I thoroughly enjoyed last night's French Cultural Center screening of Ross McElwee's new film Photographic Memory, produced by Marie-Emmanuelle Hartness. It's a beautiful, thoughtful piece about many things - the fallibility of memory, time's passing on lost loves, a father's judgement of his adolescent son. Ross returns to the village in Brittany where he worked as a wedding photographer's assistant at age 24 - a bit older than his son Adrian is now.
I especially enjoyed the intimate, poetic writing and Ross's charismatic voiceover performance. He has such a strong vision as a filmmaker, and there is a clear McElwee style that carries through all of his films - but each one has a unique perspective because of where he is in his life. Photographic Memory looks back at a specific experience of young adulthood in the 1970s, from the (theoretically) much wiser position of middle age.
It was a very nice event, and fun to see Ross, with whom I collaborated as editor on In Paraguay; Marie, who is consulting producer on my Indelible Lalita; and Sharon Hong (who took the photo above), with whom I co-prodcued and edited My Louisiana Love. Congratulations, Ross and Marie!
I especially enjoyed the intimate, poetic writing and Ross's charismatic voiceover performance. He has such a strong vision as a filmmaker, and there is a clear McElwee style that carries through all of his films - but each one has a unique perspective because of where he is in his life. Photographic Memory looks back at a specific experience of young adulthood in the 1970s, from the (theoretically) much wiser position of middle age.
It was a very nice event, and fun to see Ross, with whom I collaborated as editor on In Paraguay; Marie, who is consulting producer on my Indelible Lalita; and Sharon Hong (who took the photo above), with whom I co-prodcued and edited My Louisiana Love. Congratulations, Ross and Marie!
