The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
La Strada (1954), 8 1/2 (1963), Wild Strawberries (1957), The Seventh Seal (1957), Persona (1966), Ashes and Diamonds (1958), Jules et Jim (1962), Knife in the Water (1962), Vivre sa vie (1962), Muriel (1963): Whatever else one can say about these films, cultural fiat gives them a role altogether different from Rio Bravo (1959) on the one hand and Mothlight (1963) on the other. They are "art films," and, ignoring the tang of snobbishness about the phrase, we can say that these and many other films constitute a distinct branch of the cinematic institution."--"The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice" (1979) by David Bordwell |
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
"The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice" (1979) is an essay by David Bordwell which differentiates "art film" from art films and mainstream films of classical Hollywood cinema.
Mainstream Hollywood-style films use a clear narrative form to organize the film into a series of "...causally related events taking place in space and time," with every scene driving towards a goal. The plot for mainstream movies is driven by a well-defined protagonist, fleshed out with clear characters, and strengthened with "...question-and-answer logic, problem-solving routines, (and) deadline plot structures." The film is then tied together with fast pacing, musical soundtracks to cue the appropriate audience emotions, and tight, seamless editing. Mainstream films tend to use a small palette of familiar, generic images, plots, verbal expressions, and archetypal "stock" characters.
In contrast, Bordwell states that "...the art cinema motivates its narrative by two principles: realism and authorial expressivity." Art films deviate from the mainstream, "classical" norms of filmmaking in that they typically deal with more episodic narrative structures with a "...loosening of the chain of cause and effect". As well, art films often deal with an inner drama that takes place in a characters psyche, such as psychological issues dealing with individual identity, transgressive sexual or social issues, moral dilemmas, or personal crises. Mainstream films also deal with moral dilemmas or identity crises, but these issues are usually resolved by the end of the film. In art films, the dilemmas are probed and investigated in a pensive fashion, but usually without a clear resolution at the end of the movie. The protagonists in art films are often facing doubt, anomie or alienation, and the art film often depicts their internal dialogue of thoughts, dreams, and fantasies. In some art films, the director uses a depiction of absurd or seemingly meaningless actions to express a philosophical viewpoint such as existentialism.
