I don't see people talk about this much, but I've loved it ever since seeing it on cable TV in the mid '90s. One of the coolest (ha!) things I've ever seen. The real footage of the Democratic National Convention of '68 mixed in with the plot is really clever and effective. The Appalachian mom is unique and likable too.
Cinematographer Haskell Wexler takes the directorial reigns in Medium Cool, a film about cameramen and journalists in general that dramatizes the questions he's come to ask himself (which he even asks at the top of the film, playing himself at a party): How important is it to be an impartial observer in events, and what does that professional lack of empathy do to you? How much of that apathy do you transmit through the television screen? People perceive tragedy as images, which distances them from even the real thing. And can one be "impartial" when, as Wexler proves with his effervescent style, camera work, editing, scoring - even choice of subject! - all manipulate the image and thus the audience? There's a lot to unpack, and Wexler isn't always subtle about it. The ironies of the ending, for example, aren't needed for us to get it, and feel a but blunt. And one can wonder if the personal story (the romance, and perhaps especially the young boy's flashbacks) really fit the film, even if caring for the characters is, I think, required. Shot half as a documentary, placing the leads in real world events as they unfold - Wexler puts Verna Bloom, in that yellow dress, in among demonstrations and violent police action! - gives the audience a thrill (which we should immediately question), but it has no emotional resonance without the personal story. More questions than answers, perhaps as a result of those "distractions", but those questions are still relevant today. More so. Bonus points for using Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention on the soundtrack.
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KPND
I don't see people talk about this much, but I've loved it ever since seeing it on cable TV in the mid '90s. One of the coolest (ha!) things I've ever seen. The real footage of the Democratic National Convention of '68 mixed in with the plot is really clever and effective. The Appalachian mom is unique and likable too.Siskoid
Cinematographer Haskell Wexler takes the directorial reigns in Medium Cool, a film about cameramen and journalists in general that dramatizes the questions he's come to ask himself (which he even asks at the top of the film, playing himself at a party): How important is it to be an impartial observer in events, and what does that professional lack of empathy do to you? How much of that apathy do you transmit through the television screen? People perceive tragedy as images, which distances them from even the real thing. And can one be "impartial" when, as Wexler proves with his effervescent style, camera work, editing, scoring - even choice of subject! - all manipulate the image and thus the audience? There's a lot to unpack, and Wexler isn't always subtle about it. The ironies of the ending, for example, aren't needed for us to get it, and feel a but blunt. And one can wonder if the personal story (the romance, and perhaps especially the young boy's flashbacks) really fit the film, even if caring for the characters is, I think, required. Shot half as a documentary, placing the leads in real world events as they unfold - Wexler puts Verna Bloom, in that yellow dress, in among demonstrations and violent police action! - gives the audience a thrill (which we should immediately question), but it has no emotional resonance without the personal story. More questions than answers, perhaps as a result of those "distractions", but those questions are still relevant today. More so. Bonus points for using Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention on the soundtrack.Limbesdautomne
The perfect fusion between documentary new techniques and the narrative imperatives of the studios.Read more in French on La Saveur des goûts amers.