Ken Russell
Thorkell A. Ottarsson
each film but this time I'm just to lazy so here is my short review of
my Ken Russell month.
It has mostly been a very pleasant experience. It is quite obvious
that Ken Russell was a very romantic man, not just because most of his
films are in fact love stories (also bi (Women in Love, The Rainbow),
homosexual (The Music Lovers) and platonic ones (Song of Summer:
Frederick Delius)) but also because he has such romantic ideas about
artists. They are all these tormented souls, out of control, and
sometimes totally crazy. Many of them are misunderstood masters who
pioneer the way for other wayward souls. They are rarely a creation of
their society or borrowers from other artists. It is a very old
fashioned way of looking at artists but what does save his films is
that he never tries to take away their humanity. They are all damaged
in some way. Mahler and Delius is a selfish bastard, Tchaikovsky (The
Music Lovers) is impulsive and a coward, Henri Gaudier (Savage
Messiah) and Isadora Duncan are totally out of control and very
demanding on everyone around them and Valentino is stuck in old
fashioned ideas of honor (to name just few of them).
One thing that strikes me about his films is how one dimensional his
characters are. You know from the first scene who they are and they
usually don't change or surprise you after that. This would usually
irritate me but for some reason it did not bother me much in his
films. What did bother me is when Russell became too broad, like in
Lisztomania, a film I had to force my self to watch. Russell could
also hold back and when he did he was just wonderful. "Song of Summer:
Frederick Delius" is the best example of that (might also be his best
film). Some of his broad films work though, like The Devils.
I love his visuals. Russell was a poet when it came to visual language
and he was often a great surrealist. Altered States is a brilliant
example. What a wonderful visual love poem! The same goes for Mahler,
which is his most underrated film and IMO one of his best. It has
everything I love in a Russell film. Surrealistic scenes, anachronism,
fascinating honesty and imaginative settings and camera work. It
starts with Mahler on a train (a perfect metaphor for a lives journey)
and then goes into dreams and his memory of the past.
Russell loved anachronism and it often works but sometimes he just
takes it a little too far, like in Lisztomania.
Russell my not always have scored but at least he dared to take a
chance and go his own way. That's more than we can say about most of
the directors working today.
I have really enjoyed watching Russell this month. Here is how I rated
his films:
"Omnibus" Song of Summer: Frederick Delius 10/10
Women in Love 10/10
Mahler 9/10
Altered States 9/10
"Monitor" Always on Sunday 9/10
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World 9/10
The Rainbow 8/10
The Music Lovers 8/10
The Devils 8/10
"Monitor" Elgar 8/10
The Debussy Film 8/10
Tommy: The Movie 7/10
Valentino 7/10
The Boy Friend 7/10
Savage Messiah 7/10
Lady Chatterley 7/10
"Omnibus" Dante's Inferno 7/10
The Lair of the White Worm 7/10
Crimes of Passion 6/10
Gothic 5/10
Billion Dollar Brain 5/10
Salome's Last Dance 5/10
Lisztomania 4/10