Frederick Wiseman

I've been waiting forever on Monrovia, Indiana; just googled the title + Toronto and discovered it played for three days in October. How I missed that, I have no idea. I feel terrible about this--may not get another chance short of a Wiseman series at the Lightbox or a ridiculously expensive DVD.

Do you have Kanopy access? There are about 40 Wiseman films on there right now; Monrovia not yet, but I'd guess that it's coming.

That actually worked, I'm signed up--thanks. Monvoria's not on there yet, but with so many Wiseman films, right up to the last few, I assume it will be soon.

that's the medium through which I saw High School at last

really urge those who have not yet seen Monrovia, Indiana to do so

and then listen to this analysis, around 27 mins in

http://www.thecinephiliacs.net/2019/01/2018-countdown-with-keith-uhlich-part-1.html

Monrovia, Indiana has been added to Kanopy. Will make an effort to watch it soon--but then I said the same thing about State Legislature, also on Kanopy, and never followed up. I hate the idea of watching a film on a computer screen.

State Legislature is so good!!! Get your hands on a projector and watch it on a wall or something. So many meetings!!

Just got Monrovia in the mail & am really looking forward to it.

Saw State Legislature in a theater and it felt like I was really there at those budget debates!

Finally watched Monrovia over coffee this morning, one of his best. The funeral at the end got me so hard. Fave part though was when it cut to the meeting of the town council for the first time, and the lady goes “Now about this new BENCH...” I was like oh hell yes Fred, give me that sweet sweet meeting content.

The Store is good but feels slight at two hours. Not enough customer interactions

any word on what his next film is? i know he's 89 and owes nobody anything but he's been on a real tear with the last five and i'd like at least a few more.

90 yo yesterday

i don't see news of anything he's working on

when did he shoot Monrovia, Indiana? a couple years ago?

I recall him saying that he filmed it over nine weeks in 2016(?)

Email from Zipporah says not only is FW well, he's got a new movie out this year.

Yay! I gotta get on that mailing list.

Good news!

I hope he didn't schedule anything to shoot right now.

Watched Monrovia, Indiana -- classic subject, classic focus on civic activity & cooperation. Was not surprised whatsoever that there was a long, distressing, and unspeakably gnarly extended scene in the vet's office. Made me wonder if you have to get a release form from the animal's guardian in return for capturing video of the animal in such a vulnerable state?? Shirley's funeral was so boring. Not my favorite, but it was good.

FYI
https://thefilmstage.com/frederick-wiseman-reveals-his-next-film-is-about-boston-city-hall/

aw man i loved that funeral #teamshirley

City Hall will debut at Venice, runs a touch over 4.5 hours.

feeling blessed to get at least one more out of him.

really loved In Jackson Heights and Ex Libris: NYPL so I decided to go back and watch all of his films from the beginning. So far have seen Titicut Follies, High School, Law and Order, Hospital, Basic Training, all released between 1967 and 1971 and all available on Kanopy

opening this thread with more and more trepidation these days!

titicut follies and law and order are hard to watch!

High School was filmed at northeast high in Philadelphia. The best scene I thought was where “The Dangling Conversation” by Simon and Garfunkel was recited and then played by the teacher, and the students’ and her reactions are shown. I also liked the sex education scenes and the letter from a former student in the military that a teacher read at an assembly at the end. It was made in the era of my older siblings. It felt like a real time capsule

xp agree

Hospital was filmed at Metropolitan Hospital Center in NY. The transgender teenager’s description of her experience in that film was moving to me, I can’t think of another film from 1970 that might have shown something like that (I may be wrong, correct me if I am)

High School is a top-10 favorite film of mine, every scene is a killer. Sometimes I wonder if it just hits me so hard only because it's the subject of his that I have the most firsthand experience with, never having been in family court, basic training, a ballet troupe, or the Idaho state legislature.

I've never been to Jackson Heights, and that's probably my top Wiseman.

i'd be happy to show you J Heights if NYC ever comes back

(or is that where yr spouse is from?)

i visited jackson heights shortly after seeing the film (a friend lives there) and it was much nicer than anywhere else in nyc

didn't think Essene (1972) was all that compelling, but liked the confessional monologue toward the end

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=Q-i1Ee1i25M

what's up with youtube imbeds lately? does ILX not embed unless it's https?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-i1Ee1i25M

I've seen Titticut Follies and High School, probably in my documentary and propaganda class in undergrad. The Lincoln Center was streaming Ballet about a week ago. Alas, I missed it.

I feel like this clip would be more engrossing if the film had been shot on 16 like his other films. But I am an inveterate analogue loyalist.

At the same time, as happens with artists working in one mode their entire careers, the work kind of loses its flavor for having been rehashed. One can only be a maverick so many times in one's lifetime.

They still have almost all of his films on Kanopy

Last time I checked they just had High School and one other film, probably Titticut Follies

We've been watching City Hall over the past couple of days and the highlight so far has been an unusually fascinating scene with a garbage truck that can apparently eat everything.

variable, that's weird. I looked again and I still see three pages worth of his films. Maybe it depends on which library you subscribed with.

ya kanopy is institution-specific

there’s a big torrent with most of his movies on em

oh, that is weird. you'd think SAIC would be all over his filmography.

I think it does depend on the library, don't know particulars

Excellent long piece on Wiseman:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/magazine/frederick-wiseman-documentaries.html

Nobody talks seriously about writing the Great American Novel anymore, but Wiseman belongs to a generation that used to, and his body of work, when considered in the manner he lays out above, represents the nearest contemporary equivalent I can think of. Especially when viewed in Wiseman’s terms — as a single, ongoing project — the scope and ambition become panoramic, a national monument. Norman Mailer used to refer to his desire to write the Great American Novel in tragic-heroic terms, casting himself as an Ahab in doomed pursuit of what he called “the big one.” Wouldn’t it be funny, though, if the Great American Novel actually does exist, only it’s not a novel and has been quietly appearing in serialized form on public television for the past 50 years?

I'm going to go back to Monrovia, Indiana, probably tonight. I started it months ago, but just couldn't get in the mood.

The film, not the place--forgot the italics.

Essene and Canal Zone are both low-key mood pieces that get overlooked.

Looking forward to Canal Zone, I ordered that one along with State Legislature and Sinai Field Mission for the holiday2020 sale, which I think is still going.

caught a bunch of city hall on pbs on tv. there’s like 8 minutes of it that’s just Fred filming a garbage truck trash compactor destroying some large furniture and kitchen appliances

love that scene tbh