Reading Rob Tranchin’s musings on Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless — and digging up photos to post with the piece — reminded me how much the French ‘new wave’ directors (Godard, Truffaut, Resnais, Rohmer) loved Paris, loved Paris street scenes. Breathless, Godard’s iconic film about a brief love affair between a young American and a small-time Parisian crook, is screening at the Angelika.

Parisian streets and illegality naturally reminded me of a different kind of “breathless”: Claude Lelouch’s C’etait un rendezvous, which has been an underground classic known primarily to gearheads, race-car buffs and fans of the Cobra-vs-Charger-chase sequence in Bullitt. Lelouch wasn’t a dues-paying member of the nouvelle vague, but he was certainly associated with it in his earliest works like Un home et une femme. This nine-minute short is a tire-squealing dash through the streets of sleepy Paris just a little after dawn in August 1976, past the Arc de Triomphe, around the Paris Opera and practically into a number of startled pedestrians and pigeons (viewers have pointed out that, for a guy in a hurry, the driver does take the long way around). The driver rips through a dozen red lights (I lost count), on occasion he drives on the sidewalk and swerves into the oncoming lane — which are, admittedly, pretty much standard survival techniques for French drivers.

Myths grew up around Rendezvous (partly because it was publicly unavailable for years): That the car was Lelouch’s own Ferrari 275 GTB (a good guess, judging from the growling sound), that Lelouch hired a professional Formula 1 driver (after all, Lelouch had filmed Le Mans), that Lelouch was arrested  (he filmed it without any permits).

According to this site and others, none of this is true. Lelouch drove the car himself, using his own 6.9 liter Mercedes 450 SEL because a Ferrari, even with a gyro-stabilized camera mounted to provide a headlight-POV, proved too bouncy. Lelouch wasn’t arrested, but he was given a ticket.

And that rather un-Mercedes sound of barking gear-shifts and snarling acceleration? It was the sound of a Ferrari, Lelouch confessed, but the V12 rumble was dubbed later (the Mercedes and the live recording quality didn’t seem racy enough). Other than that, the film features no cuts and no speeded-up tricks, as it declares in French at the start.

Except, in effect, one:  Putting a camera that low to the ground makes the action seem faster than it really is (the same effect can be seen when you drive and look, not at the distance ahead, but at the immediate road surface you’re passing). Hence, the long-running debate over just how fast he was going. Lelouch has said 160 kph — or about 100 mph — and Google map calculations with a stop-watch tend to confirm it.

By the way, the film is now available on DVD through Spirit Level Films. It’s even more impressive on a big home screen with the sound cranked up. The only bad thing to say about Rendezvous? It probably has encouraged way too many idiot stunt races through other city streets.

Guest Blogger Tina Aguilar teaches Humanities at El Centro College.

Art-O-Mat at Whole Foods

Art adventures abound everywhere we go, and out of the blue I spied a project that I was surprised to see at Whole Foods Market at Park Lane.  Have you wanted to collect art or even get your own art out to the masses? You are in luck because Dallas has its very own Art-o-Mat machine to peruse. Photography is what caught my attention as I gazed at the dispenser choices and then slid in my $5 bill. Matt Larson, a Florida artist, offers a glance into a natural landscape with an ethereal focus. As I pulled out the slip of paper with his blog tag and request to track ownership, I was excited to see it was shot from his iPhone, and I had to learn more about his artwork.

