EVER HEARD OF ART CINEMA? LET ME INTRODUCE YOU

It’s not what you’d expect when someone asks you to think of a movie, but that doesn’t mean you don’t know of an art film. But first, what is art cinema? According to David Bordwell, art cinema is a “mode of film practice” that dissents from the Hollywood film industry and methods of entertainment spectatorship. What does that mean? For Bordwell, it means an art film stands apart from traditional Hollywood films: first, through how the narrative is presented; second, through its need for social and cultural context to fully understand and appreciate the film’s larger commentary; and lastly, the enhanced level of ambiguity or unclear development of the narrative, conflict, and/or characterizations. Art cinema’s goal was not to create art for art’s sake, but rather to create art that inspired and demanded action; a call to arms so to speak. 

An easy way into art cinema for an American audience is through Independent Cinema or “Indie” films. These “indies,” much like traditional art films, are characterized by their low budgets, lack of star power, camera or film quality/shot style, and complex characters and narrative structure that alienate audiences due the level of focus or “work” that is needed to try and reconcile the film. Keep in mind that many of our current Hollywood Star-of-Famers got their start in the American Independent Cinema movement of the early 1990s. Movies like Being John Malkovich (1995), Memento (2000), Mulholland Drive (2001), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) find up and coming actors, actresses, or directors launching their careers that need intriguing origin stories. While these four films deal with memory and the mind’s role in mitigating or reshaping memories or memory recollection, not all art films engage the same social constructs. And, while I’m pointing out the connection between these two modes of film practice, not all indie films are art films and not all art films are “indies.”

Take European Art Cinema for example, which has two clear waves: beginning in the 1950s and a resurgence in the early 1990s. A key anchor of both waves of art cinema was the French New Wave, with films like Last Year at Marienbad (1961), La Jetée (1962), Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) then later Three Colors: Blue (1993) and Caché (2005); these films still engage with memories, but through the landscapes of loss and haunting, which construct a “hauntology” of the character’s mind and for the audience trying to make sense of the film. I introduce you to these French art films because of the grappling and struggling nature of the films’ social engagements; as the audience, you are meant to find the films confusing, negating, and ambiguous. The Hollywood entertainment industry has a time and place, but art cinema, because of its meta-commentary on social constructs, calls for a constant decolonization of the mind through film and a revolution of cinema audiences. While political art films like Tout Va Bien (1972) broke from traditional practices by having famous actors of the time, like Jane Fonda, the core practices of art cinema, such as realism and ambiguity, demands that films resemble messy real lives and resonate with audiences, while also forcing them to think and rethink what they think they know. 

Now, Global Art Cinema is more than just a realistic, ambiguous, and alienating mode, but it is also an interceding medium between art movements, political movements, cultural traditions, and atrocities of empire and colonialism across space and time. Global Art Films, such as 2046 (2004), The Headless Woman (2008), and the Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), explore the complexities of both the impossible and reality; the haunting of the mind through the manipulated, fragmented, and divergent memories of the characters emphasize the social, political, and cultural commentaries each film attempts to work through. Much like in real life, most things don’t get a HEA, and each film ends without resolving the narrative problem or wrapping up the story with a bow. Rather, the goal of art films is to make you stop. Pause, and reassess reality. 

Crash Course on Art and Indie Cinema:

• Memento (2000)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
• Last Year at Marienbad (1961)*
• Caché (2005)
• Tout Va Bien (1972)
• AKA Serial Killer (1969)
• Basic Instinct (1996)
• Rashomon (1950)
• After Life (2009)
• 2046 (2004) 
• The Headless Woman (2008) 
• Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
• Blade Runner (1982) 
• Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
• Moonlight (2016)

I know introducing you to a brand new way of watching and reading films is a challenge, but I hope that you’ll enjoy the experience of thinking about these films and their various commentaries! My absolute favorite is Last Year at Marienbad with a close second going to Memento. While the goal of art films is to make the audience draw connections between the film and reality, don’t be surprised if you get to the end of a film and ask, “what the hell did I just witness??