Perkins Claire Elizabeth - B Is for Bad Cinema: Aesthetics, Politics, and Cultural Value

B IS FOR

BAD CINEMA

Also in the series

William Rothman, editor, Cavell on Film

J. David Slocum, editor, Rebel Without a Cause

Joe McElhaney, The Death of Classical Cinema

Kirsten Moana Thompson, Apocalyptic Dread

Frances Gateward, editor, Seoul Searching

Michael Atkinson, editor, Exile Cinema

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Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann, Ecology and Popular Film

William Rothman, editor, Three Documentary Filmmakers

Sean Griffin, editor, Hetero

Jean-Michel Frodon, editor, Cinema and the Shoah

Carolyn Jess-Cooke and Constantine Verevis, editors, Second Takes

Matthew Solomon, editor, Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination

R. Barton Palmer and David Boyd, editors, Hitchcock at the Source

William Rothman, Hitchcock, Second Edition

Joanna Hearne, Native Recognition

Marc Raymond, Hollywoods New Yorker

Steven Rybin and Will Scheibel, editors, Lonely Places, Dangerous Ground

B IS FOR

BAD CINEMA

Aesthetics, Politics, and Cultural Value

Edited by

Claire Perkins

and

Constantine Verevis

Cover art: film still, Denis Lavant in Holy Motors (2012).
Courtesy Canal+/The Kobal Collection

Published by
S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS , A LBANY

2014 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact
S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS , A LBANY , NY
www.sunypress.edu

Production, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

B is for bad cinema : aesthetics, politics, and cultural value / edited by Claire Perkins and Constantine Verevis.

pages cm (SUNY series, horizons of cinema)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4384-4995-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Motion picturesAesthetics. I. Perkins, Claire (Claire Elizabeth) editor of compilation.
II. Verevis, Constantine editor of compilation.

PN1995.B15 2014

791.43'01dc23

2013012454

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Dad

CP

For Anna, Chrissie, and George

CV

Contents

Claire Perkins and Constantine Verevis

Jeffrey Sconce

Tessa Dwyer

Adrian Danks

R. Barton Palmer

Murray Pomerance

Jamie Sexton

Tom Conley

Adrian Martin

Kate Egan

I. Q. Hunter

Constantine Verevis

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

The editors would like to thank the School of English, Communications and Performance Studies and the Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Melbourne, for the generous support provided for hosting B for Bad Cinema, a conference co-convened by Alexia Kannas, Claire Perkins, Julia Vassilieva, and Constantine Verevis (Monash University, April 2009), from which this book project was developed. Thanks also to the School of English, Communications and Performance Studies for furnishing the book with images. The editors would also like to thank R. Barton Palmer and Murray Pomerance, not only for their direct contributions to the volume, but for their advice at various stages of its development. At SUNY Press, James Peltz and Murray Pomerance have acted as supportive and encouraging editors from the start, and are thanked for their feedback and sharp editorial vision at various stages of the project. Finally, a special word of thanks to our contributors: it has been a genuine pleasure to work with each one of you.

Introduction

B Is for Bad Cinema

C LAIRE P ERKINS AND C ONSTANTINE V EREVIS

A batsqueak of genius, dishevelment and derangement.

Peter Bradshaw (Cannes 2012: Holy Motors)

Taken from the Guardian, Peter Bradshaws review comment for Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012) has become the most famous description of a film that was anticipated, received, and reviewed in a state of near-constant hyperbole. Rarely mentioned outside of the superlatives that guaranteed it the leading spot in Film Comments Top Films of 2012 poll, descriptions of Holy Motors include, the most astonishing film at Cannes (Powers, Vogue) and one of the most electrifying films you will ever see (Ebiri, New York Magazine). At the same time, reviews of Holy Motors, Caraxs long-awaited fifth feature and first film since the critical and commercial failure of Pola X (1999), have also emphasized the delirium of Caraxs vision, describing the film as: [an] ecstatic, idiotic, fizzy, frightening provocation (Lodge, Time Out); an exhilarating lunatic odyssey (Collins, The Telegraph