hi all,
I just saw 2 really great french situationist films, both
masterpieces of detournement, made in the 70s but newly
translated/subtitled to english by Keith Sanborn.
The first is Guy Debord's follow-up to his "Society of the
Spectacle", called "Refutations of All Judgements", in which
he savagely lambasts anyone who didn't like the first film,
and even some who did. a dense and clever collage of images
and voices and pointed barbs. "cinema specialists
criticized my film for being bad politics. politicals
criticized it for being bad cinema."
Second was "Girls of Kamare", the second film by Rene
Vienet, who made the classic "Can Dialectics Break Bricks?".
Instead of detourning kung-fu film, this time he hijacks
some japanese porn, which is already pretty out-there, ala
Russ Meyer. But he adds hilarious and biting text, full of
situationist theory, marxism, critical theory, semiotics,
and more.
here's a great example of some dialogue, between the
Director of the girl's prison and his secretary as they
engage in a heavy makeout session:
him: "Your signifier is the same as your signified.
Just be sure to wash out your structure."
her: "I will, as soon as I shine my Saussures."
here's more info, a review from the SF Bay Guardian:
http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/36/03/tiger.html
i highly recommend these, especially "Girls of Kampare" -
it's not distributed, at least yet, so your best bet is if
you live in a large cultural center where Craig Baldwin, or
some other friend of Sanborn's, might show up (a Google
search shows that Craig screened it in Austin a few
weeks ago).
btw, "Can Dialectics Break Bricks" is much easier to find,
at least in the States (and, I assume, France), so at least
rent that if you haven't seen it already. Both Vienet films
are testament to how powerful the simple, non-collage form
of detournement - just adding new dialog to a complete work
- can be.
smh
Steev Hise, Wannabe Has-Been
steevATdetritus.net http://detritus.net/steev
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