| THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE : Gerard & Laty's 'By the Ways - A Journey With William Eggleston' [5/10] |
|
|
| Sunday, 17 June 2007 | |
 The life and work of one of America's most important contemporary photographers only intermittently comes into proper focus during By the Ways, a documentary which may delight those already familiar with William Eggleston, but seems likely to leave non-initiates bemused and perhaps even annoyed. Eggleston's groundbreaking work in the 1960s and 70s was crucial in establishing the colour photograph as a valid and respected artistic medium, both in the USA and further afield - not that film-makers Gerard and Laty ever bother to include such information in their leisurely, impressionistic, picaresque Journey. Neither do they provide much in the way of artistic context. Instead what we get is a series of fussily-structured episodes - each heralded by its own number, title and (a particularly precious touch) subtitle - in which the laconically avuncular, seventyish Eggleston is shown at work, at home, with family and friends. Where the odd academic 'talking head' might have been usefully deployed to fill in some of the background, Gerard and Laty instead devote valuable screen-time to a selection of Eggleston's celebrity pals and admirers. Of these, cult-favourite "rock star" Tav Falco (of Panther Burns infamy) at least adds some beguiling quirkiness as he drawlingly analyses - on a high city rooftop - Eggleston's output, and provides amusing anecdotes about the artist's working methods. David Byrne (a 'talking head' in more ways than one, of course) likewise speaks glowingly of Eggleston's maverick sensibility, though it's decidedly frustrating that, having heard so much about the provocatively unorthodox portfolio which resulted when the photographer was invited to chronicle the making of John Huston's Annie (Byrne mistakenly credits the picture to Robert Altman!), Gerard and Laty don't then actually show any of the actual stills. Even worse is the smirking presence of Dennis Hopper - cutesily credited in the end titles simply as 'the man with a cigar' - whose contribution consists of little more than grinning and dispensing banal observations on a man he seems to have only fleetingly met. This shows Gerard and Laty at their self-indulgent worst, star-struck in the presence of a Hollywood 'name' when they could be spending their (and our) time much more profitably. That said, such celeb intrusions are counterbalanced by the fascinating footage of Eggleston going about his business - and he seems much more comfortable doing the work than talking about it. He makes for a somewhat monosyllabic interviewee - particularly evident during an extended, rather pointless sequence in which he "chats" with a pretentious German journalist - so it's just as well that the photographs, when we are allowed to see them, speak so eloquently for themselves (and they just about warrant the price of admission on their own.) Indeed, so strong is Eggleston's work that Gerard and Laty's rather feeble attempts to emulate it via the very different medium of film - they introduce a 'frame within the frame' on occasion, displaying Eggleston-like subject-matter (mundane-seeming Americana) in a style that's clearly intended as a homage to the great man - are made to seem even more inadequate in comparison. So many documentaries on prominent visual-arts figures fall into this trap, whereby second- or third-rate individuals feel obliged to "have a go" at replicating the landmark achievements of first-rate eminences - with invariably unfortunate results. In this instance, it's as if the filmmakers didn't have quite sufficient faith in the intrinsic strength of Eggleston's oeuvre to maintain viewer interest, so they jazzed up their package with various types of distracting or superfluous gimmickry, including a couple of stiltedly-narrated extracts from Conan Doyle describing Sherlock Holmes's otherworldliness (which we - ahem - deduce also applies to Eggleston). The picture's score, meanwhile, similarly strains for significance and effect, climaxing in a full Peggy Lee rendition of the Leiber/Stoller number "Is That All There Is?" - a song whose sentiments would seem to have only a tangential connection to William Eggleston, but which may sum up many viewers' likely reactions to By the Ways all too well. Neil Young 15th June, 2007 BY THE WAYS - A JOURNEY WITH WILLIAM EGGLESTON : [5/10] : France 2007 : Vincent GERARD & Cedric LATY : 87 mins (IFFR timing) seen at MK2 Hautefeuille cinema, 6e, Paris (France), 10th June 2007 - public show (paid E5.60)
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
