To paraphrase a journalist whose name I failed to notice whilst reading his article, 'It seems the old masters have lost their minds in the back of a hard drive.'
There was a time when the 'old masters' to which he refers were known as the 'American New Wave'; the bright new hope of 1970's American cinema. Nowadays Scorsese, Spielberg and Lucas conjure little more than the idea of insipid Hollywood award fodder, lame summer blockbusters and silly facial hair, but there was a time that the terms bold, innovative and socially reflective were vaguely more applicable. Possessed with a seemingly innate ability to control and create dramatic tension, an affection for the work of the French New Wave and, in the case of at least two of them, a love of aliens; their films had a vigor and a joy to them that couldn't fail to excite. Young excitable Americans inspired by the then established French, inspired in turn by Hitchcock; what wasn't to like?
There was a time when the 'old masters' to which he refers were known as the 'American New Wave'; the bright new hope of 1970's American cinema. Nowadays Scorsese, Spielberg and Lucas conjure little more than the idea of insipid Hollywood award fodder, lame summer blockbusters and silly facial hair, but there was a time that the terms bold, innovative and socially reflective were vaguely more applicable. Possessed with a seemingly innate ability to control and create dramatic tension, an affection for the work of the French New Wave and, in the case of at least two of them, a love of aliens; their films had a vigor and a joy to them that couldn't fail to excite. Young excitable Americans inspired by the then established French, inspired in turn by Hitchcock; what wasn't to like?
