TEN MINUTES OLDER: THE CELLO
Germany, 2002, 106 minutes, Colour.
Directed by: Bernardo Bertollucci, Mike Figgis, Jeri Menzel, Istvan Szabo, Claire Dennis, Volker Schlondorff, Michael Radford, Jean- Luc Godard.
Ten Minutes Older: The Cello is a collection of short films by celebrated directors. The film was released in 2002 with a companion film, Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet.
The directors were commissioned to make a ten-minute film on any subject they liked – this means, with this collection of directors, more a focus on characters and style rather than on strong narratives. As one looks at the list of directors, and gauges one’s own reaction to their filmology, one will be able to see whether there is interest in pursuing their short film or not. As it is, the film is a pleasing collection of short films – and an insight into the skills of celebrated directors to make short films.
1. The title, the theme of time? The past and the future? Where does time exist? The role of memory? The end of time? The quotation about mountains and waves over the millennia? The cumulative effect of watching these eight films?
2. The ten-minute structure, each director and the particular style, the musical score? The motif of water and the flowing of time between segments?
3. Bernardo Bertollucci and the story of migrants, illegals, the procession in the night, looking for work, the Indian background, the old man and his playing the flute, the young man being asked to get him the water? Encountering the young woman with her bike, her anger his fixing it, going to the diner, her giving him something to eat and drink, the other girl watching warily, pregnant and marrying, the joy of the wedding, the time passing, the children, the modern world, the daughter with the nose rings etc., looking at herself in the mirror, the buying of the car, the crash, the family watching it over the bridge and its being drawn out of the river? The man hearing the music, going back to the man playing the flute who wondered why he had taken so long? The black and white photography and Bertollucci style?
4. Mike Figgis and the four-screen effect, the use of video, audiences choosing the different panels for their focus? The visual style, hand-held, video realism? The focus on Mark, the older Mark, the younger Mark with the girl and the piano, the young boy on the steps, the World War Two games, the parents with their television heads? The interplay of the various phases of Mark's life?
5. Jeri Menzel, the Czech style from Menzel's other films, the clips from other films, the black and white and colour, the musical score? The young man, the range of experiences, joy, his relationships with women, his gradually getting older, the memories? The old man in colour and the range of memories, the collage? The very old man? Film being able to preserve the whole life journey of a person in images?
6. Istvan Szabo, the Hungarian style, realism, the birthday celebration, the woman, the television program teaching English and its playing during the whole film, her preparing the cake and the dinner? Garbor being brought home, silent and drunk, his hand in the cake, wanting beer, violent? Her getting him to lie down, his getting up, the antagonism, the struggle, her getting the knife, stabbing him, phoning the ambulance, the filling in of forms - and wanting her maiden name? Taking him away, the police interrogating her? The aftermath of a quick incident and accident? The passing of time and its being irrevocable?
7. Claire Dennis and the black and white photography, the talking heads, the conversation, the professor and the girl, the black man in the train corridor? The countryside as they passed? Issues of migration, intrusion, the interpretation of the meaning of intruder, questions of assimilation and integration, the effects of fear on the host country and people, the experience of threat? The raising of all the issues and the transition of peoples in time?
8. Volker Schlondorff, the Germans, the mystery of water and time passing, the mystery of time and God? The film based on the Confessions of St Augustine, the words and the images to explore the themes?
9. Michael Radford, addicted to the stars, the 22nd century, space exploration, society, the robots and the female forms (brainless)? Time travel, the lack of ageing, the test for the astronaut, his going to the subway, the nun and the cigarette, the subway not working? His seeking out Martin, the photo of father and son, the talk together, the woman saying that he was welcome, the irony that the younger-looking person was the father and the old man was the son? His going back to Space? Humans being able to manipulate time and growth?
10. Jean- Luc Goddard and his video and montage style, the clips from his films, the glimpses of the various themes - especially of relationships, of time, of love, of fear and, especially, the use of Pasolini's Gospel According to Matthew for the end of infinity?
