“All art is unstable. Its meaning is not necessarily that implied by the author, There is no authoritative active voice. There are only multiple readings.” David Bowie
I was there when he interviewed Ramsay at the BFI and this conversation happened. It was funny how she kept debunking Kermode's theories in front of everyone.
reminds me of a scene in Reservoir Dogs where a red balloon accidentally got into a scene behind a car as it was driving away. Tarantino kept it in because he said it'd drive film critics nuts trying to work out what it meant
The creative process can lead to unexpected outcomes. Part of the beauty in art is seeing different responses and interpretations, but not every reading has to directly link to another film just because it carries similar themes.
Very true! But 2 of the things Kermode mentioned here were references, more than just similar themes, so it's quite surprising that they weren't such deliberate choices.
This is why I really enjoy listening to and reading Mark's reviews, he just loves films and always has interesting takes on them - and isn't afraid to admit if something isn't right. Best professional film critic around imo!
No question about it I think! The film is full of lovely little sub textual things as it is. My favorites are the lingering camera shots of things that Joe has just touched...there's the hammers softly swinging on their display rack after Joe takes one. There's a shot of piece of rope tied around a door handle that swings in a similar way after Joe exits through the door. All lovely hints that Joe has indeed 'been here' despite the assertions of the film's title.
You were right, I believe. In all art forms there is are a mixture and use of allegories, metaphors, mythologies, symbolism and cross-cultural references; be they intended or sub-consciously added. Those references were there. Great and honest 'Uncut', as always!
Love the editing pacing of this video. short & sweet, and straight to the point. Offers a lot of insight in a short amount of time, love it. 👍🏻 reminds me of a Dunkey review video or YMS Quickie video here on RU-vid.
Maybe it was unintentional, but that can easily prove that in a sense it wasn't. When it comes to expressive art, artist does what feels right to them, not analytically correct. So when someone is in tune with themselves ( in this case artistically ), then preferences, ideas and beliefs appear in the finalized work. Those elements find a way in the art from subconsciousness, which I think happened with Lynne. Kevin is one of my favorite films, leaving me highly impressed with desire to check out more movies from this director.
Unless you have the most incompetent sound crew in the world, there's no way they'd just leave a TV on in the background of a room they were filming in.
It's the probably the mom was intrigued to watch Psycho as she is aware her son has depression or some stress that he's apparently dealing with. I mean mothers know everything about their children and seem to contemplate no matter how older they get.
As an amateur filmmaker I can say that there are a lot of happy accidents that occur that end up thematically strengthening your film, but all the credit you can really give yourself is that you saw it and decided to leave it in. That, or you the fact that you managed to tap into a theme universal enough for everything to seamlessly tie into it.
In my Cult TV/FILM lecture at Uni, my lecturer would always remind us of ONE thing before we'd go off to analyse films of our choosing.. that was - "Remember, the artist intention DOES NOT matter!'. Films can contain clear messages and themes without the Director having any knowledge or intention of inserting them into the work. There's a name for it, I think it's 'Death of The Author' Good examples of this I've found are films like The Searchers and M
I can blow this movie up. The world isn’t ready for what 90% of films are truly about. If I explained the whole point of this movie in a nutshell, you’d think you’d be dealing with a lunatic...
It's funny because You Were Never Really Here is actually a very cinematically rich and visual film. I don't think Ramsay makes intellectual films or anything but she always puts these really cool little moments that give you a sense of character and mood in a way you can feel (like when Joe starts crushing sweets during the briefing, the sound emphasised etc.) I get where Kermode's coming from, he's probably trained as a critic to spot these things. But I think Ramsay, like most Directors, work from a more organic process that prioritises feeling and mood than necessarily 'what does this mean?'
How about the scene at the beginning of the movie where he gets in an NYC style taxi after headbutting that geezer in the alleyway? I mean, it's not a clip from a film like the other two references but that's clearly an intentional nod to Taxi Driver.
