Post by Eva Yojimbo on Oct 29, 2017 21:45:39 GMT
He's a favorite director of mine as well and I've seen most all of his films except a handful that isn't/wasn't easy to find and some others from his "craftsman" days (when he was more a director-for-hire rather than an autuer). I haven't seen any of his that were outright duds, and I think I've rated more of his films 9/10 or higher than any other filmmaker. He's currently #7 on my Favorite Directors list (behind Hitch, Bergman, Kurosawa, Hou, Angelopoulos, and Ozu). Here's my ratings/rankings:
1. Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise 10/10
2. Belle de Jour 9.5/10
3. The Milky Way
4. Los Olvidados
5. That Obscure Object of Desire
6. The Exterminating Angel 9/10
7. The Phantom of Liberty
8. Tristana
9. L'Age D'or
10. The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz 8.5/10
11. Simon of the Desert
12. Un Chien Andalou
13. Nazarin 8/10
14. Viridiana
15. El
16. The Young One 7.5/10
17. Diary of a Chambermaid 7/10
18. El Bruto 6.5/10
19. Ascent to Heaven 6/10
20. The Great Madcap 5/10
I actually strongly agree with your statement I bolded. David Bordwell once said in his article "Stubborn Stylists" in discussing the "flexible stylists" that: "Buñuel becomes a fascinating case: He adopts the blandest, calmest version of each trend, creating a neutral technique, the better to shock us with what he shows." I especially love how in those late films his really conservative, understated style allows reality to transition so seamlessly into surreality, and to even really blur the line between them. I remember the first time I saw Belle de jour I didn't like it very much because it really wasn't weird enough, it felt too normal compared to, say, Lynch's brand of surrealism. Then I saw it a second time years later, and a third time a bit later, and really started to appreciate how seamlessly Bunuel mixed Deneuve's waking life and fantasy life, especially towards the end when the two come into violent conflict. I also think that he learned from the Classic Hollywood masters how to do a lot with small gestures: that scene in Tristana when she's playing the piano and Bunuel cuts to close-ups of her feet, hands, and then her face with that expression, eg., says so much about her character and development (supposedly it was a moment Hitchcock complimented him on). In Discreet Charm and Phantom of Liberty, the absurdities of each scene are downplayed to such a degree that the "bland style" becomes almost the equivalent of a comedian telling the driest but funniest joke you've ever heard.
Still, that kind of subtlety and "ordinariness of style to highlight extraordinary content" isn't mutually exclusive with him not being a master technician; in fact, I think the two kinda go together, like how so many young rebels in the 70s wanted to play music but couldn't, so they developed Punk Rock which required little technical skill but a ton of attitude. Just like technical virtuosity would've been counter-productive to punk's aesthetic, I think it would've also been counter-productive to Bunuel's unique voice and vision. Though I do generally value technical mastery, I do like Bunuel more than most virtuostic directors like Lynch or Fellini, so there you go.