Picasso and the Cinema

Picasso was inspired by the cinema (Charles Chaplin, etc.). The cubistic and the montage connections between Picasso and the cinema are of the essence. - Henri-Georges Clouzot's masterpiece Le Mystère Picasso is one of the handful of the very best films made on painting. The priceless document focuses on Picasso's process of painting: the process is primary, the result is secondary. - Orson Welles's F for Fake includes an affectionate homage to Picasso ("art is a lie that can expose the truth") and cubism. There is an ironic commentary on forgery. Elmyr de Hory created fake paintings in styles of Picasso, managing at first to fool Picasso, himself. Picasso's astonished comment: "I can forge Picasso, myself, as well as anybody". - James Ivory's Surviving Picasso (1996) is based on the story (though not the memoir book) of Francoise Gilot. Anthony Hopkins is great as Picasso, Natascha McElhone is Francoise Gilot, Julianne Moore is Dora Maar, and Joss Ackland is Matisse. Ivory was not allowed to use Picasso's work! The heirs usually deny the permission. The film displays Elmyr de Hory -style fake Picassos in an interesting way. The Guernica sequence is amazing, as we never see the painting. - But if I were to select one film to represent the Picasso inspiration, it would be Jean Cocteau's Le Testament d'Orphée.

The Edge

100695 / 16 / US / 1997 / Tamahori, Lee / / adventure / thriller
Edge, The / Reunalla. © 20th Century Fox. P: Art Linson. D: Lee Tamahori. SC: David Mamet. DP: Donald M. McAlpine. CAST: Anthony Hopkins (Charles Morse), Alec Baldwin (Robert Green), Elle Macpherson (Mickey Morse), L.Q. Jones (Styles), Bart the Bear. Shot on location in Alberta, Canada. 117’. Scope. MPAA 35275. R = 17. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Staffans. DIST: Columbia Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Thursday 16 April 1998. *** ”Why is the rabbit not afraid? Because he’s smarter than the jaguar.” A good survival thriller about three men stranded in deepest Alaska forest after a plain crash. Anthony Hopkins is the millionaire who can never know whether others really like him and has had to learn to trust only his own resources. A bookworm, he learns to master the skills needed in the wilderness with no fire, no food, no shelter, and no weapons against the man-eating kodiak bear. Hopkins even learns to create fire with ice. - Visually majestic, with no razzle-dazzle. This is good solid story-telling, and it’s not even story-driven but character-driven.

Amistad

/ / US / 1997 / Spielberg, Steven / historical drama
Amistad / Amistad. © DreamWorks. P+D: Steven Spielberg. CAST: Djimon Hounsou (Cinque), Matthew McConaughey (Baldwin), Anthony Hopkins (John Quincy Adams). 152’. 1,85. Spoken in English and in Mende. Finnish subtitles by Janne Staffans. DIST: UIP Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Monday 19 January 1998. *** A pedagogical historical drama, a message picture about the 1839 Spanish slave ship rebellion of La Amistad. Meticulous production.