FROM DAMON’S DESK: IMPORTANT CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY FILMS…

This is a ridiculously good piece with an ovewhelming number of possible points for discussion. 

 

Criterion whether they want to or not, and I think they don't, are seen more as curators of the artform rather than a simple company that puts out great disks. Them adding something like that feels like they're announcing it as a classic in the making rather than as simply an interesting, even great, movie. Of course that's not their problem but something like that was predetermined to stir up a lot of discussion.

 

I also think I share your feeling that maybe I'm overreacting defending certain female film makers. It's just that some of the criticisms come from such a nakedly bad place that I instictively go into defense mode.

 

Finally, on the other hand I have to say that the Woody Allen defense is simply nonsense. Even discounting all the movies he made prior to his Woodier stuff, he was an established and quite unique voice for many years whether through his stand-up or his writing. I spend an inordinate anount of time online, reading and talking about movies but this is the first time I've ever hear of Dunham. They're simply nothing alike.

 

Again, great piece.

I agree with pretty much everything you said in that piece (which is great by the way).  There is an insane backlash against females directors, especially if they are confident and speak openly/write about issues that teenage nerds may not understand.

 

And I think that is part of the problem, a lot of the hate comes from people not being mature enough to understand the material.

 

On another note I will fight anyone to the death who says "The Rock" is not worthily of Criterion treatment.

And that's part of the attitude that does just as much damage as the misogynists. Undeserving works are elevated so that we ourselves can feel enlightened, boldly declaring to the Neanderthals, "but... but... but... girl filmmakers can do stuff good, too!" In the end our own responses are just as much about shallow gender politics as those of the misogynists. Moreover, there is the rather gleeful anti-intellectualism that pervades our society: any time you try to point out a bad attitude, you are automatically branded an apologist for the other side, regardless of the actual point you are making.

I know it's too much to ask that we simply look at a piece of art for what it is, without shoe-horning our own social bugaboos (right or left) into it, but that doesn't make the resulting analysis any less patronizing, and it certainly doesn't help the artist nearly as much as we'd hope.

I agree that criterion may not really want to be the arbiter of quality that it has been labeled, but it is doing itself no favors. I guess the person I feel for in all of this is the director. I can't get past Damon's point about her still-forming voice. This doesn't sound like a Wes Anderson situation. Is this her only shot? In ten or twenty years, is this the film she'll want to represent her work in the "hallowed" Criterion list?

Wonderful piece Damon. Someone who doesn't understand this form of the inside baseball can only shrug at this but you really outlined how perilous this whole minefield can be to negotiate.

Wow, what an incredible piece of rhetoric. This article is like the nexus of the "Jennifer's Body Post-Release" and "How to fix the boards?" threads. There's been a lot of talk lately about CHUD lacking a guiding voice after Devin's departure, but this feels like Damon staking a claim. Commendable work my friend.

 

Speaking of the former, the Diablo Cody argument was what immediately sprang to mind. There's been much made of the fact that she is a former stripper, and although I want to see Tiny Furniture (thanks for bringing it to my attention!), it stands out that the movie is about a character so starved for sex. The Sweetest Thing springs to mind, as although it's a crappy movie, it got attention at the time for being a gross-out movie about sex-starved women. Sex and the City, of course, gets criticized for the same deal (see the "Sex in the City 2" thread for the slut argument).

 

Penny Marshall's gender is rarely questioned, as her movies play it safe in the rom-com category. And isn't that what's to be expected of women? The Virgin Suicides, meanwhile, has the male lead so the girls are kept at a distance. I suppose Lexi Alexander fits into the same category as Kathryn Bigelow, as her movies (Green Street Hooligans and Punisher: War Zone) have amped up the machismo in, what, an attempt to fit into man's world?

 

Ahhh, my thoughts are scattered. I need to see this movie now.

 

Great article, Damon. I will say that the trailer makes this look hideously bad, like a third-rate Garden State, which is saying something. It seems like every quirky indie cliche wrapped in a twee little package. I don't care if it was directed by a woman, I just want a good movie, which this doesn't seem to be. Then again, Chasing Amy (while not terrible) is a Criterion, so what do I know.

Great article, Damon.

 

But what surprised me the most about Criterion's announcement was the Criterion head actually saying "Certified Copy" was, verbatim, "minor Kiarostami" and not worthy of Criterion status. What a catty queen.

Nice one Damon. I thought your questions and points about the way we take in the voices of artists coming from privelege, as Sofia Coppola and Jason Reitman have done, were particularly good.

Thanks!