Under the Kanopy: Two with Michel Piccoli

Paula G.O. — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 19:36:46 +0000

By Craig J. Clark

You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet (Alain Resnais, 2012)

On May 12, the great and greatly prolific French actor Michel Piccoli died at the age of 94. With hundreds of screen credits to his name, from 1945 to 2015, Piccoli was a fixture of French cinema who worked with nearly every major director in the French film industry, often multiple times. He didn’t cross paths with New Wave fixture Alain Resnais until both were in the twilight of their careers, though, when Resnais cast Piccoli as himself in his penultimate feature. Based on two plays by French playwright Jean Anouilh, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet starts with a baker’s dozen actors being summoned to the home of a deceased playwright whose version of Eurydice they've all performed in at one time or another. To their surprise, they’ve been assembled to view a recording of a new avant-garde production of the play, but instead of idly watching, the actors – starting with Piccoli, who played Orpheus’s father – begin reciting their dialogue and interacting with the performers onscreen. And Resnais doesn’t stop there, employing digital effects to make people appear and disappear and split screens when multiple actor pairs are playing the same scene simultaneously. It’s all part of the gamesmanship that has been part of the director’s modus operandi going back to 1961’s Last Year at Marienbad (which doesn’t feature Piccoli, but is still worth checking out and puzzling over).

Death in the Garden (Luis Buñuel, 1956)

One of Michael Piccoli’s most fruitful collaborations was with Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel, with whom he made six films in all. The first was Death in the Garden, a French/Mexican co-production for which Buñuel toned down his surrealistic tendencies to tell a story set in an unnamed South American state where a government takeover of the diamond mines gets the prospectors who have staked their claims all riled up. That leads to complications for a number of people just passing through, including Piccoli’s Father Lizardi, a Catholic missionary who’s eager to take up his post with a Native Indian tribe deep in the jungle. When the miners’ rebellion tips over into violence, Father Lizardi joins four other French nationals – a prostitute played by top-billed Simone Signoret, a grizzled prospector played by Charles Vanel and his deaf-mute daughter, and a rugged loner played by Georges Marchal – on the next boat heading out of town. Unfortunately for all of them, when they're forced to cut through the jungle they're deprived of their provisions and they really aren't up to the task of surviving without them. To say Father Lizardi’s faith gets tested along with everyone else’s would be an understatement.

After Death in the Garden, Piccoli reunited with Buñuel for 1964’s Diary of a Chambermaid and could be counted on to pop up in roles both large and small in Belle de Jour, The Milky Way (in which Piccoli plays the Marquis de Sade), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and The Phantom of Liberty. He even dubbed the voice of Spanish actor Fernando Rey in Buñuel’s final film, That Obscure Object of Desire, in which the female lead is played in alternating scenes by two different actresses. Sounds like something Alain Resnais would cook up.

Reviews: Ex Libris & After Midnight

Paula G.O. — Mon, 18 May 2020 12:48:39 +0000

by Craig J. Clark

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (Frederick Wiseman, 2017)

Got a lot of time to fill? Then Frederick Wiseman is your man. Over a career stretching back more than half a century – from 1967’s Titicut Follies (filmed at the Massachusetts State Prison for the Criminally Insane) to 2018’s Monrovia, Indiana (filmed after Wiseman’s visit to Indiana University in 2017) – Wiseman has directed dozens of fly-on-the-wall documentaries on all manner of communities and institutions, both public and private. Of those, a whopping 42 are streaming on Kanopy and the majority have a running time of at least two hours, with a handful clocking in at more than three.

Ex Libris is one of the latter, but since it’s about the largest public library system in the country, it more than justifies its length. From board meetings to author events to outreach programs and even a look behind the scenes at the main branch’s massive sorter system, Ex Libris is a great reminder of all the things libraries do for their communities and the hard work that goes into keeping them going. Also, right now it’s one of Kanopy’s “Credit-Free Viewing” selections, so if you choose to immerse yourself in it, it won’t count as one of your play credits.

After Midnight (Jeremy Gardner & Christian Stella, 2019)

The last film I saw in theaters before stay-at-home orders were put in place, After Midnight is a monster movie that doubles as a relationship drama. Or is it a relationship drama disguised as a monster movie? The long, unbroken take in the back half wherein estranged couple Hank (writer/co-director Jeremy Gardner) and Abby (Brea Grant) air their grievances and then some while awaiting the arrival of the monster Hank has been fighting off single-handed every night for a month tilts After Midnight in the direction of the latter. There's more than enough monster action in the front half, though, even if local cop Shane (producer Justin Benson) remains steadfastly skeptical about its existence and Hank's drinking buddy Wade (Henry Zebrowski, the film's MVP) is unhelpfully susceptible to conspiracy theories.

Following the dictates of a low-budget monster movie, Gardner and co-director Christian Stella keep their creature off-screen for the most part, but its presence is palpable throughout, from the deep scratches in Hank's front door to the patch of blood it leaves behind when he manages to wound it. All the while, Gardner and Stella cut in flashbacks to Hank and Abby in happier times, which make plain why her absence is as distressing for him as the creature's nightly assaults.

After Midnight is now available on Hoopla.