According to various news and
film websites, legendary filmmaker Chris Marker passed away at the age of 91 on
Sunday. Best known for his 1962 Science Fiction short film La Jetee
and the 1983 documentary Sans Soleil, the closest he came to
mainstream cinema was when La Jetee became the basis of the
screenplay for Terry Gilliam's 1995 film Twelve Monkeys. A lot of
his work is hard to get hold of but well worth seeking out for those who
are curious. Amongst his many great achievements were his eco warning Three
Cheers for the Whale (1972), the 1973 political allegory Embassy, his
1977 magnum opus A Grin Without a Cat - about the rise and
disintegration of left wing activism in the 1960s and 1970s, proving himself to be one of the few filmmakers who could successsfully tackle politics in his work - and two
definitive studies of legendary directors: A.K. (1985), about Akira Kurosawa and the making of Ran, and One Day in the Life of
Andrei Arsenevich (2000), a brilliant examination of Andrei Tarkovsky's
life and work. He remained active in his 80s, producing two late masterworks with Remembrance
of Things to Come (2001) and The Case of the Grinning Cat (2004). Marker was cinema’s greatest essayist and continues to be its greatest enigma.
Monday, 30 July 2012
Sunday, 29 July 2012
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