In 1997, Art-o-Mat started as a one-time piece that was part of a solo installation of 12 works by artist Clark Whittington in Salem-Winston, North Carolina, where you could buy photographs for $1 from a refurbished cigarette machine. Originally he had an idea about an art vending machine and, “one day over lunch a friend saw his sketches and told him about discontinued cigarette machines.” Whittington found a local company that was decommissioning machines. His concept magnified into the collaborative art group named Art in Cellophane. All local artists across the world are encouraged to submit work for consideration. Whittington’s philosophy is simple, “we want to connect artists with patrons and allow artists to reach people.” Selling over 25,000 pieces a year, Whittington says, “human to human contact is a lot more valid than clicking on a screen to view or select art.” One of Whittington’s latest machines has found a home in Australia. Dusty Edwards, Whole Foods Market, Associate Marketing Coordinator of Decor, notes that, “he and his colleagues knew of a machine in the Mid-Atlantic region in Tenleytown, Washington, D.C.,” loved the idea, and “bought some art from it when we saw it. With Dallas having a lot of art in the community, along with the recycled statement of the machines, it seemed like a perfect fit for the Park Lane store.” They plan to consider future regional placements and soon will put one at the Montrose store location in Houston.

Tina's Art-O-Mat purchase, Matt's work

Tina Aguilar: How did you find out about the Art-o-mat?

Matt Larson: Wow, good question. We found out about the Art-o-mat probably 10 years ago or so when the Tampa Museum of Art use to have one in their lobby—way back. About two years ago we saw one in Charleston at the college … we were viewing an exhibition there while on vacation. We thought it was so cool and it just happened to be about the time we launched our blogs (my wife is a photographer too). I think that’s when the light bulb lit—we both thought it would be a great way to promote our new blogs to drive traffic. Plus as added value, it’s a blast to do and the pieces are fun to collect. Art-o-mat has a great website and the quality of the artists participating is incredible. After a little research, we realized that many were using the medium to promote their work, create collectable pieces … all while having a great time doing it.

T. A.: Tell me about your process and using toy cameras.

M. L.: I like the concept of using toy cameras that were meant to just point and shoot, give to kids, etc. and making serious pictures with them. Not sure why but I do get a thrill when I see a $20-50 camera make an image suitable for a gallery or museum wall. That is the challenge here for me. I think this is all just a 180-degree turn-around from working with so many art directors over the years telling me what to do and what not to do. This is me just out and about making images for me of things I see. It’s simple, raw and true. No real tricks or bells and whistles.

T. A.: How do you decide what to create and send?

M. L.: For Art-o-mat … I try to send out things that look really interesting and different … landscapes shot in my style of focusing on something from 4’ away as opposed to the quintessential infinity shot that everyone seems to do. I like to do the opposite of the norm. I like to be different. And I like to break rules. One does not need an expensive camera to make art is another message of mine.

T. A.: Do you have a favorite camera?

M. L.: No. I love them all.   The Holga, Diana, and my Argus Bean are all equal and I have different uses for each of them, believe it or not. There is a method to the madness. For example, I always use the Argus Bean camera in sepia mode—it’s capable of making the most beautiful image with no toning or anything. The Holga and the Diana have different softness factors to them, so I use those accordingly.

T. A.: Were you surprised to hear from Dallas, Texas?

M. L.: Yes, on my Art-O-Mat insert to my images on blocks I have a call to action that says, let me know where you purchased your camera … I get emails all the time and love to hear about the purchase too. They all have stories to tell me—like yours!

T. A.: What is your Polaroid Book Project?

M. L.: In 2008, I shot a whole year with my Polaroid 600 camera just before Polaroid stopped producing the film. I knew from day one it was a project. I was happy to just publish my first book on Blurb called the Polaroid Project and it features about a forth of the images shot that year. My next book in progress will be images shot with my iPhone.

T. A.: Is there a certain theme for your next series for the Art-O-Mat?

M. L.: Not really, I’m pulling from all bodies of work and from all cameras. I ship them in sets of 50 and always try to include five different images in all my shipments. I like the people to be able to buy more than one and get a different image. I’m a collector too now and often buy more than one work from an artist. Go check out on the Art-o-mat site the gift box of 10 images in a carton. It’s so cool and it’s fun. Each piece goes to an answer you gave while placing the order. It’s a blast and you’ll love it!

