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Richard Press – Bill Cunningham New York –2010

Ok so we are onto the next, this one was a bit of a curveball that I got distracted by whilst looking for Jeanne Dielman from Chantal Akerman (mentioned in my previous post) on Mubi. Since moving to New York in 2019 I’ve been loving divulging into various films, documentaries and series about the city and some of its unique characters, so this was a perfect fit. 

Bill Cunningham was a well known, proper New Yorker who had spent the last 60 years (of his 87 in total) cycling the streets of the city throughly chronicling fashion of everyday people alongside some of the cities most well known characters - all whilst wearing a signature Parisian street sweepers blue workers jacket, shirt and tie. The film makes a wonderful portrait of a loving, kind, witty eccentric addicted to his work, and dedicated to his practice. Even if you weren’t hugely into fashion before watching this, Cunninghams way of seeing it, and knowing so much about it, opens it up in a more positive and modest way than I thought was possible.

Whilst the film isn’t cinematic or beautiful, it does serve to the aesthetic of the photographer. The director, producer and cinematographer go about following Cunningham in a modest and invisible way for two years, with no other crew and tagging along to charity events, runway shows and visiting his studio home in Carnegie Hall studios.

Throughout the film it was repeated that Cunningham did not think of himself as a photographer, most of his photographs were never sold or published and it’s clear from this portrait that this was a man who was never interested in fame or money that New York is driven by, he has a sincerity that you rarely would be able to find in a city like this. 

A few of my favourite quotes were:

"You see, if you don't take money, they can't tell you what to do, kid." 

 "I just try to play a straight game, and in New York that's very... almost impossible. To be honest and straight in New York, that's like Don Quixote fighting windmills."

"I'm really doing this for myself. I'm stealing people's shadows, so I don't feel as guilty when I don't sell them."

Notes:

– I tried to find old archives of his work all in one place - but no luck so far just this for a quick look https://www.artsy.net/artist/bill-cunningham

– When he passed away a manuscript was found in his studio and later published by Penguin Press, its called Fashion Climbing and sounds worth a read for New York or big character lovers

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Chantal Akerman – No Home Movie - 2015

Ok, so essentially I'm addicted to instagram and its filling up what little brain space I have with absolute shite. I spend endless hours a day building repitive strain issues into my thumb so I decided it's time to make the most of my love of procrastonation and fill it with films I've been meaning to watch and books I've been meaning to read.

Some of these posts will feed into some of my own projects and research so I will be going off into tangents, exploring them and writing badly written notes like this one. I'm hedging my bets that Tumblr is past it's sell by date so this will continue to be a self indulgent exploration of things that interest me whilst moving away from toxic social media. I know, this is social media – but hopefully it won't be very social at all.

Beware - I am very dyslexic, but these are notes, not an English exam.

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NO HOME MOVIE

Chantal Akerman is a director I'm embarrased to say I've barely looked at. I know she's famous, I know she makes great films and I know she is a beacon for female directors (and good male ones too). So I think she is a good place to start for my film education.

No Home Movie is Akermans last film focusing on conversations between her and her mother months before she passed away. The film mostly consists of handheld footage, static interior shots, blackberry footage, skype and shots of the dessert.

I'm currently reading They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell and I found myself enjoying the same almost childlike noticing of the details to be in this film. There's such a fascination for me (and everyone else ever) of mother daughter relationships and the very thin line between intensely close and quickly sharp they can be. A lot of it is filmed in the domestic space of the kitchen, although it's written up that Akermans mother always encouraged her career over a young marriage.

There is no music so the sounds of the enviroment throughout the film make it peaceful and calming to sit within her mothers space. The soundscape alone makes you feel almost like a guest within the space - especially in the static interior shots (soz I don't know the technical name). The silences also dictate how frail her mother is - you can almost feel that this left until as late as possible to film and delve into for Akerman. Her mother did die soon afterwards.

The conversations in this space feel as intimate and hearty as the relationship between mother and daughter. It's details you could only hear between this dynamic and in this home.

Overall this film to me felt like a spies insight into some stories few and far between now. Her mothers memories of the Holocaust and Jewish diaspora set along side long desert takes feel so haunting in contrast to the light way mother and daughter are able to communicate between one and other.

Whilst I'm in the bubble of Akerman things to note for more research are:

– Akerman was a Belgian film director born in 1950 and lived until aged 65 (2015)

– First film was Saute ma ville

– Her most famous film is Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

– Film Scholar Gwendolyn Audrey Foster sounds worth some more research