As we understood the different facets of art, an important medium couldn't be left out of the 'picture', yes i am talking about cinema!
This series of images that has encompassed people from different walks of life from time immemorial has been a great way to reach out to larger group of people with great ease and comfort. And so we sat to view 3 extremely moving films that usher and extrapolate emotions of awe, inspiration and love.
We started this trifecta of moving images with an episode of Simon Schama's Power Of Art which features in a documentary style of presentation the recreation of the lives of prolific artists ranging through a vivid timeline. The episode we chose to watch was that which revolved around the life of the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. A man with great zest and zeal in his form and moral structure, his principles were his priorities. Having been a great admirer of his work from a few years back, i was watching this film for about the 10th time and i felt no compulsion at any moment of the whole experience. I feel that this 1 hour documentary rather than preaching about his art techniques, concerns itself with the initial inspirations in the life of the artist, the humane behind the mask of incredulous achievements. Never does this specific documentary find myself at a more confident stance as it beautifully connects the humble life experiences of this great artist to his art. It rediscovers the art through the eyes of the artist, which is more than an aspirant could wish from a mentor.
This series of images that has encompassed people from different walks of life from time immemorial has been a great way to reach out to larger group of people with great ease and comfort. And so we sat to view 3 extremely moving films that usher and extrapolate emotions of awe, inspiration and love.
We started this trifecta of moving images with an episode of Simon Schama's Power Of Art which features in a documentary style of presentation the recreation of the lives of prolific artists ranging through a vivid timeline. The episode we chose to watch was that which revolved around the life of the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. A man with great zest and zeal in his form and moral structure, his principles were his priorities. Having been a great admirer of his work from a few years back, i was watching this film for about the 10th time and i felt no compulsion at any moment of the whole experience. I feel that this 1 hour documentary rather than preaching about his art techniques, concerns itself with the initial inspirations in the life of the artist, the humane behind the mask of incredulous achievements. Never does this specific documentary find myself at a more confident stance as it beautifully connects the humble life experiences of this great artist to his art. It rediscovers the art through the eyes of the artist, which is more than an aspirant could wish from a mentor.
The next film on the list was a completely fictional Hong Kong Film directed by Wong Kar-wai which revolved around the melancholy that was in the lives of different individuals that dwell, for a brief period of life, in the same apartment complex. Both wedded and abandoned by their respective spouses, find a strangely soothing relationship in the shadows of social constraints. It helps project the overly dramatised emotion of love in a very different offbeat manner. It slowly unfolds a poignant moment of realisation of an impending farewell. This film used a very skewed sense of time to describe the proportion of it to human emotions which don't know of such institutions.
The third of the selection was Pollock, a docu-fictional account of the famous Abstract Expressionist American painter Jackson Pollock, directed and played by Ed Harris. A completely dramatised version of the life of this prolific and largely controversial man, doesn't fail to reach out to the audience as they show him as the protagonist. It is an entertaining affair as the life of this artist unfolds in front of the audience.
In this process of watching and observing we understood three types of films which are : Documentary/Non Fiction, Docu-Fiction and Fiction. Under these categories along a discussion we realised how each one of us chose to interpret each style differently, holding safely a reason for such an acceptance. We learnt and understood to accept any discrepancies in the interpretation of many,