Kate,
In Rosetta I think the camera style is intimately related to the plot. The
closeness, and the repetitions of mundane actions whose wider significance
(ethical, social, political) is unclear kept me on the edge of my seat as
delayed exposition.
The realism reminded me at times of Ken Loach, but perhaps a filmmaker who
seems closer is John Cassavetes. Reading an article on Cassavetes by Adrian
Martin in Senses of Cinema I recalled the puzzling closeness of the
architecture in the locations of films like Woman Under The Influence,
Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Love Streams. And the closeness to the body
(especially in Woman Under T I). And also, most importantly, the way that
Cassavetes 'realism' is, according to A.M., more expressionist than
naturalist. The closeness of Rosetta creates a kind of delirium realism -
perhaps appropriate for contemporary representations of the real.
Ross
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