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"Films of Raul Ruiz"
1978-83
Directed by Raul Ruiz
Exiled Chilean director Raul Ruiz offers up three
films that showcase his visually intense, highly metaphysical style. In
Three Crowns of the Sailor (France, 1983, 117 minutes), a surreal
drama based on the Chilo myth of "Caleuche," or "The Ship of the Dead," a
sailor spins fantastical yarns of far-off brothels, opium dens, and exotic
characters for a young boy who just committed murder. Sacha Vierny (Night
and Fog) lends his beautiful black-and-white lensing to the
avant-garde staple The Hypothesis of a Stolen Painting (France,
1979, 63 minutes), in which a pompous art collector guides a tour through
a fantastic gallery of "living images." As the human artworks begin to
smirk and fidget, a new level of spectatorship is introduced into this
daring meditation on the relationship between words and images. And in
The Suspended Vocation (France, 1978, 96 minutes), based on a Pierre
Klossowski novel about his experiences in the seminary during the German
Occupation, Ruiz uses a complex parallel narrative to offer a critical
examination of the mysteries of the Catholic Church. French with optional
English subtitles.
276 minutes. |
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