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.
― clemenza, Friday, 1 January 2021 00:03 (three years ago) link
The film, not the place--forgot the italics.
― clemenza, Friday, 1 January 2021 00:04 (three years ago) link
Essene and Canal Zone are both low-key mood pieces that get overlooked.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 1 January 2021 14:37 (three years ago) link
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.
― flappy bird, Saturday, 2 January 2021 02:15 (three years ago) link
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
― flopson, Saturday, 2 January 2021 05:06 (three years ago) link
love that scene tbh
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 2 January 2021 05:13 (three years ago) link
Garbage truck scene one of my fave scenes in any 2020 movie.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 7 January 2021 01:34 (three years ago) link
i get so excited irl to watch garbage trucks crush large furniture. how great would it be if wiseman did a garbage truck movie
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 7 January 2021 02:39 (three years ago) link
Looks like PBS is making City Hall available for a couple days
https://www.pbs.org/video/city-hall-ozdubs/?fbclid=IwAR18fpau2nGVT5JGm3EtdHn4jaoQfRDETS2WhXZmDAbLl4fNq7gb9lOGbs4
― Everything's Blue In This Whorl (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 18 January 2021 14:12 (three years ago) link
Aargh--missed this!
― clemenza, Monday, 25 January 2021 22:29 (three years ago) link
Just watched Blind & Central Park. Both really hit the spot.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 25 January 2021 23:54 (three years ago) link
State Legislature is a very good cynical/pessimistic companion to City Hall. and Good GOD we need to fix nutrition in the state of Iowa STAT
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 26 January 2021 00:38 (three years ago) link
Law & Order is my fav of the half-dozen ive seen so far. all criminals are beautiful
― flopson, Tuesday, 26 January 2021 18:13 (three years ago) link
If you guys have library cards, join Kanopy for a bunch of Wiseman.
― Everything's Blue In This Whorl (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 27 January 2021 23:14 (three years ago) link
Um...
― Next Time Might Be Hammer Time (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 January 2021 19:48 (three years ago) link
...did he die?
― flopson, Saturday, 30 January 2021 20:12 (three years ago) link
DON'T DO THAT
― That's not really my scene (I'm 41) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 30 January 2021 20:37 (three years ago) link
I’m sorry guys
― Everything's Blue In This Whorl (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 31 January 2021 02:05 (three years ago) link
Go on, James...
― flappy bird, Sunday, 31 January 2021 02:17 (three years ago) link
Meant to say my libraries stopped doing Kanopy years ago.
― Next Time Might Be Hammer Time (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 31 January 2021 17:49 (three years ago) link
okay, was fearing the obit!
― That's not really my scene (I'm 41) (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 31 January 2021 18:06 (three years ago) link
saw Primate, thought the statement "after a time watching it is possible to wonder which ones of these two sets of primates is the more strange" made sense
― Dan S, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 01:27 (three years ago) link
I just watched Meat, which I found several degrees less disturbing/difficult to watch than Primate. Really, really tough.
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 01:58 (three years ago) link
City Hall is on Kanopy now. I still haven't watched Monrovia...I was just telling a friend that I have so much movie access at home--Kanopy, Criterion, Prime, Netflix, Tubi, Hollywood Suite (not to mention the hundreds and hundreds of DVDs I've bought and filed away unseen)--that I often find I'm paralyzed; I end up rewatching some bit of fluff instead of the thousand films I should be watching. But I am going to make a concerted effort in the next couple of weeks to watch the two Wisemans.
― clemenza, Sunday, 16 May 2021 20:50 (two years ago) link
I wonder if the Kanopy selection is different depending on your library, but all 43 Wiseman films are available in mine. I've been going through them chronologically and recently saw Meat, which was another gruesome one in the vein of Primate
― Dan S, Saturday, 22 May 2021 23:33 (two years ago) link
yea kanopy varies dramatically by library
― flopson, Saturday, 22 May 2021 23:39 (two years ago) link
Canal Zone (1977) was interesting, mostly visually, but I thought Sinai Field Mission (1978) and Manoeuvre (1979) were both kind of dull
― Dan S, Wednesday, 30 June 2021 23:31 (two years ago) link
Wiseman’s four-part film series on disability - Deaf (1986), Multi-Handicapped (1986), Adjustment and Work (1986) and Blind (1987) - were all interesting.
