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Rating: 
Summary: Peter Greenaway
Review: A good way to clear the table of unwanted guests is to mention the name Peter Greenaway. These five syllables are known to cause pink cheeks and raised voices in both lovers and haters of pretentiousness in cinema. I would then recommend the perfect gift to these "art lovers": Peter Greenaway: Interviews, edited by Vernon Gras and Marguerite Gras.One of the many aspects of Greenaway's work that I admire is the way he always causes walkouts during screenings of his films, which include The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover; A Zed and Two Noughts; and The Belly of an Architect. At every Greenaway film I have seen there have been noisy exits by disgusted moviegoers. Not only that, but total strangers have come up to me in the theater lobby and said, "Isn't that the worst movie you have ever seen?" That alone makes me a Greenaway fan for life, aside from the fact that his work is completely involving, beautiful, and lots of fun. Especially fun is Greenaway's obsession with lists and numbers, as well as his witty commentary on nature and the way that systems control information -- and life itself. A far cry from minimalism, Greenaway's films are all works of excess. And this (very) British filmmaker knows how to use multimedia in his films -- which brings up the subject of pretentiousness. Strangely, for a man who has made over 20 films, Greenaway seems to think that after a century, cinema is pretty much a dead medium. He feels that literature and especially painting are way ahead of film, that the one thing holding back cinema is the Hollywood narrative. The problem with cinema is that it relies on books or stories, when it should be more like a painting -- which, according to Greenaway, gives a more complete picture emotionally and intellectually than a standard narrative. Peter Greenaway is a fascinating collection of interviews from various magazines and newspapers. In some of the interviews, Greenaway comes off as an English University professor; in others as an arrogant lecturer. Personally, I like this "arrogant" stance, because his anger and frustration is pretty much on the mark when it comes to what has become of commercial cinema: generic stories shown at the local mall. The only major problem with this volume is that it doesn't include a filmography or bibliography. In addition to making movies, Greenaway is also a painter, novelist, and curator. His latest project is Tulse Luper's Suitcase, which is a combination of cinema, CD-ROM, and a website. One can view this project as it unfolds at www.tulseluper.net
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