Such a strange little film, but I definitely enjoyed it. One thing I know for sure, only the French could pull off something this unapologetically artsy and unconventionally charming.

Wild Grass. 2009. Directed by Alain Resnais.

With the simple premise of a woman being robbed of her purse and wallet, Alain Resnais paints a masterpiece of a film. Eric Gautier’s creative cinematography and Mark Snow’s jazzy composition make this a feast for the senses. This film is easy on the eyes and ears. Sabine Azéma’s red hair and pale alabaster skin are always a treat to view. André Dussollier acts as the lead in a charismatic style. This film is well worth your time. It is listed as a drama, romance but I would add suspense. Its composition and pace are smooth yet circuitous like a mountain road with switchbacks that ultimately leads to a panoramic bird’s eye view. In Wild Grass, you can find lots of surprises.

Oddly enough, not the type of film that will necessarily "reveal" more on repeat viewings since it's more a purely thrilling free-form game than any sort of artistic statement. But it also happens to be one of the most invigorating such exercises, creating various emotional and psychological spheres and then colliding them with aplomb, in bursts of wild colour and a restless, ever-moving camera. Which is to say that it's one of those rare films where my attention hardly ever wavered. It's so hypnotic that Meaning is sort of immaterial; pure, unbridled imagination takes over. A surrealist high-wire act.

Wonderful, charming, delightful. Resnais employs a fantastical visual style with a consistently moving camera to nearly hypnotic effect. Unlike anything I've seen before. An ambiguous ending that feels like a punch line to a joke I wasn't quite ready for. I ain't seen nothin' yet.

Authorial introspection projected as blaring cinematic mechanisms, creating something radical in its refusal to express limitations between the realm of reality and its interpretation. An astonishingly exciting vision that could only come with the prescient appreciation of mortality, bathed in a history of personal envelopment with the image.

Insane that this was made and released. Bold in ways I didn’t expect. Very much a work of formalism, and it’s... uh... doing a lot of unexpected... things... its ending I’m still reeling at. It makes a really good joke involving a double cut-in as Eisenstein would do, and I thought it was funny how what appears as a slight nicety is turned into the end-of the world, it actually becomes just that and I’m laughing my ass off and am baffled.

I'm not entirely sure how to take this film. Are the characters supposed to be a bit unlikable? Is it a deconstruction of a romantic comedy? If so why does it sort of cycle back through to embracing the cliches of the genre. I am not sure but it feels like the point of the story is to say that love is to just stalk people and act crazy until they miss you bugging them. I'm cynical about romance myself but this is a bit too much for me. Unless of course it's not saying that and I missed the point in translation and it's making fun of those kinds of stories. The Beyond trilogy this is not, but maybe I'll revisit it after seeing a bit more from this director to understand their way of cinematic communicating. It was filmed nicely and the constant voice over made it feel like an audio book (in a good way).

So wacky. How does he do it? Helps to have great material, but its seriousness doesn’t detract from its nonserious and vice versa. Such a unique tone. And funny at all events.

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Literally can't escape Star Wars references at the moment.

So many cat munchies.

"after the cinema, nothing surprises you. anything can happen. it doesn't surprise you. anything can happen as naturally as possible."

Wild Grass. 2009. Directed by Alain Resnais.

With the simple premise of a woman being robbed of her purse and wallet, Alain Resnais paints a masterpiece of a film. Eric Gautier’s creative cinematography and Mark Snow’s jazzy composition make this a feast for the senses. This film is easy on the eyes and ears. Sabine Azéma’s red hair and pale alabaster skin are always a treat to view. André Dussollier acts as the lead in a charismatic style. This film is well worth your time. It is listed as a drama, romance but I would add suspense. Its composition and pace are smooth yet circuitous like a mountain road with switchbacks that ultimately leads to a panoramic bird’s eye view. In Wild Grass, you can find lots of surprises.

Such a strange little film, but I definitely enjoyed it. One thing I know for sure, only the French could pull off something this unapologetically artsy and unconventionally charming.

This strange little Resnais puzzler was one I couldn't quite piece together, but I loved giving it a shot. It really felt like I was being messed with here. The relationships didn't make sense, the motivations of the characters are confusing, and no real theme emerges. And that's before a completely enigmatic ending that manages to connect cat food to the whole thing. And by "connect," I mean "not really have any clear connection whatsoever."

I thought the movie was funny with more than a few quiet visual thrills. And I'm not just talking about all the shots of women's feet. But yes, I am definitely talking about them as well.

In a way, this reminded me of Quentin Dupieux's work. It's got a similar absurdist flavor that you might like if you're into that guy's work.

Why do I feel like a lot of modern day French + Italian films just try so insanely hard to idolize and beautify objectively creepy old men !!

A los 87 años Resnais había perdido densidad, pero ni un ápice de inventiva o de capacidad subversiva.
Un maravilloso uso de los colores, el montaje y los niveles de la narración para tejer un enigmático relato que esconde muchas capas, y la más recóndita, la romántica. El maestro francés revela pleno conocimiento del lenguaje cinematográfico, y lo vemos en escenas como la de la cena con los hijos del protagonista, representada desde fuera de la casa. Un solo plano, que entabla distancia del espectador respecto al núcleo familiar, anticipa lo que sucederá, como es la llamada telefónica de la mujer.
Es fascinante que con la resolución nos quedamos con la idea de que los gestos de la película pertenecen a otro tiempo.

libidinous issues (mais c bo)

Film Monthly Topic December 2020 - Absurdist films
hosted by Hansiro
You can see the whole list for the FMT here and join the discord here

An absurd love story with an incredibly sad ending.