Out 1 Finally Comes Out
September 14, 2006 7:25 AM Subscribe
This month, the Vancouver International Film Festival will screen the legendary Jacques Rivette film, Out 1: Noli Me Tangere, for the first time ever in North America. At approximately 750 minutes long, the work is the fourth longest film ever commercially released. A Holy Grail for cinephiles, the film was finally dug out of the vaults again for a rare British Film Institute screening, where New York film critic Dennis Lim made a pilgrimage to see it. Long championed by Jonathan Rosenbaum, the film finally makes its American debut at a complete Jacques Rivette retrospective at the American Museum of the Moving Image this November.
Never mind 750 minutes, what about The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple at the top of that "longest films" list? It runs 1620 minutes, or 27 hours!
Um, and I've only seen one Rivette film, but it was good. I feel guilty about not having seen more. If I were in Vancouver I would try to see some of the festival.
posted by languagehat at 8:23 AM on September 14, 2006
Um, and I've only seen one Rivette film, but it was good. I feel guilty about not having seen more. If I were in Vancouver I would try to see some of the festival.
posted by languagehat at 8:23 AM on September 14, 2006
Actually it would [at least] be the sixth longest movie. The Wikipedia list is missing two almost mainstream long movies. Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz, which is 931 minutes.And Edgar Reitz’s Heimet, which is 924 minutes long.
Granted they are in episodes but so it seems is Out 1.
Perhaps they were made for TV? But I know they have been shown in theatres.
posted by Rashomon at 1:00 PM on September 14, 2006
Granted they are in episodes but so it seems is Out 1.
Perhaps they were made for TV? But I know they have been shown in theatres.
posted by Rashomon at 1:00 PM on September 14, 2006
Berlin Alexanderplatz was definitely made for TV. (I've seen the whole thing, and most of it twice!)
posted by languagehat at 1:57 PM on September 14, 2006
posted by languagehat at 1:57 PM on September 14, 2006
After seeing Werckmeister harmóniák by Hungarian Béla Tarr earlier this week I hope to see his 450 minute long Sátántangó sometime soon. "Werkmeister harmóniák" was only 145 minutes long and filled with wonderfully meditative long paced shots.
posted by thylacine at 2:54 PM on September 14, 2006 [2 favorites]
posted by thylacine at 2:54 PM on September 14, 2006 [2 favorites]
In its entirety, yes, but not in one sitting: the screening is split into two days, starting in the mid-afternoon each day.
Not that this should diminish the accomplishment of the film, of course, just that you can't brag about spending twelve and a half hours straight in a movie theatre.
posted by chrominance at 10:41 PM on September 14, 2006
Not that this should diminish the accomplishment of the film, of course, just that you can't brag about spending twelve and a half hours straight in a movie theatre.
posted by chrominance at 10:41 PM on September 14, 2006
I caught this over the weekend at the VIFF.
It was definately an experience. I went to see it mainly due to this MeFi post as well as what I found from reading up on the web.
It was great having only the first two episodes shown Saturday night as they introduced the main characters and set the tone for what was to come without being overly draining.
The film was very slowly paced, though it was amazing to experience the options created with almost limitless time constraints. A large portion of the film revolves around two theatre groups and there were very long cuts of simple practice and dialogue. Such long and constant exposure to this took me from being a viewer to a participant in some ways.
Some interesting things regarding this particular showing. Out 1 was filmed at 25fps and few projectors still handle this so it was shown at 24fps which added about half an hour to the showing. Also, the subtitles were created for a British exhibition earlier this year and were displayed via computer and remote control. Someone actually read along with the script and pressed a button for each subtitle change. There were lengthly periods of no dialogue and even periods with limited dialogue but no subtitles. Many times they would get a little bit ahead in the subtitles or get behind and then have to skip ahead a little but overall it was pretty easy to follow and given the task at hand I'd say they did a remarkable job. The people (I believe three in total) were obviouslly relieved when it was over.
There were about 20 people in the audience and the number didn't change too much over the two days. I noticed a few people left for a couple of hours on the second day.
Rosenbaum was in attendace and introduced the piece. There was also critic for Variety (wearing a "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt!).
Upon completion of the show there was a table with complimentary tortilla chips and wine for those who had braved all eight episodes.
Also to note, the North American debut was not during the VIFF but about a week earlier in conjunction with the Vancouver International Fim Centre.
posted by futureproof at 12:28 AM on October 3, 2006
It was definately an experience. I went to see it mainly due to this MeFi post as well as what I found from reading up on the web.
It was great having only the first two episodes shown Saturday night as they introduced the main characters and set the tone for what was to come without being overly draining.
The film was very slowly paced, though it was amazing to experience the options created with almost limitless time constraints. A large portion of the film revolves around two theatre groups and there were very long cuts of simple practice and dialogue. Such long and constant exposure to this took me from being a viewer to a participant in some ways.
Some interesting things regarding this particular showing. Out 1 was filmed at 25fps and few projectors still handle this so it was shown at 24fps which added about half an hour to the showing. Also, the subtitles were created for a British exhibition earlier this year and were displayed via computer and remote control. Someone actually read along with the script and pressed a button for each subtitle change. There were lengthly periods of no dialogue and even periods with limited dialogue but no subtitles. Many times they would get a little bit ahead in the subtitles or get behind and then have to skip ahead a little but overall it was pretty easy to follow and given the task at hand I'd say they did a remarkable job. The people (I believe three in total) were obviouslly relieved when it was over.
There were about 20 people in the audience and the number didn't change too much over the two days. I noticed a few people left for a couple of hours on the second day.
Rosenbaum was in attendace and introduced the piece. There was also critic for Variety (wearing a "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt!).
Upon completion of the show there was a table with complimentary tortilla chips and wine for those who had braved all eight episodes.
Also to note, the North American debut was not during the VIFF but about a week earlier in conjunction with the Vancouver International Fim Centre.
posted by futureproof at 12:28 AM on October 3, 2006
« Older The Demure du Chaos | Drip drip drop Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by slatternus at 7:51 AM on September 14, 2006 [1 favorite]