This is the tagline for a new documentary by Greg King, a NYC friend of ours who helped us out when we shot the film Prodigal Sons as part of our Modern Parables series. Greg sent us an announcement yesterday that the film was an official selection for the 2010 HotDocs film festival in Toronto. Greg is a thoughtful Christian who does some very interesting work, and I would recommend you take a look at the trailer on the film’s website. It is intriguing.
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Bullitt (1968) is known primarily for its famous San Francisco car chase sequence a little more than mid-way through the film. Even though it’s been copied a thousand times, it’s still a great piece of cinema. But in watching Bullitt the other night, what stood out more was the way director Peter Yates and Steve McQueen approached realism with the entire film. For instance, the operating scene in the ER used real doctors, real nurses, and was radically different from the fast-talking silliness of the modern-day show ER. It was hushed, thorough, business-like: and came off with an authenticity that gave a very different feel to the scene. It was this authenticity that makes Bullitt less a crime film and more an exploration into McQueen’s character as a cop dealing with reality. [click to continue…]
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When my wife and I started watching The Graduate last night – she had never seen it before – she reminded me that in 1967, right after the film was released, Dustin Hoffman had met one of my wife’s mother’s friends on an airplane and asked her out on a date. (The friend happened to be modeling for the Ford Agency at the time, so you can understand the quick invite.) They came from the airport to her New York apartment and he helped carry in her bags. My wife’s mother was most impressed when she met him. Nothing ever came of it, but it is a nice reminder of the intersection some actors and films have with the real world.
Of all the late 60′s films, The Graduate maintains the iconic status it had when it first opened.
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When I begin studying a new director, I usually try to watch as many of his films as I can get my hands on back-to-back (and hopefully in chronological order). I also look for any interviews or authoritative books on him and read through those at the same time. Although secondary sources are good, there’s really nothing quite like hearing what a director thinks in his own words.
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