tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post6977487762061447461..comments2022-05-09T09:20:48.004-07:00Comments on Film of the Month Club: "...I'll tell you no lies" (an introduction, and the story of my own introduction, to ...no lies)Chris Caglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11896423565458620046noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-11264489551552912882009-06-14T15:27:29.714-07:002009-06-14T15:27:29.714-07:00You might've just hit on the "secret"...You might've just hit on the "secret" here - <br /><br />Everyone performs for the camera in some way when it is on them. An actor does it in a very calculated, professional way. Someone comfortable in front of a camera will also "perform" when it is on and they will present a version of themselves that they choose to present for whatever reasons. And everyone else "performs" in a way that is out of embarrassment or discomfort of some kind; this might manifest as an attempt to seem unaffected. <br /><br />Like you say, the brilliance of Shelby Leverington's work and Block's construction of this piece is that, in the beginning there is a performance of a performance (someone pretending to be someone pretending to unaffected by the camera long enough to put her makeup on) then there is a dropping of that "second" performance when the rape begins to be discussed. And because it is "dropped" so delicately and convincingly, just like someone letting their true guard down, we don't expect there to be any performance left, and we take what remains to be "real". <br /><br />like you say "it's as if she drops the character she is supposed to be playing to speak as herself" but the greatness of this work, of course, is that this "her" is the second layer of her performance.Peter Rinaldihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08665020900615475757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-73359749140538685192009-06-14T08:33:47.295-07:002009-06-14T08:33:47.295-07:00It's interesting that, since you didn't ca...It's interesting that, since you <i>didn't</i> call it a documentary when you announced it, my first reaction was to associate it with films like David Holzman's Diary or Coming Apart - fiction in the form of documentary... But when she started talking about the rape, I began to wonder - is that right? is this part of the fiction or did she just interrupt their little improvisation with something different? It's an interesting effect. I think - especially watching it again - that they are aiming at something like that: the way it starts with her putting on makeup, getting dressed, like the beginning of a performance, then - she launches into the performance... Though, again, the performance seems more "natural" than the introduction - they drop the self-conscious cinema references, things like that... It's as if she drops the character she is supposed to be playing to speak as herself - and I admit, looking back on it, the artistry of how they create that effect is pretty impressive as well. (I noticed just now the way the camera frames her in a close up just before she reveals the rape - in the mirror, actually - a detail that seems completely natural, in the flow of the film, but is very artful in fact...) <br /><br />All that does feed into all the questions about the ontology of cinema the film raises. It shows the artistry involved in creating something that hides its artifice; it also raises other questions - one is, why would the story she tells seem less powerful or moving if it was written and acted and directed than if it were genuinely caught on the fly? Or, where are the lines between documentary and fiction? what if they were reenacting a real scene, with the real people? (Something you get in quite a few later documentaries, like Kiarostami's Close Up, or Zhang Yuan's Sons.) It retains its power even after you know all the facts - but it makes you think about what it means to talk about fiction telling the truth...weepingsamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11885871104310819374noreply@blogger.com