Extra-ordinary cinema

Abstract

The proposed paper aims to articulate some of the possibilities of an ‘extra-ordinary’ cinema – one that would be consonant with what Deleuze indicates in his two books on cinema in terms of what he calls the ‘movement-image’ and the ‘time-image’, respectively. This does not preclude the possibility of formulating the conditions of extra-ordinary cinematic creation in different terms, however – one which I propose to pursue by drawing on the work of Lyotard, specifically on what he calls ‘acinema’, and that of Barthes, particularly his evocative distinction between ‘texts of pleasure’ and ‘texts of bliss’. Far from intending to pursue this exclusively at an abstract philosophical level, however, amplification is called for with reference to actual cinematic artefacts, that is, films. To this end, I intend exploring what may qualify as extra-ordinary films in terms of what has been elaborated here, including, briefly, Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge and Antonioni’s The Passenger, as well as, more at length, Gavin Hood’s Rendition and Nicolas Roeg’s Bad Timing. This is done by way of exploring the manner in which these films elaborate at the level of cinematic praxis on Deleuze’s ‘time-image’, Lyotard’s limiting notion of ‘acinema’, and Barthes’s texts of ‘pleasure’ and ‘bliss’, respectively. This may be seen as giving cinematic flesh, as it were, to the fruitful relationship between theory and artefact.

Hierdie artikel ondersoek die moontlikheid van ‘buiten-gewone’ rolprente, wat versoenbaar sou wees met wat Deleuze in sy twee boeke oor die rolprent aan die hand van die onderskeid tussen die ‘beweging-beeld’ en die ‘tyd-beeld’, respektiewelik, formuleer. Die moontlikheid van sodanige rolprente kan ook aan die hand van Lyotard se begrip van die ‘a-kinematiese’, en Barthes se onderskeid tussen ‘tekste van genot’ en ‘tekste van jouissance’ geformuleer word. In plaas daarvan om hierdie moontlikhede uitsluitlik op die vlak van abstrakte filosofiese konseptualisering te ondersoek, word etlike ‘buiten-gewone’ rolprente ter verheldering op so ‘n wyse bespreek dat die funksionering van die ‘akinematiese’, tekste van ‘genot’ en ‘jouissance’, asook die ‘beweging-beeld’ en ‘tyd-beeld’, verkonkretiseer word. Daar word gevolglik kortliks aan Luhrmann se Moulin Rouge, en aan Antonioni se The Passenger aandag gegee, en meer breedvoerig aan Gavin Hood se Rendition, asook Nicolas Roeg se Bad Timing, ten einde aan te toon hoe die bogenoemde filosofiese begrippe in die eerste plek in ‘n filmpraktyk gewortel is. Hierdie rolprente kan as die beliggaming van die vrugbare verhouding tussen teorie en artefak beskou word.