With Damian Chazelle's Babylon now in theaters, the Academy Award Winner joins the ranks of his colleagues and contemporaries, both past and present, who have turned the camera inwards to reflect upon the nature of their art and its industry.
Throughout every period and mode of cinema, from classic Hollywood production such as Sullivan's Travels, to quirky, transnational independent documentaries like Shirkers, filmmakers have always had a keen fascination with peeling back the curtain, revealing the machinations, processes, triumphs, and trial that come with making (or attempting to make) a motion picture. It seems that for every great story that makes its way to the screen, there are a hundred great stories, from conception to completion, that filmmakers cannot leave untold.
'Mank' (2020)
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
David Fincher's Mank is the story of Herman Mankiewicz, who won the Academy Award for Best Screenwriter alongside Orson Welles for Welles' early masterpiece Citizen Kane. The film follows the period of the film's writing, Mankiewicz's oft-drunken antics, and his run-ins with Welles himself, as the film depicts earlier allegations that Mankiewicz was the sole writer of the legendary picture.
Fincher's stylish black and white feature is pulled from a script written by his father, Jack Fincher, who sadly passed over a decade before the film was released. The senior Fincher's inspiration came from a notorious allegation by legendary film critic Pauline Kael on the subject of 'Kane's' authorship. Gary Oldman stars as Mank, whose performance reflects the film's overall subject, an equal parts comic and cynical reflection on the film industry, artistry, authorship, and legacy.
'Contempt' (1963)
A film producer worries his latest investment in a film by director Fritz Lang (who plays himself!) is going to bomb, and thus brings in a young screenwriter (Michel Piccoli) to salvage the film. During production, an apparent rift between Piccoli's character and his wife (Brigitte Bardot) only widens, a subtle mirror to the director's disintegrating marriage and the only therapy he knows can alleviate the pain, a deeper and stricter adherence to his art.
Already a legendary film critic in his own right, it is no wonder the late, great Jean-Luc Godard should substitute his pen and typewriter for a camera and crew and deliver a beautiful reflection on cinema, life, and love.
'Be Kind, Rewind' (2008)
Michel Gondry's follow-up to The Science of Sleep stars an intriguingly delightful cast, including Jack Black, hip-hop artist Mos Def (Yasiin Bey), and screen icons Danny Glover and Mia Farrow. The film follows Jerry and Mike (Black and Bey), a pair of video rental store clerks who must personally re-shoot their vast collection after a mishap leaves Jerry "magnetized," thus wiping the entire store archive.
In a period where the video-rental store is far behind us, Gondry's film is a beautiful ode to the bygone days of social film discovery and collectively shared spaces where film fans of all degrees could mingle. Beyond its love for the video-rental store, Gondry's film explores the human passion behind filmmaking and preserving our stories for ourselves and our community.
'The Fabelmans' (2022)
Steven Spielberg's latest feature is an incredibly sentimental work of loose autobiography that parallels the coming of age of a young Sammy Fabelman (Gabrielle LaBelle), with his growing interest in filmmaking and the dissolution of his parents, Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and Burt's (Paul Dano), marriage.
There is just so much to praise in Spielberg's latest outing, from the impeccable performances of his stars, especially the breakout Labelle, to the gorgeous cinematography; there is no doubt that the director, whose work as a director as The Fabelmans explores, began as early as the 1950s, remains a master of his craft, and thus it is just special to watch the man ruminate on his passions, as well as his regrets.
'Official Competition' (2022)
When a billionaire entrepreneur decides he has not yet left his cultural mark on the Earth, he enlists eccentric director Lola Cueva (Penelope Cruz) to create a film that will do so. With riches at her disposal, Cueva ambitiously attempts to pair famous actors and bitter rivals, playboy heartthrob Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) and actor/intellectual Ivan Torres (Oscar Martinez), on screen for the first time, with varying degrees of success.
The film, from Argentinian directing duo Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohn, evaded much of the popular discourse in 2022, however, it offers a wryly comedic and potently intellectual portrait of the collision between ego, artistry, and money and questions where the story of a film starts, and where, if ever, it ends.
'Sullivan's Travels' (1941)
Filmmaker John Sullivan (Joel McCrea) seeks to create his magnum opus, an ambitious portrayal of human suffering. The only problem is he's never suffered the plight of the common man. Sullivan attempts to don the guise of a "hobo" and hitchhike but is ultimately thwarted and brought back to Hollywood, where he meets The Girl (Veronica Lake) and doubles down on his efforts, with severe consequences.
Preston Sturges' masterpiece offers an early portrait of the cinema attempting to find its place in society as a tool for good beyond entertainment; Sturges also reckoned with the early signs of wealth and excess and the damage they may cause to the artistry of cinema.
'Dick Johnson is Dead' (2020)
Director and Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson (Camera Person, Citizen Four) works with her 86-year-old father (Richard Johnson) and a small crew to stage his death scenes and envision him in an eternal afterlife while simultaneously dealing with the reality of his developing Alzheimer's.
Johnson's tender and personal portrayal of herself and her father pairs their personal struggles with aging and illness, with comic and fantastical scenarios where Richard dies over and over and lives on in a filmic afterlife.
'Ed Wood' (1994)
Often labeled as one of the "worst" filmmakers of all time, Ed Wood (Johnny Depp), who the film is named after, just wants to make movies with his assortment of strange friends, including the horror legend Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau). All this culminates in their creation of Wood's most infamous work, Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Burton's stylish black-and-white feature is a loving tribute to his personal heroes and offers a portrait of unabashed love for making movies, despite overwhelming odds. The film was a turning point in the revision of Wood and asked whether the rigidity of our cultural criticism and the fervor with which we spew hatred towards those whose art we do not admire, is a reflection of the artist's talents or our inhumanity.
'Day for Night' (1973)
Day for Night is another film from ex-Cahier Du Cinema critic turned French New Wave pioneer Francois Truffaut plays a fictionalized director struggling to keep his project alive and moving amidst a litany of crises, some personal and some artistic clashes between his cast and crew.
Truffaut's picture is a highly entertaining portrayal of the rollercoaster that is making a motion picture and a justification for the love and labor that goes into a film. Everyone on set matters, everyone on set cares, and when that all comes together, it is the most beautiful thing in the world.
'Shirkers' (2018)
Over 20 years after now-novelist Sandi Tan shot a road movie with her elusive mentor Georges Cardona, Tan revisits the remnants of her lost film and attempts to uncover the mystery of her once coveted teacher.
A documentary feature on Netflix, Tan's story about the making of her mostly lost, independent 16mm film and the years that followed is probably more interesting than the elusive film could have ever been.