8 Arthouse Filmmakers You Didn’t Notice Released Films In 2016
Blockbusters haven't killed the Arthouse yet...
There are two huge problems with motion pictures.
Firstly, there are too many. There was already too many when they were more difficult and even more expensive to make; when cameramen had no prompt way to observe what they were filming and each take devoured more money than Robert Downey Jr.’s salary. Currently, with new technologies and platforms mercilessly coming out of nowhere, the supply-and-demand of film industry looks more double-stuffed and vulgar than ever.
Previously, it was “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift”; now yesterday is a topsy-turvy pile of forgotten blockbusters and Academy Award winners, tomorrow is a burgeoning row of upcoming sequels, prequels and spinoffs, and today is all superheroes, adaptations, remakes, reboots and Adam Sandler Netflix shambles.
Secondly, the problem is what sells. Behind all the garishness and unoriginality, there is some originality, or at least sentient attempts to reach originality, but it goes horribly unnoticed.
And while most veteran arthouse filmmakers are not what they used to be, at least many of them still represent a riverbed for cinema to continue flowing and widening its horizons, not just technically, but conceptually and artistically. Which is why, now more than ever, it's important to seek out those little films in remote corners of the world, playing unseen in humble, little festivals.
So, just to remind everyone that some prodigiously gifted but reactively unknown auteurs are still working (some after periods of inactivity), here are the films that announced that continued struggle against popcorn flicks.
8. Trần Anh Hùng - Eternity
Trần Anh Hùng entered the world film scene with a trilogy about Vietnam as strong and robust as a po mu tree.
He explored and showed the country like never before, capturing its tropicality and faces with sweat beads using radiant, fresh-coloured cinematography, Radiohead songs and the contemplative style of Bresson, Tarkovsky, Ozu and Kurosawa.
Characters barely speak in his films, so he relies on body language and unconventional shots or camera angles to squeeze expressiveness out of their actions. His two first efforts, The Scent of Green Papaya and Cyclo, could be described as modern masterpieces.
Éternité is his first French-language movie, a period drama based on Alice Ferney’s novel The Elegance of Widows.