Jonathan Romney introducing Jacques Rivette's 'Out 1: Noli Me Tangere' Photo by Keifer Taylor
After Jonathan Romney's introduction over 100 attendees dedicated their weekends to Jacques Rivette's 773-minute Out 1: Noli Me Tangere. I don't recall any walk-outs, though I did spot someone wrapped in a fetal position and, after finishing the film, one person who considered leaving after the 5th hour. I understood his reasoning but also his determination to stick with the camp. It's this very quality that makes Out 1 a unique cinematic exercise alongside performance as the anchoring principle behind a sprawling narrative of menacing question marks and amusements.
Religiously filmed over 6 weeks in Paris, all cast and crew members committed themselves to intense improvisational experiments, collaboratively creating characters and a story orbiting around two theatre troupes and two outcasts (Jean-Pierre Léad's deaf-mute busker and Juliet Berto's con-woman) who believe they've uncovered a secret society known as The Thirteen. Energy is transferred from one thread to the next as they gradually form. While this formation ensues we begin to find our way in this slightly surreal thicket of intellectual ideas, implicit political disenchantment and conspiracies until confronted by additional mysteries.
Our understanding mirrors the theatrical groups, specifically the more unorthodox one who practically deconstruct their interpretation of Aeschylus' Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound until emerging out of the primeval chaos with some clarity.Like the actors, cameraman and Rivette himself we, as tacit participants, dedicated ourselves (though the initial rehearsal sequences from episodes 1 and 2 are nauseating but a peculiar pleasure in retrospect) to this colourful, eerie venture of discoveries. Going outside during each break and joining others after the first day for a drink, there was a strong communal buzz with everyone either discussing or merely allowing their faces to do most of the talking in reaction to what has transpired on screen. A weekend well spent.
Keifer Taylor
Big thanks to The Badlands Collective for tirelessly collaborating on this project.
Religiously filmed over 6 weeks in Paris, all cast and crew members committed themselves to intense improvisational experiments, collaboratively creating characters and a story orbiting around two theatre troupes and two outcasts (Jean-Pierre Léad's deaf-mute busker and Juliet Berto's con-woman) who believe they've uncovered a secret society known as The Thirteen. Energy is transferred from one thread to the next as they gradually form. While this formation ensues we begin to find our way in this slightly surreal thicket of intellectual ideas, implicit political disenchantment and conspiracies until confronted by additional mysteries.
Our understanding mirrors the theatrical groups, specifically the more unorthodox one who practically deconstruct their interpretation of Aeschylus' Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound until emerging out of the primeval chaos with some clarity.Like the actors, cameraman and Rivette himself we, as tacit participants, dedicated ourselves (though the initial rehearsal sequences from episodes 1 and 2 are nauseating but a peculiar pleasure in retrospect) to this colourful, eerie venture of discoveries. Going outside during each break and joining others after the first day for a drink, there was a strong communal buzz with everyone either discussing or merely allowing their faces to do most of the talking in reaction to what has transpired on screen. A weekend well spent.
Keifer Taylor
Big thanks to The Badlands Collective for tirelessly collaborating on this project.
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