Oh, is this another movie-from-stills…

No!

Heh heh.

(It’s the same guy as in the pic above.)

It starts off being a pretty straightforward documentary about a picture, but then it gets deeper. It’s fascinating.

Ulysse. Agnès Varda. 1983. ⚄

This is one of those still photo shorts — but it’s pretty long as these things go. The voiceover (both Varda and at least a couple of male voices) says that Varda went to Cuba and took pictures, so we’re presumably watching these pictures here?

So we’re getting all the usual tricks — zooming on the photos, rapid edits, lots of music, and narration that just doesn’t let up.

It’s not my favourite genre. I mean, the still-into-movie thing has been done brilliantly, like with La Jetée, but this isn’t that.

That’s what I always say.

I didn’t think this worked well as a film, but it’s kinda interesting.

Salut, les cubains. Agnès Varda. 1963. ⚂

So — this is a movie jointly directed by Varda and an artist called JR. Is this the only co-director credit in her career?

It’s a lot less exacting than Varda’s earlier movies — things go in and out of focus, and the blocking is pretty random (instead of meticulous).

Heh — the concept is that they drive around in this photo booth car (that has a huge printer built in, apparently)…

… and they take pics of people like this? Well, that’s fun.

Yes, that’s Varda’s toes.

This movie is très aimable, as the say. I mean, it’s less digressive than Varda’s movies usually are — there are fewer locations, people and encounters than you’d expect from something that’s structured kind of like a road movie. It’s more… efficient? So it’s not a masterpiece or anything, but there are glimpses of brilliance, and then the rest is very amiable.

Faces Places. JR & Agnès Varda. 2017. ⚄