CosmosCosmos

Chance Encounters, Past & Present

in a City

Outline

Cosmos as an example of postmodern city in flows – Friends: unstable relations, relative ethical

values – Chance encounters: differences among the

three generations; – Technology and spaces of flow – The linking person: Cosmos

Canadian films in the 21st Century?

[Cosmos (1997)]

INTRODUCTION OF THE SIX EPISODES

THEMES:

THE LINKING PERSON--- COSMOS

Between two genders, two friends

Chance Encounter

among 3 generations THE CITY & ITS

LURKING DANGERS TECHONOLOGY vs.

Agriculture

INTRODUCTION OF THE SIX EPISODES Why is the movie “black and white?”

A. BOOSTYannie, Jeol

THE TECHNETIUM Morille, Tekno

JULES AND FANNYFanny, a lawyer, her ex-boyfriend (Jules/Julien)

L’ INDIVIDULThe killer

AURORE AND CREPUSCULEDawn, Dusk

COSMOS AND AGRICULTURECosmos, Janvier

BOOSTYannie, Joel

COMMON THEME (1): Between two genders, two friends

Gender relationship “Jules and Fanny” How do the ex-lovers deal with the issue of

enlarged breasts? Is the issue of work ethics involved? (clips 14, 15, 16, 17)

Jules

-- Worried about the death of the matter

-- skillful ways of looking at women’s breasts.

-- Want to have sex with F

Fanny

-- “new breasts” and “new body”; present partner = future ex-husband

-- stripping is what matters

-- Does she compromise her ethics?—almost.

“Jules and Fanny” Jules: theoretical

– Has a dream about being turned to nothing (because 1) we are composed of atoms; 2) he is chased by 30-hit man, then hit by a plane.)

– criticize contemporary pursuit of ‘fake’ things– about the art of nudity– is not frank about what he really wants to do. – Alexis Martin (plays Michel in No)

Fanny: pragmatic but feminist– assertive (e.g. her ways of responding to her boyfriend clip 4),

with dubious sense of morality.– Eclectic: about the professional ethics of lawyer (Mr. Ethic

double-crossed his handicapped client I’d never sell my body for that;

– about making love to an ex. (If you mean it, I’ll follow)– Upset about Jules’ intention, baring her breasts to Janvier

(revealed at the end).

THEME (1): Between two genders, two friends

Boost – Yanni and Joel, younger Comic view at the terrifying situation: What’s

funny? What’s sad?

– Funny – the car, their way of entertaining themselves,Yannie: throws away a cross and then picks it up again (clip 2)

Boost – results from the Clinic at 2:00

Sad – Yannie

-- “homosexuals are a protected race.”

-- aware of being HIV positive, the car dead again -- remembers his past, unhappy about both the past

and afraid of the present (thinks he has “it”—AIDS) temporary escape: “won’t go” biting his lip (no

point in thinking positive when he is “negative”)-- Car dead again. meaning?

Common THEME (2): Chance Encounters & Generations

– e.g. (1) THE TECHNETIUM post-Eldorado generation (clips 11,12) Morille – very nervous; images of the orient

(Ginseng) and wars (Cambodia North Korea). Tekno: Internet youth culture

– Hair gel, fast-beat music connected with commercials (hair cut and hair gel), audience from everywhere.

– Cyberdog (post-hallucinatory) – Questions showing a lack of understanding and

concern with appearance. (e.g. like or unlike another band, with post-punk travel fun, or with hip and pulse

Rebellion with a razor

Common THEME (2): Chance Encounters – Differences among the 3 GENERATIONS

How are the younger generations presented in this film? (e.g. “Technitium” “Dawn and Dusk” “Cosmos and Agriculture”

Techno: superficial, rapid-pacedtwo-minute interviewEmphasis on appearance (hair)Care about instant fame (e.g. Cyberdog)

“Dawn and Dusk” “Cosmos & Agriculture” -- Playful and Competitive “sometimes” Irresponsible

Common THEME (2): Chance Encounters – Differences among the 3 GENERATIONS

“Dawn and Dusk” (clips 19, 20) uncertain about relationship and the future

(also Yanni and Joel) Dawn: angry at her boyfriend; does not feel

belong in this competitive society Romanticize the old man as a wise man

Dusk: marriage as association (50-year marriage)

“Don’t tempt the devil” massage Dawn’s foot ambiguous ending.