Matt Larson welcomes a visit to his blog. If you are interested in submitting work for the Art-O-Mat machines, you can log on to www.artomat.org for more information. Take time to check out the Art-O-Mat machine at the Whole Foods Market Park Lane store in the vino section. For the collectors out there, two machines can be found in Keller at Art251 or, if you feel like a drive, two-hours away at the Longview Museum of Art.

Tonight’s your final chance to see on the big screen, a newly restored version of Breathless – the 1960 groundbreaking first film from French director Jean Luc Godard. KERA’s Rob Tranchin explains in his review why he views Breathless as an existentialist anti-hero of a movie.

Screening times today at the Angelika

Another take: An essay by Dudley Andrew from the Criterion DVD release.

KERA radio report:

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Breathless stars a young Jean Paul Belmondo as Michel, a small time French hood who idolizes Humphrey Bogart, and Jean Seberg as his American girlfriend, Patricia.

Michel is on the run from the police, and Patricia is trying to figure out whether she loves Michel.  But the plot is only a pretext for making a movie, and Godard’s redefinition of what a movie could be made Breathless an international sensation and a landmark in film history.

For one thing, it’s the way the film deliberately quotes and then violates movie conventions in favor of delivering an intensely present experience.  The famous jump cuts in Breathless seemed heretical at the time, but they represent a simple idea—Godard simply removed the boring parts from a continuous shot.  That’s what makes the movie feel like jazz: it quotes the melody, but it’s the improvised departure from the melody that makes the music soar.

Another slap in the face of convention is the way Godard intentionally reminds us that it’s Belmondo and Seberg we’re watching, not Michel and Patricia. The fiction breaks down, but not our interest.

That’s because it’s not about the story.  Rather than deliver a drama about life, Breathless seems to deliver life itself.  As Belmondo and Seberg talk about choice and destiny, the world and a thousand questions about it press in from outside the edges of the frame: Mozart, Faulkner, movies, radio, sirens and sunlight all crowd their way onto the screen.

Breathless is fifty years old this year. The newly restored print showcases cinematographer Raoul Coutard’s sensuous black and white photography in sequences that capture the romance of Paris at night, the roguish glint in Belmondo’s eyes, the youthful glow of Jean Seberg’s luminous skin.

Godard has said he thought he was remaking Scarface but later realized he had remade Alice in Wonderland instead.  Like Alice, Breathless combines irony and self-consciousness with a poetic yearning for beauty that Godard proves can be found in the cinema.

BIRMINGHAM TO DALLAS TO CHICAGO TO LA: Which sounds like a lyric from ‘Route 66.” Actually, it’s the path of Tracy Scott Wilson’s drama, The Good Negro, which premiered at the Dallas Theater Center in 2008. Next, the drama about a Martin Luther King-like character leading civil rights protests in Birmingham, Alabama, played the Public Theatre in Manhattan and the Goodman in Chicago. It now has opened at the Stella Adler Theatre in LA. The LATimes calls Wilson’s playwriting “schematic” but her “storytelling has scope and wit.”

REMEMBER THE ANIMEFEST! Last weekend it was Dallas Comic Con (DMN video: comic books are “like a soap opera for guys — it’s awesome”). This weekend, we get a little more specialized. It’s the Japanese soap operas for guys, although to be fair, one of the refreshing hallmarks of Japanese manga books and anime films has been the complete involvement of young female characters and readers — a trait that slowly has influenced the American industry. Anywayzies, anybody with their own AstroBoy costume should gather Friday at the Hyatt Regency for AnimeFest.

YOU MEAN, WE DON’T HAVE UNTIL NOVEMBER?? In June, Fort Worth’s Pantagleize Theatre announced it will be the first tenant at 1115 Rio Grande, a space next to the trad-rad-and-renovated Fort Worth Public Market. The company will open with an eight-show season this fall. dfw.com catches up with how the construction of the 102-seat black-box theater is going — because it’s getting a grand-opening gala Sept. 16.

