KGB Productions

I started another blog, but I don't want to abandon this blog.  They say the more you write the better you get, so I've double downed.  Being relevant in the 21st century is important.  Both on a personal level as well as on a career level.  I will not abandon this blog just because I've had so much fun doing it, and it's because of this blog I've meet and talked with some pretty awesome folks.  I will try and review more films since I like doing it, and though I'm no Roger Ebert I do enjoy it.  Being a filmmaker of sorts I find it hard to hate a film or not enjoy a film.  It either works for me or it doesn't.  I was always taught constructive criticism will make you better.  In a culture of attacking ideas and thoughts I find that counter-productive. I have always loved and admired the " French New Wave " because of their collaboration with each other as well as their competitiveness towards each other.  They produced some radical...

When I feel a bit less inspired I try and find films that inspire me, and that sometimes means going back.   Breathless by Jean Luc Godard is one of those films.  I did see it while in film school, but I've grown to admire it more and more, and after seeing it again the movie reverberates through me in what good cinema is.    For those who cannot get over Godard's style I understand that it may not be your cup of tea, but Godard is one of the more innovative directors of the era then most.  In each film he pushes cinema a bit further in what he thinks it should be.  Sometimes it's entertainment, but most times there is a message.  In a way it's a feeling, a response he wants to get out of his audience, and Breathless certainly does that.  From its cinematography to its editing the film has a feeling of restlessness.  Even in the sequences where the characters talk about nothing in particular.  To Godard these scenes are important, ...

It's been a time of reflection and re-tooling for me. Getting back to basics and picking up a few new media tools. I've been reading "Everything is Cinema: The working life of Jean-Luc Godard" by Richard Brody. I've always been fascinated and have admired the French New Wave.  To me nothing in the cinema has been as innovative as the French New Wave.  Sure there have been great films made since the New Wave, but not since that time has cinema become as innovative or as intellectualized since the New Wave.  New terminology was thought of, and new theories had been discussed and discovered.  Maybe I romanticize the era too much but I do know that time was a time of innovation, and experimentation. It's what I'm doing or trying to do.  Just trying some new stuff, and getting a bit more schooled in new ways of doing things.  Here's an interview of Godard.

1977 Interview with Eric Rohmer from zenfoolio on Vimeo . Eric Rohmer died on Monday at the age of 89. He was considered one of the pioneers of the French New Wave, and a film maker I admired. His films are a bit difficult to get into. They are more conversation, and dialogue. But it is through these elements in his films that Rohmer did some pretty impressive work. I remember my first introduction to Rohmer in film class. The film was "My Night at Maud's", and after that it was films such as "Chloe in the Afternoon", "Pauline at the Beach", and "Claire's Knee" that cemented in my mind that Rohmer was an extraordinary artist. The best thing though is that Rohmer left us with a lot of really good films to watch and learn from. Adieu Mr. Rohmer. You will always be missed.