THEME (2): RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 3 GENERATIONS

Youth Yanni & Joel, Dawn & her

boyfriend Web station

• 30’s - 40’s

• Fanny & Jules

• Morille

• Serial killer

50’s – 60’s

•Dusk

Minorities:

Javier Cosmos

Common THEME (3): THE CITY & its LURKING DANGERS Characteristics of Montreal presented

– Fluidity--- urban setting: hotel, subway, apartment building for rent, roads, suburban wilderness (Mont Royal),

– chance encounters– the youngsters’ Aimlessness and nostalgia – Fast Pace & Rootlessness – no one is shown at

home. Lurking Dangers Vulnerable groups (women &

children) (“Individul”)– Sense of suspense and fear in the subway, bathroom,

department store, and apartment.– Danger not understandable e.g. gaps in the film;

clips 6, 7

THEME (3): TECHONOLOGY vs. agriculture

Are all the city’s problems caused, as Javier puts it, by 1. Seasons, 2. “Agriculture”?

The role of machines and technologies in this film – Cars and subway– Breast enlargement – Video and internet in “Technitium”

Instant transmission of messages by the web station, empty of content

THE LINKING PERSON--- COSMOS

Two other links: Dawn as a coffee shop waitress (tries to stop Morille from drinking too much), Antoine as a hotel waiter (sees the conflict in Jules between his intellect and his “material aspirations”)

IMPORTANCE OF COSMOS & HIS ROLE– ASSOCIATION with all the other characters (clips

1, 4, 7, 11, 21)– HIS PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE (23) –connecting the

negative with the negative, the positive with the positive

– The final episode – what do you think about his response? (24, 25) not a closer look; not kill (the thieves)

“Canadian” Films Two Solitudes – Two Great Divides

– Francophone (Quebecois): national identity expressed symbolically through gender, father-son relations, religion or language use (e.g. No);

– Anglophone films – the use of media (camera, photo, etc.)

– Hollywood North (underdog; non-heroic, victim) identity + sex Communication – mediated, difficult but group unification

and support is necessary (Garrison Mentality) Popular ≠ Canadian? Not now. “…success in Canadian film

is generally defined as failure to be popular, while popular success tends to make the “Canadianness” of a film invisible to the canon of Canadian national cinema. ” (Pike; source)

MICHAEL J. FOX

Keanu Reeve

Captain Kirk

Jim Carrey

ALANIS MORISSETTE k.d. Lang

Celine DionPaul Anka, Neil Young,Peter Jennings . . .

Dan Aykroyd

Pamela Ander-son Lee

Megan Follow asAnne of Green Gables

Which of the following are Canadians?

The Indistinguishable?Hollywood North

捍衛機密 Johnny Mnemonic (1995): Toronto and Montreal filling in for Newark, New Jersey and Beijing.

我的希臘婚禮 My Big Fat Greek Wedding(2002) – Using Toronto (Greek town, Danforth Ave) for location shots, the movie was set in Chicago.

“The first wave of Canadian features was devoted to Canada itself; the second wave was heavily focused on [crossing] the two divides.” (source)

The Indistinguishable? Or the multiple/fluid identities

Mia Kirshner – Christina in Exotica; Elizabeth Short in The Black Dahlia (2006) ....

Sarah Polly – Lisa in Exotica, Dawn of the Dead ( 活人生吃 2004), Selma in Beowulf & Grendel

Director of Away from her (Alice Munro’s short story)

Don McKellar – Thomas in Exotica, Vernon in Clean (2004 錯的多美麗 ), director of Last Night, Childstar,

Directors from Montreal vu par “Crossing” in the past and present

Jacques Leduc (Canvas of Time) Patricia Rozema ("Desperanto") Mermaid, When

Night is Falling, Mansfield Park, etc. Michel Brut (The Last Game) Mon amie Max Léa Pool ("Rispondetemi") Set Me Free, The Blue

Butterfly Atom Egoyan ("En passant") Exotica, The Adjuster,

《意外的春天》 ( The Sweet Hereafter), 《赤裸真相》(Where the Truth Lies) etc.

Denys Arcand (View from Elsewhere); Decline of the American Empire, Love & Human Remains, Stardom, The Barbarian Invasions

The Six Directors in Cosmos

Jennifer Alleyn ("Aurore & Crépuscule")—TV series

* Manon Briand ("Boost") Chaos and Desire, etc. Marie-Julie Dallaire ("Individu, L'") -- 0 * Arto Paragamian ("Cosmos & Agriculture")--

Two Thousand and None * André Turpin ("Jules & Fanny") --Soft Shell Man * Denis Villeneuve ("Technétium, Le")–

Maelström (FJ)

More to come …

In the Cities ( 看不見的城市 ), starring Robert Lepage, etc. 台北電影節

Chacun son cinéma -- To Each his Cinema (Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Ming-liang Tsai, Kar-wei Wang, etc.)

More to come at Fu Jen.

Reference

Across the Great Divide Canadian Popular Cinema in the 21st Century David L. Pike <http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/56/canada.htm >