Diva
Zoot alors!! Ah, 1980’s French movies. I’m guessing that like me, you had a friend with a ‘Betty Blue‘ poster on their wall and a massive crush on Beatrice Dalle or Isabelle Adjani, or indeed both in my case. Predominant of the period was the so called ‘Cinema du look’ movement which critics at the time complained were visually arresting but empty and pointless texts, with films such as ‘Nikita‘, ‘Subway‘, ‘Diva‘ and ‘The Big Blue‘ tarnishing France’s proud cinema history. I seem to recall similar allegations that were aimed at the likes of Ridley Scott and Michael Mann, no doubt by the same cadre of critics who see cinema as more of a literary, theatrical model than a purely visual, aesthetic tool.
‘Diva‘ is the second movie I’ve seen as part of the South Banks European ‘Twilight & Treachery’ noir season and I was pleasantly surprised. I hadn’t seen the film for something like twenty years and whilst it occasionally merited some unintended laughter, it was good fun with a strong climax. The story centres on an opera-mad postal messenger, Jules who surreptitiously bootlegs a performance by his idol Cynthia Hawkins, an African-American soprano on tour in Paris. This cassette soon gets confused with another which is secretly pressed in Jules possession by a hooker on the run from a pair of assassins, a tape which details a major police controlled drug and smuggling ring. The tapes place Jules and his two unusual friends, a female Vietnamese photography student and, well some sort of weird Parisian philosopher into a noirish quagmire of treachery and homicide…
Considering its generation, it stands up quite well and doesn’t look too terribly dated like some films of the 1980’s. It displays many of the accoutrements of the era – generous use of neon strip lighting, plenty of reflections in chrome and mirrored sunglasses, pseudo pop-art painting murals. There is a cringe worthy scene with Jules and Cynthia wondering around a park which looks like a mid-eighties perfume or car advert but I reminded myself that the film came first, not the advert. Always remember that advertising ‘creatives’ are nothing more than cultural vandals, stripping and appropriating the visions of others from the visual (and other) arts, repackaging them into their ‘artistic vision’ to hawk their products. Fucking thieving scum, each and every one of ’em.
Picked this up from the BFI bookstore, a book I’ve been meaning to read for quite a while. It’s Biskind’s follow-up to the seminal ‘Easy Rider’s, Raging Bulls‘ which is one of the most informative, entertaining and interesting film books I’ve read. Already ‘Down & Dirty is proving to be just as gripping – Biskind in the first twenty pages has set out the environment for the early 90’s indie movie explosion by summarising the ‘primordial swamp of alternative cinema that emerged in the 80’s, an era where the likes of Hal Hartley, Jim Jarmush, Alison Anders, Jonathan Demme (whom I’m seeing at a BFI event next week), Spike Lee and the great John Sayles’ all emerged to build the foundations for the Tarantino’s, Soderburgh’s, Rodriquiz’s, Ang Lee’s, Todd Solondz, PT Anderson’s, Darren Aronofsky etc. of this world. It’s quite rightly focusing on the twin strands of Miramax and Sundance, the two most critical facets of the film ‘movement’. Terrific, addictive stuff with some fantastic behind the scenes gossip and production stories coupled with a feeling for the industry and culture in which it developed.
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