San Francisco Museum of Modern Art...Director Haskell Wexler hailed @ "Exposed" film series!



Film buffs warmly received filmmaker Haskell Wexler last night at the Castro Theater at a screening of his feature "Medium Cool".

"I got emotional just seeing my film again on screen," he confessed to the audience with a touch of sentiment in his distinctive speaking voice later in the evening when the lights went up and he trotted on to the stage to take a bow.

The screening was part of a film series running in tandem with a major exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art titled:

Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera since 1870

According to the curators, the main thrust of the the provocative series is to cast a light on the - "shifting boundaries between seeing and spying, the private act, and the public image" - that challenge the viewer to consider how the camera has transformed the very nature of looking.

The series has attempted to accomplish this lofty feat by focusing on a collection of contemporary photographs, films, and video works (by both unknown photographers and internationally renowned artists) with the ultimate aim of examining the camera's most unsettling uses (including pornography, surveillance, stalking celebrity, and witnessing violence).

In a nutshell, the ambitious curators have sought to pose compelling questions about who is looking at whom and why.

The Wexler flick - which unfolded in a stream-of-consciousness documentary kind-of-style - turned an insightful lens on events leading up to the Chicago riots in the heady 60's.

The silver-haired auteur (a respected documentarian and cinematographer who worked Oscar award-winning films such as the drama "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf") fessed up at one point - during the informative Q & A session - that a handful of scenes (where a young mother searches for her son) were weak.

"The critics didn't like the end, either," he recalled to the rapt audience.

Of course, he was referring to a shot where a motorist takes a photograph of a tragic accident on the highway, as he drives by.

"We all end up in someone's film," he explained in his defense.

Wexler approached the project the way he did - in part - for economic reasons.

But, stressed bottom-line - that he blended fiction and reality in the storyline - for good reason.

"Everyone sees reality through their own lens."

Although, some of the footage is compelling, overall "Medium Cool" fails as a feature.

The drama is disjointed, sometimes lacks focus, and at times can't seem to decide what it wants to be in the final analysis.

The talented artist (with a knack for a celluloid language which consists primarily of images that often resonate profoundly) appeared to be making a commentary on the role of the news media one moment, while issuing up a cautionary tale about the horrors of "War" the next.

"Anyone who was anti-war was anti-establishment. And, the media was in on it," he asserted to the audience.

Some anecdotes caused the fans to roar.

"I wish I could remember some of the comments censors made about the nudity. The genitals bobbing up and down and that sort-of-thing," he wicked laughed in amusement.

The filmgoers - consisting of movie buffs and budding movie-makers - reacted with knee-jerk enthusiasm when he recalled being treated as the "enemy" by officials and Law Enforcement personnel on location in Chicago during the shoot.

"Because I wore blue jeans, I was the enemy."

I recall when I caught sight of the first promos for "Medium Cool" a few weeks ago at the Castro Theater, that they were so melodramatic in nature, when compared to today's standards.

How did Wexler come to name his project "Medium Cool"?

"One of the actors in the militant scene suggested it. He recommended that I also read Marshall McLuhan. But, I didn't understand McLulan's writing. I thought the title was great, though."

Some of the scenes in the flick are so darn jarring and out-of-whack.

The project is pretty dated now, too, and doesn't hold up in my humble opinion.

In contrast, "Blow Up" (Michelangelo Antonioni)  - a second feature on the bill - was still timely.

Too bad Wexler left the theater before the screening, he may have learned something about excellence in filmmaking.

Over the weekend, a smattering of films are slated for the SFMOMA event, too, including "Streetwise", "Pretty Baby", "Lost Highway", and "Deep End".

Check the programs at the Castro Theatre or the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for details.

See 'ya there!

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Martin Scorsese discusses Antonioni...and the images!

A few months ago Michelangelo Antonioni passed away and there were a number of tributes paid to the Italian Director.

