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3 articles from 2009

13 November 2009 8:45 AM, PST | The Auteurs | See recent The Auteurs news »

On The Evolution Of CinemaScope: Or, of you're going to be a stickler about names of formats and such, "The 2.35:1 Or So Aspect Ratio."

Above: The Robe (Henry Koster, 1953).

Above: Bonjour Tristesse (Otto Preminger, 1958).

Above: Le Mepris (Contempt) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963).

When CinemaScope was introduced in 1953, the first film in the widescreen format was in the then au-courant sand-and-sandals quasi-Biblical-epic genre. The Robe still plays, in its silly way, as a study in gargantuan production value. And the gargantuan dimensions of the CinemaScope screen were seen as something of a novelty, a piece of showmanship rather than cinema per se, Zanuck's would-be blowback at television in an attempt to shore up the notion that movies were still going to be your best entertainment value.

What, though, had 'Scope to do with the art of cinema? And/or what director was going to be able to use 'Scope artistically? The answer came reasonably quickly, »

28 October 2009 6:15 AM, PDT | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

Barring some epic year-end bombshell, Lars von Trier's "Antichrist" is sure to walk away with the designation of year's most provocative movie -- with its sadomasochistic sex, penis smashing and spontaneous clitorectomy, it rivals Nagisa Oshima's 1976 cinema scandal "In the Realm of the Senses" in its efforts to shock and offend.

It's a useful comparison. Over the years, international art cinema has often been inextricably tied to our most prurient desires. In the 1960s, foreign masterpieces were as much about championing auteurs as glimpsing a choice piece of European ass. Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" was marketed with blonde bombshell Anita Ekberg dancing around in Dionysian ecstasy, while Jean-Luc Godard's "Contempt" and Luis Bunuel's "Belle De Jour" were literally sold off the naked backsides of Bridget Bardot and Catherine Deneueve. But do such depictions of outré sex still sell challenging foreign cinema today?

As recently »

- Anthony Kaufman

24 June 2009 3:37 PM, PDT | Twitch | See recent Twitch news »

That’s right, you can soon set up those ebay auctions for your less than six month old copy of Criterion Collection’s Pierrot le Fou to make way for its high def counterpart. On September 22nd, the acclaimed company will release the sure to be pristine copy of Godard’s classic Pierrot le Fou on Blu-ray. While the original press release for their first wave of Blu discs mentioned the Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt as their first foray into high definition, I can’t really complain much with this news. As far I know, this will be the first film from the famed French director to hit the format.

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- Aaron Fowler

3 articles from 2009