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revieloutionneOkay, so I'd heard of Fosse for ages as I grew up - you don't have to be a theatre queen to have heard of him or even be able to say he's a choreographer - and even saw a bit of his choreography in high school when PBS aired their Great Performances recording of, well, Fosse. (It's a plotless show that's basically his best dances restaged with no context.) Being me-in-high-school, I didn't think much of it. I can be forgiven, I knew little of dance and even less of theatre (despite my involvement in two shows a year, half of which were musicals).
It wasn't until a couple years back, when I finally saw the film of Cabaret that I was able to see any of his work with a mind that could appreciate it, and it was blown. Every time I come back to that film, I have a better understanding of what movies are and can do, and how director functions, and every time I come back to that movie, I can look deeper, and every time I come back to that movie, I find no flaws, and every time I come back to that movie I learn something new about the art.
But that was him working with a story and music that were not originally his, no matter how much effort and adaptation he brought. It simply proved that he was an artist who could build his own great things from other people's work. Which is in no way an insult - that's exactly the job of a director, and damn did he do it.
And there's some more here about his choreography, which I first really appreciated with Cabaret as well, and then learned the style of in workshop, and then started trawling youtube for - see a couple posts back to see where that's led me lately, but that's another post entirely. It was that post a couple back, though, that finally tipped the scales on me seeking out All That Jazz, which I just finished watching. (With Portuguese subtitles because of the torrent. Heh.)
First off, TvTropes is right when they describe the first real scene as "proving Fosse can do A Chorus Line in six minutes with no dialogue." (Paraphrased, as that site isn't being friendly right now.)
But the rest of the movie is something else entirely, and when Fosse gets to build from the ground up, he blows my mind in an entirely different way. The man knows exactly what he's doing, and it was amazing to see the evolution of his techniques after Cabaret. The man had style and I'm amazed that I don't see more of it in movies that have come since.
Strangely, the first movie that comes to mind that even begins to feel like Fosse is Hedwig, and even then it's only a few scenes.
I need to find the rest of this man's filmography and marathon it hardcore. Who's up for it? I feel like this should be a group event.
It wasn't until a couple years back, when I finally saw the film of Cabaret that I was able to see any of his work with a mind that could appreciate it, and it was blown. Every time I come back to that film, I have a better understanding of what movies are and can do, and how director functions, and every time I come back to that movie, I can look deeper, and every time I come back to that movie, I find no flaws, and every time I come back to that movie I learn something new about the art.
But that was him working with a story and music that were not originally his, no matter how much effort and adaptation he brought. It simply proved that he was an artist who could build his own great things from other people's work. Which is in no way an insult - that's exactly the job of a director, and damn did he do it.
And there's some more here about his choreography, which I first really appreciated with Cabaret as well, and then learned the style of in workshop, and then started trawling youtube for - see a couple posts back to see where that's led me lately, but that's another post entirely. It was that post a couple back, though, that finally tipped the scales on me seeking out All That Jazz, which I just finished watching. (With Portuguese subtitles because of the torrent. Heh.)
First off, TvTropes is right when they describe the first real scene as "proving Fosse can do A Chorus Line in six minutes with no dialogue." (Paraphrased, as that site isn't being friendly right now.)
But the rest of the movie is something else entirely, and when Fosse gets to build from the ground up, he blows my mind in an entirely different way. The man knows exactly what he's doing, and it was amazing to see the evolution of his techniques after Cabaret. The man had style and I'm amazed that I don't see more of it in movies that have come since.
Strangely, the first movie that comes to mind that even begins to feel like Fosse is Hedwig, and even then it's only a few scenes.
I need to find the rest of this man's filmography and marathon it hardcore. Who's up for it? I feel like this should be a group event.
