george washington
Opening Scene
dir: david gordon green (2000)
Before I moved out of New York City to be with my lady, my visions of rural America (if that still exists) came from limited bus travels through the states and also, more significantly, the images from cinema. And with cinema, I do not mean "Fried Green Tomatoes" or any other Hollywood flick that fulfilled most actor's wet dream of applying a Southern accent to their otherwise perfect speech. "George Washington" struck me immediately. I thought I understood the south through this film. I imagined those characters walking around having strange conversations with each other. Strange rustic places where one does some serious daydreaming. A childhood utopia. Giant mysterious machines, railroads that promised exotic travels, backwoods that kept nature playful. People seemed true, they had a passiveness about them. No shoes to fit, no roles to play, no one trying to be important or somebody else. Weeds and life took a toll on their faces and souls. They had been affected.
The film was shot in North Carolina, I was intrigued. I even entertained the idea of moving there and shooting a film. I visited my friend, who lived in NC, to check it out. I was disappointed. All I saw was shopping centers, good restaurants, cars, fancy roads. I was promised that in some adjacent towns there lived such a world. But I didn't believe them.
A couple of years later, I met my LOML and lo' and behold, she was from North Carolina. After an unbearable year of a long distance relationship, I decided to move here. I do love the place but not for all the reasons I had previously. Some of it, especially the people, are true. But the mood, the daydreams I rarely see.
Recently, we drove into Goldsboro by mistake and I saw train tracks and factories that reminded me of George Washington. They were beautiful. But it looked like it was waiting to disappear. I bet someone rides by it everyday and wishes it were gone.
Many directors are said to have this special gift of understanding childhood. They don't. I believe most of them understand fear really well but not the wonderful, almost spiritual, childhood curiosity about the world. David Gordon Green captures a curiosity that is not expressed as a shock with a gaping mouth but instead through travels in one own's head to see the confusion, the possibilities, the answers that come with growing up.
The opening scene is a meditative daydream. What peaks the curiosity of these children are not other worldly. Instead it is the common place, what has been thrown to the floor and discarded. It is quite a simple build up, beautiful shot after beautiful shot with some beautiful revelations. You could do something similar with your home video camera. But what always gets me is when all of a sudden the voice stops and the camera zooms ever so slowly into this beautiful rustic metal panel of a moving railroad car. Stop, look at this, it is nothing and all the same beautiful. Or even more beautiful than the considered beautiful.
dir: david gordon green (2000)
Before I moved out of New York City to be with my lady, my visions of rural America (if that still exists) came from limited bus travels through the states and also, more significantly, the images from cinema. And with cinema, I do not mean "Fried Green Tomatoes" or any other Hollywood flick that fulfilled most actor's wet dream of applying a Southern accent to their otherwise perfect speech. "George Washington" struck me immediately. I thought I understood the south through this film. I imagined those characters walking around having strange conversations with each other. Strange rustic places where one does some serious daydreaming. A childhood utopia. Giant mysterious machines, railroads that promised exotic travels, backwoods that kept nature playful. People seemed true, they had a passiveness about them. No shoes to fit, no roles to play, no one trying to be important or somebody else. Weeds and life took a toll on their faces and souls. They had been affected.
The film was shot in North Carolina, I was intrigued. I even entertained the idea of moving there and shooting a film. I visited my friend, who lived in NC, to check it out. I was disappointed. All I saw was shopping centers, good restaurants, cars, fancy roads. I was promised that in some adjacent towns there lived such a world. But I didn't believe them.
A couple of years later, I met my LOML and lo' and behold, she was from North Carolina. After an unbearable year of a long distance relationship, I decided to move here. I do love the place but not for all the reasons I had previously. Some of it, especially the people, are true. But the mood, the daydreams I rarely see.
Recently, we drove into Goldsboro by mistake and I saw train tracks and factories that reminded me of George Washington. They were beautiful. But it looked like it was waiting to disappear. I bet someone rides by it everyday and wishes it were gone.
Many directors are said to have this special gift of understanding childhood. They don't. I believe most of them understand fear really well but not the wonderful, almost spiritual, childhood curiosity about the world. David Gordon Green captures a curiosity that is not expressed as a shock with a gaping mouth but instead through travels in one own's head to see the confusion, the possibilities, the answers that come with growing up.
The opening scene is a meditative daydream. What peaks the curiosity of these children are not other worldly. Instead it is the common place, what has been thrown to the floor and discarded. It is quite a simple build up, beautiful shot after beautiful shot with some beautiful revelations. You could do something similar with your home video camera. But what always gets me is when all of a sudden the voice stops and the camera zooms ever so slowly into this beautiful rustic metal panel of a moving railroad car. Stop, look at this, it is nothing and all the same beautiful. Or even more beautiful than the considered beautiful.
posted by Ajit Anthony Prem at Saturday, January 22, 2005
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