Although it was a few years ago, I vividly recall a number of the scenes from the feature - "Blow Up" - which affected me greatly both personally and professionally.

The film was set in the swinging sixties in London, England.

The images in the park still resonate; in particular, those of a mime playing a surreal game of tennis which casts nagging doubts in the mind about illusion and reality.

For their day the ideas were thought-provoking and ground-breaking.

The visionary auteur was capable of going beyond boundaries - and as a result - he exacted his own inimitable style.

For this reason, he was a director's director.

Martin Scorsese was asked to reflect on Antonioni's body of work.

In a discussion on "L'Aventura", Scorsese noted:

"His visual language was keeping us focusing on the rhythm of the world: the visual rhythms of light and dark, of architectural forms, of people positioned as figures in a landscape that always seemed terrifyingly vast. And there was that tempo, which seemed to be in sync with the rhythm of time, moving slowly, inexorably, allowing what I eventually realized were the emotional shortcomings of the characters - Sandro's frustration, Claudia's self-deprecation - quietly to overwhelm them and push them into another adventure, and then another, and another."

Further, he reflected that,

"His characters floated through life, on impulse to impulse, and everything was eventually revealed as a pretext: the search was for a pretext for being together, and being together was another kind of pretext, something that shaped their lives and gave them a kind of meaning."

Scorsese emphasized that Antonioni seemed to open up new possibilities with each new unveiling. For example, he points out that the last seven minutes of L'Eclisse were even more terrifying and eloquent than the final moments of an earlier picture considered part of a trilogy.

"Antonioni brings us face to face with time and space, nothing more, nothing less. And they stare right back at us. It was frightening. It was freeing. The possibilities of cinema are endless."

According to Scorsese - Antonioni realized something extraordinary - the pain of simply being alive. And, its mystery.

Kevin Thomas, a Los Angeles Times critic, noted:

"He had the uncanny ability to capture the undercurrents of a particular time and place."

This observation was particularly true in respect to "Zabriskie Point".

At a recent screening it became painfully obvious that in contrast to "Blow Up" - which remains timeless, in many respects - "Zabriskie" appears dated and locked in some-kind-of Twilight Zone.

Undoubtedly, it's due to the fact the piece is set in the turbulent sixties.

In this instant case, Antonioni's vision was hindered by his methods - the pregnant pauses, the off-kilter slant on realism - and ultimately - Zabriskie Point sank in a sea of dashed hopes and good intentions.

A lot of style without substance!

For the most part, the camera shots tended to be gimmicky, too.

This is particularly true in respect to one scene where an architect leans back in a comfortable easy-back chair. Antonioni elected to shoot up from below - strategically setting the character within a frame of his choosing - against a startling vivid blue sky in the background.

As a result, the direction is not seamless, but glaring instead.

In a scene at the sand dunes later, clever camerwork, awesome lighting, and remarkable filmmaking technique, evoke a surreal quality to the desert which is breathtaking. Antonioni's manipulation of the senses manages to conjure up scintillating images - but without legs to stand on - they fall flat. However, the scenes are seductive, none-the-less.

In many respects - "Zabriskie Point" - appears to be an experiment.

A psychedelic one, at that.

In sum, Antonioni's intriguing message appeared to be all about the shifting states of mind that struggle for safer ground.

For a number of bang-on reasons, critics quickly panned the effort, unfortunately.

In my estimation, the obvious was overlooked for the most part.

Antonioni captured the mood of the era, and the instinct of a younger generation, seemingly so distant now.

Today, the celluloid moments - precious as they are in a biographical or historical sense - jump out like a sore thumb but are relevant none-the-less.

In sum, "Zabriskie Point" is a little clunky and unnatural in form.

But, the images are intriguing to watch.

For Scorsese they are,

"Images that continue to haunt me, inspire me. To expand my sense of what it is to be alive in the world."

Ah, there's a heightened sense of that aliveness, for sure!