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Yes, Ross, Altman fits into what Martin in his 1992 Continuum essay calls the
expressionist tier of mise en scene; films "whose textual economy is pitched
more at the level of a broad fit between elements of style and elements of
subject...general strategies...reinforce the general "feel" or meaning of the
subject matter." This evening I watched Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (it seemed
meteorologically apt!) and was struck by its dreamlike aestheticization of
Connecticut weather conditions. The icy trees etc were in fact digitally
generated, I believe.

We often say that non-American directors have made some of the most telling
films about America and American society, yet it's often by such
aestheticization that they get something of the spirit of the place. Where
this leaves the 'immediacy' of documentary/cinema verite is anybody's guess.
As 'aesthetic' as US directors can be, I suppose they are too mired in it to
have the kind of access to its brute facticity that invites this kind of
abstractionism. I suppose too that making films 'about America' involves
having a collective perspective which tends to be alien to American world
views. Aestheticization in the work of Kubrick, Altman, Scorsese, Mann etc is
usually keyed to individual perspectives and interactions (which, of course,
is why individualist classicism is the Hollywood aesthetic par excellence).
In the real world this leads to the Bush administration's manic pursuit of
terrorists, rather than attempting to understand how the 'American Century'
could have lead to 9/11 etc. But I digress.

Have to agree with Robert re. Bad Boy Bubby, which was one of the finest (of
the very few) Australian films which made it over here. Haven't yet seen
Rabbit-Proof Fence which Martin has also written about in S&S.
Richard