tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081747433018117316.post5361891505957177257..comments2024-03-26T15:33:47.822+05:00Comments on THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS: An actor's life for thee and me, BradTom Shonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938779517705582285noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081747433018117316.post-80655047727417946952011-05-17T00:54:17.687+05:002011-05-17T00:54:17.687+05:00Not for nothing, but "master" is just a ...Not for nothing, but "master" is just a word. You may bridle at its less-than-savory connotations, but why you seem to take its usage as some kind of personal affront is, to put it mildly, strange. If it makes you feel better, consider the idea of a "master" filmmaker being little different than a "master" furniture maker. Two people who happen to have a great deal of skill and experience in their particular area of expertise - those who have worked long and hard and developed the necessary skills for the shaping of their inspiration into something tangible. <br /><br />Don't misunderstand me - I think I get the drift of your post, even if the target of its prickliness seems arbitrarily chosen. When I feel ground down on Monday morning, I'm more inclined to get pissed off at, say, Monsanto than Terrence Malick - but that's just me. To me, its seems off-base and lame to call Malick's preference for privacy being "rude to the press" or directing "bossing people around" or acting as though making movies on "someone else's dime" just "because one can" was in some way exclusive to Malick and Kubrick. Last time I checked that was how about 90% of directors made their movies.Zachhttp://thenoisytree.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081747433018117316.post-43032639495243017062011-04-26T06:51:10.749+05:002011-04-26T06:51:10.749+05:00Jeez, what a horrendous post. So because you don&#...Jeez, what a horrendous post. So because you don't like Kubrick and Malick, directors have too much control over movies? Are you kidding me?<br />This is the most self-absorbed BS I've read in a while.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17844967531137446662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081747433018117316.post-82130505813512901032011-04-24T18:57:06.542+05:002011-04-24T18:57:06.542+05:00Nothing like some good old fashioned jealousy disg...Nothing like some good old fashioned jealousy disguised as commentary. Cheers.Aaron Naglerhttp://www.aaronnagler.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081747433018117316.post-73185558253780120092011-04-24T02:23:45.171+05:002011-04-24T02:23:45.171+05:00'm guilty of a little lopsidedness with regard...'m guilty of a little lopsidedness with regards to Malick myself: I revere Badlands, as does Thomson, and for much the same reasons: that film seems barely touched by human hand. If it exhibits mastery, it is of entirely of the Joycean, self-vanishing sort. The other films, too often, feel smothered with Malick's thoughts, Malick's thumbprints, Malick's breath. The solipsism is stifling: I come out craving fresh air. That pattern — one initial masterpiece, never to be bettered — suggests that Malick may be Too Good For Cinema, which is of course why critics like Thomson love him.Tom Shonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06938779517705582285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081747433018117316.post-16204910536594564412011-04-23T08:51:57.172+05:002011-04-23T08:51:57.172+05:00Well, be that as it may, Matt Zoller Seitz just po...Well, be that as it may, Matt Zoller Seitz just pointed out on Facebook that David Thomson has dismissed all of Malick's previous films up to this one, which he now praises before having seen it. There's a worthy argument to be had about the merits of craftsmanship versus auteurism, but I'll wait until it evolves from a less dubious source than DT.Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01450775188328918558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081747433018117316.post-4678272513704292942011-04-22T20:17:15.060+05:002011-04-22T20:17:15.060+05:00I'm not an actor. I meant it metaphorically to...I'm not an actor. I meant it metaphorically to convey the feeling, perhaps a little too obliquely, that the older I get the less of an auterist I am. The elements of movie production that directors have most control over are the least valuable, or so it seems to me. I find Kubrick movies magnificent mausoleums — lifeless. I have more time for Malick because he allows his actors room to breath.Tom Shonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06938779517705582285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081747433018117316.post-72510437483429819882011-04-22T18:22:44.069+05:002011-04-22T18:22:44.069+05:00It's unclear whether you are frustrated at not...It's unclear whether you are frustrated at not having the control a director has over his cast and crew, by virtue of simply being a director (master or not), or at not being a master at your own craft of actor.<br /><br />In either scenario, you are blurring, intentionally or otherwise, the context of how the word master is applied to Malick and Kubrick. They are regarded as masters of the craft they practice, using tools (actors and crew) who have the ability to be masters of the particular craft they practice. The masters you speak of have the same issues you apply to your own "slavehood" (as they to "stumble", "try" and do the "best they can").<br /><br />Perhaps you'd be better served to stop looking up with disdain, and start looking out with possibility? I've found that is where being a master lies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com