Tackling the Oeuvre: Jean-Pierre Melville
March 1, 2010
“I believe that you must be madly in love with cinema to create films. You also need a huge cinematic baggage.” – Jean-Pierre Melville
Melville’s films were cool before there was cool. One only has to look to the directors he inspired (everyone from Godard and Chabrol to Woo and Mann) to understand how truly different his style was in the late 40′s and 50′s. This may help to explain why the U.S. went begging for releases of his films for so long. In fact, L’Armée des ombres (Army of Shadows), a film released in France in 1969, didn’t see its way to our shores until 2006. It’s a shame that U.S. audiences didn’t have the chance to see these films when they were released, but the trickle-like effect of their release has made them seem even more powerful.
A virtual god to the Cahiers group (check Godard’s Breathless to see Melville in the role of novelist Parvulesco, a role he modeled after Vladimir Nabokov), Melville’s gangster stylings show up in many nouvelle vague films such as Bande A Part and Shoot the Piano Player. Later on, the Cahiers group (mainly Godard and Truffaut) publicly spoke out against Melville in a public ploy to distance themselves from Cinema de Papa, but his continuing influence on them is undeniable.
Melville’s films have a quiet intensity to them. The sparse dialogue and drab colors lend a dreamlike quality to the proceedings that transcend the genre in which he prefers to work. On first look, his films have the feel of film noir, but a deeper investigation reveals nuances that stretch far beyond that genre. To call Melville a film noir or a gangster film director is to do him a huge disservice. A true maverick of cinema and one of the most imitated directors of all time, Jean-Pierre Melville’s ouevre is truly worthy of its enormous praise.
Le Samourai - williek311
L’armée des ombres - Chris ‘Shadows’ Cleary
Le Cercle Rouge - Brad Baker
Les enfants terribles - Dan Wotherspoon
Le deuxième souffle - Ryan Smith
Bob le flambeur - Nathan Raine
Le silence de la Mer -
Le doulos - Thomas Balkcom
L’aîné des Ferchaux - TJ Wells
nice. I’m gay for Melville.
same
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Some sweet info on the movie CORKY RAMANO
A naive, bumbling veterinarian named Corky Romano the outcast son if a Mafia boss, is recruited by his family to infiltrate the FBI and steal any and all evidence that will put his cranky father named Francis A. “Pops” Romano in jail! But he’s in way over his head when he’s made out to be a super agent. It’s a reputation must live up to as he tries to fake his way through one tough assignment after another while hunting for the elusive incriminating proof of his father’s illegal activities. Written by Anthony Pereyra
Corky Romano is a bumbling, simpleton, veternarian and the youngest, outcast son of an aging gangster, named Pops Romano, who calls upon Corky to infiltrate the local FBI and retreve and destroy evidence being used to incriminate Pops for rackateering charges. Written by Matthew Patay
When the mobster Francis A. ‘Pops’ Romano (Peter Folk) is sent to the court, the Romano family decides to send an undercover man to destroy the evidences against him without knowing that there is an informer in mafia. The clumsy loser veterinary son Corky Romano (Chris KattaN), who is not a criminal, is infiltrated in the FBI to destroy the evidences
Check out this sweet info on WEEKEND AT BERNIES II. It’s such a great masterpiece. Maybe you can do a big story on how good the director is.
After their adventure at Bernie’s weekend house (events of “Weekend At Bernie’s”) accountants/programmers oafish Larry and up-tight Richard return to New York only to be blamed by the insurance company they all worked for Bernie’s theft of two million dollars and fired. Larry and Richard investigate and discover that the money is somewhere in St Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Meanwhile the Cartel Bernie was stealing the money for hires a Voodoo Queen to help them find the money. She tells Henry and Charles to steal Bernie’s body and raise it from the dead to lead them to the money. Unfortunately Henry and Charles goofed and Bernie can only move when he hears music. Richard, Larry and Bernie all go to St Thomas to find the money with the aid of Claudia only to be followed by Hummel, a company security officer, who believes that Larry and Richard stole the money as well as Henry and Charles. Who will get to the money first?… Written by Lee Horton
In a continuation of the story in “Weekend At Bernie’s”, Larry and Richard are wrongly accused of Bernie’s fraud and are promptly sacked. To clear their names, and to get some compensation, the two set out to track down Bernie’s hidden loot. Their plan requires Bernie, who’s dead – but not as dead as the pair think. Written by Rob Hartill