tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1250324745932561231.post5654757600610921438..comments2023-11-19T10:38:36.512-06:00Comments on Film Walrus Reviews: Iceberg Arena: Olympia, Olympiad, OlympicsFilmWalrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14822833888119348361noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1250324745932561231.post-33211318736319828192007-03-03T07:46:00.000-06:002007-03-03T07:46:00.000-06:00To be perfectly honest, I tend to prefer fiction f...To be perfectly honest, I tend to prefer fiction films, too. But I've been dealing with regional film archives over here, which have very little fictional material. They're all full of home movies and local news and hundred year old films of city streets and town pageants. I think it's really increased my appreciation of the sorts of movies that aren't strictly entertainment.<BR/><BR/>I only wish I'd seen enough films to have a proper discussion with you on documentary style.Mollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00176114762806470466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1250324745932561231.post-87866883612058926652007-03-02T16:45:00.000-06:002007-03-02T16:45:00.000-06:00Thank you for all the thoughtful replies!patrick:I...Thank you for all the thoughtful replies!<BR/><BR/>patrick:<BR/>I think both are worth checking out even though I declared Ichikawa's the winner. They both have historical importance and artistic merit. Famed French documentariest Chris Marker debuted with a short film he made at the 1952 winter Olympics and it too is supposed to be good but it is very rare. I haven't seen it myself.<BR/><BR/>exactly why:<BR/>You have a very valid rant. It is sad that docs get short shrifted so often. I myself am guilty of giving preference to fiction films especially when it comes to laying down hard cash. I have so many gaps in my doc education to fill in. I also have much to say about how to rate/review documentaries but that's a post for another time.<BR/><BR/>As for the little details of life and local flavor, I tend to like that in documentaries too. Unlike the ubiquitous Paulettes (Ebert, Armond White, etc) I'm not a fanatic humanist but I like it when it's done well ("Forbidden Games" for instance). Alternatively, I also love the cold formalism of directors like Kubrick and Greenaway. This should probably also be a different post. Anyway, thanks for your heartfelt response!<BR/><BR/>Mad Dog:<BR/>You make an excellent point about the combination of commercialization and the sentimentalizing of the Olympics. Something about the slick editing and cookie-cutter format employed at the last few have really drained the intimate lives of the athletes of their emotional effect. Every story gets turned into a Lifetime special complete with music cues. Talk about saturation. Several critics have pointed out that it is probably not possible to ever have another work like Riefenstahl's or Ichikawa's. It's sad but likely true.FilmWalrushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14822833888119348361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1250324745932561231.post-53913188127640129322007-03-02T16:12:00.000-06:002007-03-02T16:12:00.000-06:00Wow, count me among the people that didn’t k...Wow, count me among the people that didn’t know there could be an artistic side to sports documenting. :P<BR/><BR/>Obviously I’ve never seen either film, but the way you described Ichikawa’s made me very interested in seeing what he came up with. For someone that really wouldn’t care less about the statistics of the events, I think it was a good move to try to find the human stories that dwell in these sorts of subjects, even though that sort of reporting has become rather crass as of late, with reporters going to great lengths to make sure the audience knows how amazing it is that this one-legged polio survivor is running the race in memory of his dead father who was also his coach.<BR/><BR/>What you said about looking at the losers as much or more than the winners also intrigued me. It seems like there’d be so much more to look at in someone that lost rather than the simple joy of winning, even if they’d been working towards it for most of their life. But maybe that’s the pessimist in me talking.Mad Doghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10716883645607032782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1250324745932561231.post-66515652091488115742007-03-02T15:47:00.000-06:002007-03-02T15:47:00.000-06:00What a great analysis. I had archive class all da...What a great analysis. I had archive class all day today, so please excuse the following rant: Like that Japanese Olympics committee, so many people fail to see documentary material as anything other than news where only the big events and final results are important. Even some film archives, especially commercial ones, junk or ignore the kind of human, intermediary material where, from what you say, Ichikawa seems to have found so much life. There is actually a problem in regional archives - they look for footage of the area but find that people kept coverage of obviously important national events but let footage of the local community slip away. To a historical documents as well as a work of art, the bits in between can be just as important.Mollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00176114762806470466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1250324745932561231.post-77203673134044245822007-03-02T09:51:00.000-06:002007-03-02T09:51:00.000-06:00Haha, good idea, Brian. I've only seen parts of Ri...Haha, good idea, Brian. I've only seen parts of Riefenstahl's work, but I was curious to see the rest - and now also Ichikawa's too.Pattihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17295562938792511228noreply@blogger.com