Two Days in Paris - Julie Delpy (2007)

If films like Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are far from your idea of a romantic comedy, then this one is recommended. It takes a great deal of inspiration from Woody Allen and there's a bit of Godard, too, but then adds some 21st century originality to this combination of neurosis and wit. There is enough crudeness and political incorrectness in the film to make it funny and savoury-sweet in a very European way. Interestingly, Julie Delpy did not just act in, but was a co-writer of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, so this film seems her way of getting the American films out of her system.

Stephen Holden's review from the NY Times

Avatar (2009) - James Cameron

Just when you had enough of mythological heroes of the Joseph Campbell type from the Hollywood churn, here comes another one that is apparently breaking all records not just with its faux-pacifist message, but also with its revolutionary visuals. Trivia about the film reveals that the crew spent some time in Hawaai living according to (their idea of) tribals during the day, spending the night at a posh hotel. I found this more revealing about the quality of this film than any amount of crap about CGI.

Of course, when Roger Dean is your model, it should not surprise anyone that the visuals are so kitschy. Wishing that someone in Hollywood would take Douanier Rousseau, or Klimt landscapes as their model can qualify only as wishful thinking. When it comes to Kitsch, though, I prefer the intentional, ironic campy art of Andy Warhol or Jasper Johns to this unintentional crap that people actually seem to find beautiful! Considering that it was mostly Americans who gave us pop art in the first place, one can't help lamenting that period as some sort of a golden age in American art. When I further consider that  Hollywood's B grade movies and American pop art inspired directors like Godard to make films like Pierrot le Fou, the mind just boggles at how Hollywood has devolved since then.

Just in protest, this post will have no images from Avatar, but a few pop art images...

Jasper Johns, Map, 1961. Museum of Modern Art New York City.

 

Robert Rauschenberg, Riding Bikes, Berlin, Germany, 1998.

  

Roy Lichtenstein, The Head (1992), Barcelona.

 

Jim Dine, 'Study for This Sovereign Life', 1985

And a few images from cinema's use of kitsch...

 Jean Paul Belmondo in Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le Fou (1965).

'Kika' - Pedro Almodóvar (1993) poster

 

The Criterion DVD cover for Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love (2000)

Love and anger (1969) - Various

The Zeitgeist of 1968 in episodes...