I agree that it doesn't matter if they're intentional or not. As a critic, or as a person who watches movies, it's not your place to decode what the artists intended. It's your place to find meaning in it. The meaning you find doesn't answer to anybody, including the creators. Just talk about what you find compelling and why and people will be there to hear you :)
Sometimes the accidental meaphor is pretty mind boggling. In the film "L.I.E." the protagonist (played by a young Paul Dano) is stuggling with his sexuality, and has a dream about about another boy. In the dream his friend is surrounded by fawning girls and he has a large snake resting around his shoulders. He looks up at Dano and snaps "what are you looking at?" ... C'mon, the snake is too obvious, right? Forbidden fruit and all that...? But in the special features it was pointed out the snake belonged to a passerby who was watching the shoot. The director couldn't get the scene to work and then saw this guy with a snake and said "hey, can we use that?" haha
Spent ages trying to work out why in Ghost Dog the gangsters are always watching Itchy & Scratchy cartoons. Its odd because that is a parody cartoon within a cartoon. All I could get was that by the 90s old school NY hoods had begun to parody themselves irl. Well I already got that from the rest of the film, so time well spent? No.
Very honest and endearing video. Gotta say though, I found YWNRH it to be a fairly dreary film, with very little going on underneath the surface, but in Mark's review he seemed to think that there was a great deal of substance and weight to it. This kind of supports my thoughts on it... I think he read far more into it than was really there.
I wonder whether Mark does, in fact, realize that the director was spinning him up and is making this video to reply in kind. "Ok, if that's what she's telling me, then that's what I'm telling everyone else."
This is not related, or maybe it is. It’s quite hard to prove causation, correlation yes. But that one thing led to another, we would like it to be the case, but it just isn’t. So, the meaning is ours alone. To each their own :). And frankly I like it when others make the connections too. Love your reviews, your take on each film is caring I’d say. It’s considerate.
Much as I love Mark Kermodes review Im glad he has been caught out this time. Every review he gives, he has to reference another film, saying such and such is a nod to this film or this is like such and such film. I know he has an encyclopedic knowledge of films but he doesn't need to use his reviews by showing off how many films he knows about. He should just review a film without mentioning another film. Seriously just try it for once.
I wonder if Ramsay sidesteps a lot of analytical discussion by possibly ascribing certain things a little more to happenstance than is strictly accurate. It's a way to keep the creative process private and/or above criticism?
These things become intentional as they make it to the final cut. If they hadn't done the work (and maybe paid the money) for 'Psycho' clearance, then it wouldn't be in there, so clearly it was worth the effort to the filmmakers. That's the part that doesn't happen by accident.
All those references are just reminders that indicate you are more passionate about films than the filmmakers themselves.......but what does it say about you when you consider film to be such an important part of life?
Death of the author, it doesn't matter if the author intended something to be there. If you find something and enjoy it that's okay. Also it's possible she's messing with you.
You're completely right though Mark, whether they were intentional or not doesn't matter, you can steal read things in a film that the director didn't intend. Death of the author and all that. To be hones,t there's absolutely no more immature, or annoying, type of film analysis than the kind done that sees the director's intentions as the ultimate meaning of the film - that can people have their interpretations, but the director's is the 'correct' one to be strived towards.
Don't beat yourself up. Even the most passive viewer has a subconscious film vocabulary and I agree that nothing either on-screen or in the soundtrack/sound design should be accidental, so it seems more like sloppy film-making in this case. Loved the film, but the blame for any confusion lies squarely with the director, as brilliant as she doubtless is.
I'm obviously joking, and I also don't really believe in the Author's intent Nevertheless, a director should be more deliberate about their choices, especially when they use clear references to other works
The classic film Leon was a billion times better than You Were Never Really Here. I had the same feeling leaving the cinema that I had when I watched Buried film.
This seems like total nonsense ..I just can't believe it happened on the sperm of the moment .....there he's off flappin them lips ....give old Mick a go for his title .....
Do you remember psycho? Taxi driver? Drive? Fargo? shawshank redemption - every soldier with ptsd movie?........hollywood is going through a heavy "Influences" phase - probably due to the success of force awakens and stranger things
What so you are saying that you can't make a movie about a soldier with ptsd because it's derivative? Does that mean Rambo was a rip off of Taxi Driver and Taxi Driver was a rip off of The Best Years of Our Lives? Also how does Fargo even play into this apart from the fact that they both have people being kidnapped in them? You're painfully off the mark
