Cinema and Art

Let me recommend to you today a visit to The Two Blowhards. Two excellent pieces that touch on interests shared by Futurballa. The first (in chronological, or reverse blog order) is this posting, posted by Michael Blowhard, is on French cinema and in particular Jacques Becker's Touchez Pas Au Grisbi. Yet another example of the French fascination with gangster movies. If it was not for Jerry Lewis and American gangster movies, I venture to say there would be no French cinema to speak of. Other examples worth watching, off the top of my head, Godard's A Bout de Souffle. To a lesser extent Godard's Alphaville also plays on the hardboiled detective genre, although in a Science Fiction setting. Jean-Pierre Mellvilles's Bob le Flambeur, which I have discussed previously in reference to the recent remake, The Good Thief. Jean-Jacques Beineix's stylish, but essentially empty Diva. Just to name a few.

The second posting which was contributed by Freidrich Blowhard, asks the question, what is your favorite nude painting? Freidrich nominates Ingres' Woman Bathing. Definitely a worthy choice. I had to give this a lot of thought, on one hand having a prejudice towards photography, I'd probably go with a Man Ray or a Manuel Alvarez Bravo nude or possilby Imogen Cunningham, but I wanted to stick to the rules and pick a painting. After much thought, I went with another Ingres. Venus Anadiomene - 1808. Very reminiscent of Botticelli's Birth of Venus, but more modern and with more humanity. Runner up would be Courbet's Sleep.