From: "Valerie Orpen" <mfgssvo2-AT-fs1.art.man.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 14:10:32 BST
Subject: Re: too long or too fast?


Rutger, 

I see what you mean but I don't quite agree. If anything, my recent 
experience has been the opposite to yours: I find that films are 
getting increasingly slow and long-winded. A 90-minute film has 
become a fantasy of mine. I am sick and tired of the demands made on 
my time. Perhaps this is because I am an overworked (British) 
academic, but I recently (for the first time in my life) curtailed 
the viewing of a 3-hour film (I left after 2 hours) because I simply 
had to catch up on sleep! Call me selfish but when watching films 
becomes a chore and a duty, it's the beginning of the end. Lita 
Coucher argued that fast-paced films are influenced by Internet 
culture, but the Internet is *slow*, so slow in fact, so frustrating 
and infuriating that people are rediscovering books and hard copy 
newspapers because they're so much faster.

Conversely, I find that 'old' films, e.g. screwball comedies (His 
Girl Friday) are so sharp, quick and witty that I seem to miss half 
the dialogue if I don't pay attention.

This said, I agree that attention spans are shrinking. My students 
would testify to that. But then who *are* those millions of people 
who coped with 3 hours 20 minutes of Titanic (because I wasn't one 
of them)?...

'The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of 
the human bladder' (paraphrasing the great Alfred Hitchcock).

Valerie.


Date:          Tue, 30 Jan 2001 17:47:34 -0800 (PST)
From:          rutger h cornets de groot <cornets-AT-yahoo.com>
Subject:       too long or too fast?
To:            film-theory-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Reply-to:      film-theory-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu

It seems that the worst thing that can be said about a
movie nowadays is that it is too long or to slow. For
years, I used to object to that notion, simply because
there are many excellent movies that are long and
slow. Seeing some of these classic movies again for
the second or third time, however, I find I have to
admit to a certain kind of discomfort. They actually
*do* take long! And I am not just talking Bergman or
Antonioni here, I'm talking Taxi Driver, The Shining,
and many other great movies that had me poised on the
edge of my seat when I first saw them. Paradoxically
said, I can't keep up with that pace anymore. If you
can't believe me, go check for yourself.
It's not that these movies are no good anymore, they
can still be watched and enjoyed. They're great
movies. It's just that you can't make movies like that
anymore. There is a need for speed.
Last night at the Film Festival in Rotterdam, I've
found that this need for speed has brought about a new
way of film making altogether. In Miike Takashi's
latest, the action packed 'City of Lost Souls',
virtually every scene is interrupted, even before we
know what's going on. Men approach each other, they
take out their guns, start shooting and <CUT!> it's
time for another scene again. It's like we don't even
want to know anymore.
The style of shooting and editing is called Manga and
it's very much like Oriental cooking: a lot of
preparation and only a few seconds of actual cooking
in very hot oil. I will admit that I liked it a lot.
It is wild. It's like a drug. But I also regret not
being able to appreciate the old tempo anymore. And I
am wondering where this is going to end. How fast can
we go? Soon, we'll wind up having an essentially empty
screen, a blur, a painting. Then, finally, time, that
silly factor that cinema is so dependent of, will play
no role anymore.
Comments?

====APROPOS - Rutger H Cornets de Groot, Writer, Translator
English-Dutch Freelance Translation Services
Essays on Film, Art, Literature, Philosophy
a p r o p o s
http://sites.netscape.net/aproposr/apropos
cornets-AT-xs4all.nl / cornets-AT-yahoo.com
"The quality of a good translation can never be captured by the original".

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