P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 1706:11
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ON 4-TEL
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 9726:24
2/17
REVIEW
Welcome to Take Four, 4-Tel's mini-
magazine devoted to films. /n the
following pages you can find:
- SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY Jackie Budd
reviews Wednesday night's British
premiere of this French film, about
a painter looking back on his life
after a visit by his family.
- GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE Michael Polling
previews the second in the series of
compilations of the best video
currently being prgduced. It's on
tomorrow at 11.10pm.
Edited by Michael Polling
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 1727:12
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REVIEW
REVIEW OF
WEDNESDAY'S FILM
COMING UP...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 1727:18
4/17
REVIEW
SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY
Wednesday's second presentatign in C4's
season of recent outstanding French
films is Bertrand Tavernier+s award-
winning Sunday In The Country.
It is a sensitive, sad, but wrily
humourous story of a single day in the
life of an ageing painter whose family
come to visit his country house in 1910
The idea is a simple one and the day
unremarkable. But Tavernier manages to
build up an engrossing, multi-layered
portrait of a family and the hopes,
fears and loneliness of old age.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 1727:31
5/17
REVIEW
SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY
Ladmiral, played by veteran French
actor Louis Ducreux, is a widower now
living alone with his housekeeper.
He still paints, and has pride in his
work. "I painted as I felt - with
honesty", he says. But somehow he
regrets he lacked the courage to break
tradition and join the Impressignist1.
He admired the work of Van Gogh and
Cezanne, but accepts he'll always
remain a minor artist in comparison.
But he has his family.
Mgre...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 9728:28
6/97
REVIEW
SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY
His staid son (Michel Aumont) and
pleasant but rather straight-laced wife
(Genevieve Mnich) and their three
children visit regularly.
The atmosphere is tranquil and cosy,
but somehow faintly lacking - until the
unexpected arrival, like a whirlwind,
of Ladmiral's daughter Irene.
A Parisian boutique-owner, Irene rarely
visits. She is vivacious and beautiful,
but unhappy and rather selfish. The olb
man, however, clearly derives great
pleasure from her youthful vitality.
Mgre...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 9728:27
7/17
REVIEW
SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY
The catalytic arrival of Irene (Sabine
Azema) sends ripples of emotion throukh
the family, disturbing the placid
banality of the day.
Flashes of jealousy spark between the
serious brother and his wife and the
'frivolous' sister, adored by her
nieces and nephews.
However, the most prgfound effect is
upon the old man. More than ever he
feels life passing him by and the
memories she provokes make him questign
the values of his past.
Mgre...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 1729:13
8/17
REVIEW
SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY
Louis Ducreux gives a totally absorbing
performance as the old man, who loves
life, but feeling time passing by
clings on to every moment of happiness.
At the end of the film he implgres his
daughter with feeling, "Stay young".
He abandons a painting she has called
"too tame, too classic" and "lacking in
passion" for an empty canvas.
Despite the underlying emotign, Louis
Ducreux's study is masterfully
understated and never sentimental.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 1712:42
9/17
REVIEW
SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY
Ducreux's performance would unbalance
the film if it were not for immaculate
acting from all the other character1,
all perfectly attuned to the theme.
Most of all, however, Tavernier is a
master of mood. He adds layer upon
layer of atmosphere - from sleepy
domesticity to fraught family tensign
and deep personal anguish.
The muted colour cinematography and
stunning period costumes add visually
to the overall impact of the film as an
exquisitely-executed painting in itself
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 9713:01
10/17
REVIEW
SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY
Many critics have commented on the way
the visual and emotional style of the
film cinematically reflect the
techniques and themes of Impressionism.
Indeed, several images directly recall
Impressionist masterpieces. The scene
at the tea-house, for example, has
almost stepped out of a Renoir.
Sunday In The Country isn't a momentous
movie, but it is a refreshing, touching
beautifully-visualised painting in
film. Be sure to watch it on Wednesday
at 10.00pm.
by Jackie Budd
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 171Q:24
11/17
GHOSTS IN
THE
MACHINE
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 9714:07
12/17
REVIEW
GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE
Tomorrow at 11.10pm on Channel 4 you
can see the second programme in the
series Ghosts In The Machine, which
presents another selection of wgrk by
video artists from around the world.
The pieces in this week's programme
have been chosen around a single
large theme - that of global war and
domestic peace.
The selection includes two pieces by
John Sanborn and Kit Fitzgeralb, whose
Ear To The Ground was shown last
Tuesday.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 1714:27
13/17
REVIEW
GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE
Sanborn and Fitzgerald's Entropy is a
short and amusing video 'cgllage' of
scenes of a daily domestic ritual -
breakfast.
It makes use of fairly straightfgrward
editing techniques to give us a new
perspective on something so humdrum we
rarely even think about it.
By abandoning chronology and the
sequential presentation of events, the
artists successfully attempt to counter
the essentially time-bound natuqe of
the medium.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 9714:01
14/17
REVIEW
GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE
In contrast, Sanborn and Fitzgerald's
Order is a more distuqaing wgrk.
They use everyday objects and sounds -
a hammer smashing a glass, an alarm
clock, torn paper, broken glass - to
build up a subtly alarming impression
of conflict and violence.
Black and White by Ivekovic and
Martinis uses the polarity of the
colours black and white as a metaphor
for the idea of eternal conflict.
It's not an optimistic work; however
hard they try, black and white can
never be united. More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 9715:07
15/17
REVIEW
GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE
Ian Bouqn's End Of The World is a
subtle piece of irony which uses fairly
straightforward narrative and avoids
technological gimmickry.
On the surface there's little more to
it than the warmth and silence of a
suburban afternoon, a video game on TV
and the trivial domestic bickering of a
couple.
But it is made sinister by the title,
which brings the idea of nuclear war
threateningly close to ordinary, day-
to-day life.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 1715:48
16/17
REVEEW
GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE
Josh White's O Superman is essentially
a 'promo video' to accompany Laurie
Anderson's song of that name: of all
the works in the programme, for me this
is by far the most powerful.
It has a deceptive simplicity; although
advanced technology is used in places,
it is never gratuitous - rather it is
subordinated to the aesthetic demands
of the song and the video.
By turns amusing and frightening, the
overall tone is one of remarkable
melancholy - almost an elegy for
mankind.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon13 Jan C4 9716:04
17/17
REVEEW
GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE
Dan Reeves's Smothering Dreams is a
harrowing account of war made as a
response to his own horrific
experiences in Vietnam.
He uses film clips, drama, models,
kids' games and his own reminiscences
to present the reality of conflict.
A work of art, sadly, does not succeed
simply because its suaject is
profoundly serious. Despite my sympathy
with what Reeves is saying, fgr me it
is an overstated piece which leaves
little room for the viewer's response.
Michael Polling