Aria
This week we’re presenting Aria (1987, directed by Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, Bill Bryden, Jean-Luc Godard, Derek Jarman, Franc Roddam, Nicolas Roeg, Ken Russell, Charles Sturridge, Julien Temple) on Wednesday, December 17th, at 7 PM.
Here is the link to RSVP. Doors will be at 6:50 and we’ll start the show at 7:10!
Now that we are approaching the end of the year, it’s time to put a bow on our year-long exploration of the deep cuts of Tilda Swinton with the British anthology film Aria. This brings us back to one of Tilda’s most important and prolific collaborators, Derek Jarman, for one of their less heralded works together. Aria may seem like a slightly odd choice to conclude ADVANCED TILDA STUDIES, but it felt oddly perfect for this spot in our programming and this time of year.
Simply described, Aria is ten arthouse directors coming together to film vignettes set to some of their favorite opera solos. Like nearly all anthology films, it’s an esoteric affair, with some wild swings in style and tone between the segments. Like last week’s screening of All That Jazz, what comes through each piece is a swooning, wistful love for the stage, performance, and the work of artistic creation. And while it isn’t explicitly a Christmas movie, it feels right for this season: the pieces of Aria are a swirl of elation and melancholy, the heavy weight on one’s chest at the impending end of something as substantial and ethereal as a calendar year, the delicate twinkle of so many multicolored lights against a prematurely dark night. Some vignettes, such as Ken Russell’s or Jean-Luc Godard’s piece (which I can only tease as his version of Pumping Iron) capture the plasticine absurdity of December, muscular bodies and post-disco mise-en-scene like the most baroque blow-mold dioramas you could find on a walk around the neighborhood. Julien Temple’s ridiculous piece may, on the other hand, capture the feeling of getting a little too tipsy at a holiday party. And yet others, like Derek Jarman’s emotive Tilda-starrer, or Robert Altman’s sepia-toned segment, make you feel the determined struggle (or embrace) with damp loneliness that this season also brings.
Put another way, Aria is our little plate of holiday sweets, offered to you: a variety of different confections, some with a bit of unexpected flavors more complex than you were prepared for, others full of nostalgic flavors for a time beyond the real, and yet others just pure sugar.
Ritornello y Ritornello,
Charlie, Stefan, Stark