Sans Soleil
Personally, I am always impressed by how incredibly lauded some movies are. Except for one idiot who was all like “nothing happens in this movie”, it is probably safe to assume that everybody on Imdb reviewing the film was a movie lover, since only movie lovers would watch “Sans soleil”. Amongst those, the vast majority seems to be in love with the film. I agree that the film is beautiful and there is much to love here in terms of movie-making. Purely from an esthetic standpoint, Chris Marker is an amazing film-maker, and the way he makes connections between his different travels is thoughtful and interesting. However, Chris Marker seems to only look and think, but never actually interact with what he sees. He makes ivory-tower-style statements loaded with clichés because he doesn’t seem to ever even attempt some sort of understanding of these cultures he’s visited. Instead, he puts a layer of artsiness over it all, which may be interesting, but ultimately it’s painfully away from reality. This person pretty much nailed everything I could have said about my “ideological problems” with the film (scroll down a little for her review of “Sans Soleil”).
There was only one thing which I thought was awesome, one of those “oh I never noticed it but it’s so true” moments I love to discover in films. Chris Marker remarked that Japanese poems use adjectives sparingly (and, in conjunction with that, he also reminded me of the fact that Sei Shonagon – whom I prefer over Murasaki Shikibu – loved lists, just like me). I think this is true, and a lot of the beauty in Japanese poetry comes exactly from this fact. I don’t know a lot of those poems but their beauty used to strike me. Now I get why.
With that said, aren’t Sei Shonagon’s lists just marvelous? (Genji Monogatari’s excessive rapes are nothing compared to this.) To me, she is almost as inspiring as Italo Calvino’s “If on a winter’s night a traveler” was. Also, she’s meaner than Gossip Girl.
Besides certain details (cats and the references to “La Jetée” and to “Vertigo” within the film) there is not much worthwhile in this film, and most people are probably better off just seeing “La Jetée”, which is a masterpiece.