Tempestuous

Nuit Bleue (2010) - Leccia






The setting is Giraglia, a craggy coastline surrounded by tempestuous sea at the northern tip of Corsica. You can feel the cold. You can feel the wind. Told with minimal dialog, Nuit Bleue relies heavily on its rugged, beautiful yet violent nature it presents. The the jagged Pyrenees terrain is dominated by brusque, serious men who are engaging in armed struggle, reflecting their harsh surroundings. There was a shipwreck and Jean's gone missing. Antonia (Cécile Cassel), a Parisian relative comes back in these difficult times. There is a slight love triangle developing with Antonia and two men who are in the armed resistance but the narrative falls short of making Nuit Bleue a totally engaging experience. It's all about brooding atmosphere Leccia creates. With his video art background and immersed in his Corsican upbringing, he seems to have a deeper understanding of the harsh surroundings and its effects on people. I didn't know that the sizable island right above Sardinia is a French territory and has a tumultuous history.

Christianity is a second-rate religion without Bach

Die Stille vor Bach (2007) - Portabello







Catalan director Pere Portabella pays tribute to Bach and his glorious music in Die Stille vor Bach, a film that takes many forms. It starts with an empty gallery space as we go through room to room and finally finds a player piano on a automated dolly, playing Goldberg Variations while milling about. We jump to two truck drivers talking about what they do to take the stress of the job off- they play chamber music. Then we jump to a blind piano tuner and his dog, and so on and so on. The film includes reenactments, anecdotes, legends, musical segments in various places, dressage, female nudity, St. Thomas church where Bach was a Cantor and wrote many religious pieces, etc. Camera always floats around like a piece of fluid music and it's a very engaging, elegant filmmaking. The music is really great. One tells the other, quoting "Christianity is a second rate religion without Bach's music". The current cantor of St. Thomas tells the new recruit, a Catalonian musician who looks like a Botticelli painting, that many students are agnostic when they come in, but before they have their first concert at St. Thomas, they all ask to be baptized. Die Stille reminds me of two other unconventional music films I've seen- 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould and Herzog's Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices.