PINNLAND EMPIRE: THE SCHOOL OF CHANTAL AKERMAN PART 9: GUS VAN SANT

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

THE SCHOOL OF CHANTAL AKERMAN PART 9: GUS VAN SANT

When we made Last Days in particular, we were inspired by Jeanne Dielman - Gus Van Sant (I Dont Belong Anywhere: The Cinema Of Chantal Akerman)

It's no mystery at this point that between the years 2002 (Gerry) through 2005 (Last Days) Gus Van Sant was heavily influenced by Bela Tarr. He, along with countless other critics & bloggers, said this over & over. If you're not familiar at this point just use google. But what got slightly downplayed was the influence of Chantal Akerman which Van Sant cited just as much as he did Bela Tarr.

Below is a slightly focused look on Akerman's influence on a specific period in Gus Van Sant's career ("the minimalist era")

Enjoy...

I am also a big fan of Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, and when I was planning Last Days, Jeanne Dielman was a figure for what kind of movie I was making since it was all taking place around a home - Gus Van Sant (Filmmaker Magazine)

Jeanne Dielman / Last Days

Harris announced that he cracked the code of Jeanne Dielman. I had never noticed myself that there was one. He had watched the film the night before and noticed that there were set angles for each room - Gus Van Sant (Filmmaker Magazine)

Jeanne Dielman / Last Days

Jeanne Dielman /
Last Days

Michael Pitt told me that Gus van Sant screened Jeanne Dielman before shooting the film - Chantal Akerman (LolaJournal.com)

Jeanne Dielman /
Last Days

BONUS COMPARISONS...

Gerry, too, was a weird one because we were making it up as we went along. So there wasn't anything preconceived. We would discuss Tarkovsky and Béla Tarr and Chantal Ackerman. We screened Jeanne Dielman as a preparation - Gus Van Sant (The Guardian)

Jeanne Dielman /
Gerry

I've been impressed by many of her films, as well as incredible installations she has made for museums, but above all it's the discovery of Jeanne Dielman that immeasurably marked me when I was a student. in cinema. I see it often since, at home, and I remain amazed of the borders that it explodes in this film, what it invents in terms of narration, report to the character. When I made films like Gerry, Elephant and Last Days , it was a very important influence for me: there was Bela Tarr and Chantal Akerman for me - Gus Van Sant