CHRIS MARKER

Bil’s rating (out of 5):   BBB

France/Japan, 1985.  Greenwich Film Productions, Herald Ace, Nippon Herald Films.  Screenplay by Chris Marker.  Cinematography by Frans-Yves Marescot.  Produced by Serge Silberman.  Music by Toru Takemitsu.  Film Editing by Chris Marker.  

A marvelous companion piece to Akira Kurosawa’s Ran that fans will thoroughly enjoy.  Chris Marker gets a close up view of the master filmmaker creating what would turn out to be his last giant epic project.  The shooting of Ran sees Kurosawa battling the elements and constraints of budget to make an insightful, thought-provoking and ultimately cynical view of life using Shakespeare’s King Lear as its basis.

Marker curiously gets no personal moments with the director himself, who is always at a distance, but watching his efficient set at work or listening to his actors and colleagues speak about him probably reveals more about the artist than anything he could directly say about himself.