― Dan S, Sunday, 3 April 2022 00:33 (one year ago) link
I thought they expressed really well that communication is not just about speech or writing but also touch, sound, gesture, comportment
― Dan S, Sunday, 3 April 2022 00:35 (one year ago) link
Apologies for recycling social media posts, but I've been thinking about Sinai Field Mission a lot.
But what it’s really portraying is a group who have fenced themselves off in the desert and (in the name of trying to maintain peace between Israel & Egypt) can’t even make peace among themselves. pic.twitter.com/v0aDfw21c2— Chris Barrus (@quartzcity) October 29, 2021
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 22 April 2022 23:30 (one year ago) link
It opens with a near wordless scene of a guy driving out in the middle of the desert to brush sand. Legit thought that Wiseman was making an Antonioni movie. pic.twitter.com/nXXvrh8Xcu— Chris Barrus (@quartzcity) October 29, 2021
Some of the best depictions of boredom. pic.twitter.com/2feH2ypj3M— Chris Barrus (@quartzcity) October 29, 2021
thought that film was inscrutable
― Dan S, Saturday, 23 April 2022 00:32 (one year ago) link
I like that he moves methodically from subject to subject
going through them chronologically, the next one for me is Missile (1988)
― Dan S, Saturday, 23 April 2022 00:44 (one year ago) link
"Frederick Wiseman Goes Fictional for the First Time - After nearly 60 years of non-fiction filmmaking, Wiseman tells IndieWire why he picked "A Couple" as his first fiction film."https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/frederick-wiseman-interview-a-couple-1234747847/
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 22 August 2022 20:15 (one year ago) link
I am about halfway through a VHS rip of The Garden, his doc about Madison Square Garden filmed from '97-98 that is apparently his only currently suppressed film. James Dolan apparently withdrew legal permission to release it due to scenes of MSG execs plotting labor negotiation strategy (more info here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/04/25/secret-garden). It would no doubt have been up there as one of his most colorful and accessible films were it released, and Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mary J. Blige among others would officially be considered Wiseman vets.
― Chris L, Monday, 12 September 2022 04:50 (one year ago) link
A couple months back I asked one of the hosts of Wiseman Podcast (big, big recommendation for this BTW - better than all film podcasts) if they were going to cover The Garden - they will and apparently the film will get an official release next year.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 12 September 2022 05:49 (one year ago) link
Whoa, cool; thanks! I think I follow the Wiseman podcast guy on Twitter but have not checked it out yet.
― Chris L, Monday, 12 September 2022 06:01 (one year ago) link
If you check out any episode, listen to their interview with Wiseman himself. It's good and covers a lot of subjects that I haven't heard in any other interviews with him.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 12 September 2022 07:17 (one year ago) link
I'm in the middle of Belfast, Maine right now. Heavy, miasmic, rough road of American gothic but some of the scenes are among Wiseman's best.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 12 September 2022 07:40 (one year ago) link
(I love that he's into Down By Law)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOpRVNqOZUA
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 9 November 2022 21:19 (one year ago) link
Love that clip. Going to guess he and Jarmusch know each other, but if not, can you imagine sitting there and watching this and hearing Frederick Wiseman say he loves your film and he's seen it six times?
― clemenza, Thursday, 10 November 2022 01:13 (one year ago) link
Watching “Central Park” over the last few days.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 27 December 2022 01:28 (one year ago) link
Early takeaway: I would like to visit this park, but, um, not in the late 1980s.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 27 December 2022 01:31 (one year ago) link
We watched City Hall over the weekend and I sorta think it should have been called Mayor??
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 27 December 2022 05:08 (one year ago) link
The Midnight Oil show wasn't that bad!
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 27 December 2022 09:04 (one year ago) link
It was nice to see LeVar Burton!
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 1 January 2023 03:51 (one year ago) link
And yeah, the Midnight Oil performance is great!
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 1 January 2023 03:57 (one year ago) link
Damn, people seemed to love Ed Koch.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 1 January 2023 04:13 (one year ago) link
Happy 93rd birthday today Fred!
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 2 January 2023 02:42 (one year ago) link