peh_ commented on…
Robert Bresson's Top Seven Films
Untitled — 48 weeks ago
From the opening comment:
“Asked to submit a top ten to Cahiers du Cinema in 1952, Bresson responded….”
Why make such an obvious response mizoguchi? Did he have a time machine to see otherwise?
From mizoguchi’s quote:
“He was going along with the general consensus that City Lights, Gold Rush, Potemkin and Bicycle Thieves were the best up to that point”? Thanks for stating that Bresson’s overall opinions of film were ill informed. Next time you make “Au hasard Balthazar” you let me know what the “general consensus” is that informs a great artist. BTW many of those films he quoted are still considered “good”.
Comments
MestnyiGeroi
New York City
I don’t think that mizoguchi was saying that Bresson was ill informed (or that the films he chose were terrible selections). He was just observing that when pushed to give his opinion, Bresson seemed to offer a few standard choices drawn from the conventional wisdom of the time. To my mind, mizoguchi’s point is in keeping with the fact that Bresson could only bring himself to name seven films when asked for a top ten. That is, Bresson was not a film buff; he was an idiosyncratic autodidact who made original films for himself. That’s probably why he’s so loved today.
peh_
Victoria