The White Ribbon...

Adam J McKay

Adam J McKay

Veteran
Holy Crow...

I was blessed to be able to see this film last night at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

For those unaware, The White Ribbon is Michael Haneke latest film. A BNW period piece set in a small village pre WW1. It was the winner of the Palme D'or this year at Cannes.

If you have the chance, watch this movie...more than once. It proved to me yet again how un cinematic western cinema tends to be. Left me speechless. I don't want to say much more.

IMDB Plot Summary:
"Strange events happen at a rural school in the north of Germany during the year 1913, which seem to be ritual punishment. Does this affect the school system, and how does the school have an influence on fascism?"

Anyone get a chance to see it?
 
No, but when I saw previews coming out of Cannes earlier this year I got intrigued. I've only seen Haneke's two versions of Funny Games, but I'd like to see Cache, the Piano Teacher and Benny's Video before I see this one.


Side note: I find it strange that Black and White photography is so rare in film these days. It's considered an alternative kind of choice- like it's the "other". You rarely see a director make a string of black and white films nowadays, Jim Jarmusch is the only recent major director I can think of right now that has used black and white consistently over his career (maybe Soderbergh? And Bela Tarr?). Anyway...I guess what kind of irks me is that people find this film to look so beautiful, then compare it to Bergman, Dreyer, etc, as if it's some throwback to the old times.

How about Black and White never left and we need more black and white films. NOT because of their beauty- but because of their simplicity and the fact that they transmit the bare essentials.

Sorry, just saying.
 
I haven't had a chance to see this one yet (though I should be sometime soon) but I like Haneke's films generally and expect it to be great.

On the subject of contemporary B&W films, I think it's almost always a financial consideration that prevents more filmmakers from using it - I'm sure many would like to if they could freely choose it. But foreign/art type films in particular are dependent on funding from many different sources, and often doing rights presales to various television networks around the world. Adding black and white into the mix complicates matters because various potential sources of funding might object because their managers don't acquire new B&W films as a matter of policy. Even the Coens, when they made The Man Who Wasn't There, shot it on color stock and actually delivered a color version to a few territories who otherwise would've passed on the film. The film looks gorgeous as-is but it probably could've looked even better had they used real B&W stock.

Beyond the financial realm, B&W is almost always used today as a way of conveying the past - whether in brief flashbacks in otherwise color films, or in something like Spielberg's Schindler's List. Rare is it that a filmmaker has the luxury of filming B&W just because they find it aesthetically preferable for a certain project. Hopefully attitudes about this will change in the future, but I kind of doubt it. Black and white could very well remain a specialty, niche thing that you only see in rare circumstances, kind of like you only see a few films in academy ratio anymore. It's just the reality of the marketplace.

Also, jpastuch, I would suggest watching The Seventh Continent or Code Unknown (or Cache and Piano Teacher) before Benny's Video, which is really a low point in his work in my opinion. But if you've seen both versions of Funny Games and are still interested in seeing more, perhaps Benny's Video won't be as traumatizing for you ;)
 
Bah, I'm not talking about marketplace, I was talking about artists. I don't care if cinematographers find this to be heresy: Film it in color video and turn it black and white. Use an HD camera. Use a DVX. It doesn't matter. The important thing is using it as an artistic choice, not a reason to show off how much you love Sven Nykvist. The big thing in the marketplace is shitty horror movies, robots, wizards and pirates. Best to ignore such things.

And as for Haneke, well, Funny Games didn't shock me. Not sure why I saw both versions, as I was warned they were the same exact film. I saw the whole thing as just a big joke he was playing on people who love torture porn...which I don't. I find it boring. So, uh, basically Funny Games aside, I'm interested in Haneke because of his critical acclaim really. I'll try to fit him into my Netflix this year.
 
Well, at the level of "just shoot it on a DVX however you want, but just make the darn thing" I'm certain there are probably hundreds if not thousands of contemporary pieces shot in B&W. If you want to make a B&W film, you can make it - one way or another. That's the freedom recent upheavals in technology have given us - but the other question, that of whether anyone will ever actually see it, remains more uncertain.

As an aside I actually like digital B&W a lot when it's done right - for one thing it makes any noise in the image, or weakness in the color sampling in general, fairly moot. Just wanted to point out that even someone as well-established as the Coens couldn't, or wouldn't, ignore the realities of shooting B&W today. I don't much like the marketplace either, but it is what it is.
 
Wow !

I just watched the international trailer (without subtitles). I don't understand a word of German but it really made me want to see it.

I'll keep an eye out for it.
 
Seems it doesn't reach Los Angeles theaters until the end of December. Will certainly check it out once it opens here.
 
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