AND SOMEBODY SAVED MARCEL PROUST’S OVERCOAT. An Italian journalist has written a book about it.

This year’s Hiett Prize will go to Mark Oppenheimer, the author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture, and Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate. Oppenheimer is also a lecturer at Yale and a creative writing teacher at Wellesley. The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture will present the award Oct. 19.

The annual prize is presented by the Dallas Institute to a writer-scholar in the humanities who has demonstrated great promise — and it’s intended to encourage and assist the winner for any future accomplishment.

A cash award of $50,000 provides the encouragement.

A full bio follows:

Read More »

Afternoon Delight is a daily diversion for when you’re back from lunch but not quite ready to get back to work. Check back tomorrow at 1 p.m. for another installment.

If you were listening to KXT 91.7 this morning, the great Gini Mascorro played “Jungle Boogie” for you in the 8 o’clock hour. And there’s a greater than zero chance you were trying to bust some of the Soul Train moves from this video in your car on your way to work. On a side note – how great would be it be to get these same dancers from 1973 back in a room and have them perform these dances again today?

(h/t April Kinser)

The Cliburn Foundation sends word today that it has named David Chambless Worters president and chief executive officer. Worters is the current president & CEO of the North Carolina Symphony. He replaces Richard Rodzinski, who retired in July after 23 years and six Van Cliburn competitions.

Keep reading for the full news release:

Read More »

A weekly question to prompt discussion about the arts.

Jerome’s story this week about music education in DISD got us thinking: Why don’t schools offer guitar or piano classes? They are the two most popular instruments for kids to learn outside of school. If you played in the school band or orchestra, would you have played the same instrument if guitar or piano had also been offered at your school? Drop us a comment and let’s get the conversation started.

Congratulations to James Neal of Keller, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest! This is James’ first victory in the contest. He follows last week’s winner, Chris Richey.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to to our Flickr group page. It’s fine to submit a photo you took previous to the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves a facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Monday to Sunday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Monday afternoon. We’ll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We’ll post the winners’ photo on Wednesday.

Now here’s more from James:

Title of photo: day 21

Equipment: Nikon 90

Tell us more about your photo: The title lacks imagination, I know. I’ve completed a few 30 day photo-a-day challenges. Day 21 represents the early stage of a 365 (or so) project.

The photo was actually taken in Abilene at the corner of 12th and Pine. Seems everyone in town with a yard sale or lost pet has been there. It leaves you with the questions: Is it what works? O is it what everyone has tried before me?

It’s week two of the Art&Seek newsletter and that means week 2 of The Big Deal.

We have five pairs of tickets to TITAS presents MOMIX and five pairs to see T Bone Burnett at the Brinker International Forum. You can enter to win both below. But you must be an Art&Seek newsletter subscriber to win. Make that happen here.

Every week, The Big Deal gives you opportunities to connect with arts and culture in North Texas.  Here’s another giveaway this week: Four tickets to see Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music at Casa Manana.

TITAS presents MOMIX

Sept. 10, Winspear Opera House

From the Art&Seek calendar:

MOMIX dancer-illusionists conjure a world of surrealistic images using light, shadow, props, humor and the human body. Beautiful and enthralling, Botanica is the perfect show for the entire family. The show features an eclectic score ranging from birdsongs to Vivaldi. It follows the rhythms of the seasons, the changing shape of life on Earth and the passing of a day. The performance is enhanced by spectacular costumes, projections and giant puppetry.

Enter to win here:

The Brinker International Forum Presents T Bone Burnett

Sept. 12, Winspear Opera House

From the Art&Seek calendar:

During this unforgettable evening, T Bone Burnett will explore the finely hewn craft of matching music to image and share his recollections from working with artists from B.B. King to the Coen brothers. Burnett will show clips from films he’s been involved in, as well as his favorite movie musical moments from other great films that have influenced his work.

Enter to win here: