April/May 2004 |
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Dark
in the Shot
Journal
entry, March 16th
After a brief credit sequence overlaid
by some beguiling piano music, there follows a lengthy near-monochrome
sequence of two men on a mountainside. They are shown creeping around in the
dark and appear to be searching for something. They are crouching
and fear can be seen in their faces: evidently they are scared of
being discovered and of having their task interrupted. Often they lose their footing on the
loose surface of the slope, which appears to be made of ash or something
very like it. The inadequate, crepuscular light is
complemented by the indistinct, murmuring sound. Although the dialogue
cannot be heard clearly, it seems to be neither the Australian English
of Kirbys homeland or any dialect from his adopted France. It
could be an eastern European language. At the end of this sequence - the only
extract shown at the special preview screening I attended - the one
character seems genuinely terrified by the on-camera disappearance
of his companion. If the man was acting, he was extremely convincing. Like all Kirbys films it is enticing,
hypnotic, stylish but disconcerting. "It defies categorisation"
as the critics would say. Cant see the wood,
Kali magazine, April Kirbys over-long "Oakwood" appears
to confound expectations at every turn. His usual stylistic tics are
missing, replaced instead by a luscious and extraordinary parade of
set-pieces. Its tale of an expatriate mountaineers attempt to
conquer the highest peak of his adopted country is often taken as
a metaphor for the directors own exile and ambition. One critic has suggested that the film is a documentary
about abductions and kidnappings and it is true that there are a large
number of just such mysterious events during the film. The same critic
cites the appearance in one shot of a copy of Rael Cesares Dictionary
of Disappearances, published in 1989, as proof of this.
Yet no bibliography can be found that lists this volume. Others have pointed out that if this theory were true
it would be the only documentary that Kirby has made, to anyones
knowledge. Another argument points to the uniformity of the film stock
and claims it indicates the footage was all shot by Kirby - and he
would have had to possess phenomenal luck to have been on the spot
when so many unusual occurrences took place. Possibly Kirbys
choice of non-professional actors for the lead roles has given rise
to the documentary theory. Like all Kirbys films, it is an enigma.
A different texture, Evening View, April 19th Kirbys latest film is not a proper film at all but a compilation of clips from several of his other films. "Assemblage" includes most of the famous sequences from the directors past work but with one important difference: either a vital line of dialogue has been removed or the sequence ends before it reaches its climax. In one section the lead actress face has been covered with a black mask - added in post-production - so that her facial expressions cannot be seen. Several people in the audience denounced Kirby loudly and accused him of perpetrating some sort of hoax on them. They failed to understand that the films no longer matter to Kirby: he is simply using them to formulate his own algebra of absence. Like all Kirbys films, "Assemblage" is a lexicon of loss.
Journal entry, May 24th Fascinatingly, the notes accompanying the new DVD release of Kirbys fourth film, "Renown", reveal that the diary shown throughout the film - supposedly belonging to the lead character - is Kirbys own. Viewing the film again in this light, it is clear that many pages of the diary have been extensively revised or even ripped out altogether. This tale of a down-at-heel composer who accidentally saves a billionaire from being shot during a bungled bank robbery and who then helps the man search for his missing daughter is my least favourite of all Kirbys films.
Kirbys final trophy, Expressions pamphlet, June 6th The uxorious Kirby has only made one film since the loss of his wife to a hit-and-run driver in Copenhagen six years ago (the episode of the French ship-board drama "Celeste" that he co-directed is not usually considered part of his oeuvre). He appears in "Trophies" often, lurking Hitchcock-like in the background of a shot but never failing to stare directly at the camera; a tatterdemalion figure with a frowning, dark face. Nevertheless you have to know hes there to see him. This tale of a proud horseman, deranged by the loss of his entire family to cancer, riding around the streets of Paris and causing havoc on the Metro until hunted down by the police is usually viewed as his personal response to tragedy. The extraordinary sexual content of the film can be read as a reaction to the loss of his own lifelong partner. It is difficult to assess which "Trophies" either Kirby or his central character, Lescalles, think they have won. Like all Kirbys films, it has not been made. Since he recently vanished while traveling on the Tokyo underground system, this situation is likely to remain unchanged. Kirby has become a page torn from his own diary. |