this really is what cinema has come down to” by David Thomson, from The Guardian (U.K.) website. It is about his “family dramas,” which greatly influence my narrative work, film and otherwise.
Vendredi soir (Friday Night) by Claire Denis. This film had me believing I could feel the smoothness of the bedspread in the hotel room, seeing the cigarette smoke filling the car made me smell it in my apartment, the late night scene in the cafe had me tasting the bitter espresso. I don’t know how she does that, but she does. Denis’ films are sensual experiences that I think I’ll be trying to duplicate for as long as I’m making films, whether documentary or narrative.
Now I know some of you reading this are filmmakers, artists, writers or some combination of those. How about listing some of the works that influenced your work? Go ahead, it won’t hurt. Promise.