Art Films Which Drive People Away From Art Films

Very curious what you all would say, and don't want to mention my examples and load up the sample size.

No film that I have ever been to, has ever sent as many folks away as "I Stand Alone" by Gaspar Noe ... when the theater probably ended with about 100 folks in the audience by the end. It was an incredibly difficult film to see on a big screen ... in a video, you can get up go get some coffee and turn it down, or whatever, but in the theater, those gun shots out of nowhere, and some really insane parts, really take you out. It's not the only film he has done, that has some rather difficult parts, "Irreversible" also has a rape that is insane, even though you know the actors are actually married. And, in "Enter The Void", just before it does its own take on 2001, the film goes off its rocker, with the siblings.

From a creative aspect, the films are ... totally insane, but the ideas presented are kinda backwards for you and I which makes things really difficult. I'm not sure there are too many other films that stand up to these films ... way to far out there, and sometimes, I wonder what the whole art is all about ... 

Difficult, but not always an issue for me, is Peter Greenaway ... and his insane work with nudity that just won't stop ... and by the time that you see "Not Mozart", the one thing you're going to say is the guy is insane, plain and simple! I kinda call it the Bob Fosse show that he could not do anywhere in America, but did not try Paris or Berlin! And the ending of "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" is one for the books, but really, a fair and with it thing within the story. The film's greatness is also that Hellen Mirren and Michael Gambon are incredible all the way through it. Likewise, when you see "Prospero's Books" which is a kind of modern take on Shakespeare that most folks don't want to see, there is also a bit too much nudity in it, when/where it might not be necessary, and I have never exactly cleared that part up here. And then, you see "Nightwatching" and find out that Peter Greenaway is the greatest Rembrandt scholar of all. And you go ... now what?

Derek Jarman deserved better, but he had no budget in his films, and had to make do, and there are some things that are far out, though totally off kilter. In the "Caravaggio" film, all of a sudden seeing someone typing away the story, is ... what the heck? ... but it is funny and far out, and not exactly out of line. In some other films, his work is not what/where we would want them to be or prefer them to be (it should be said) with a gay Edward II ... which a lot of folks really trashed and in the story and play, it makes a lot of sense and is better in this idea and rendition!

Visionaries are tough ... and Derek Jarman was one of them, but not having a budget to do anything was a serious problem that really hurt a lot of what he did, but he made some things work ... right or wrong.

Andy Warhol, is not, an "artist" or a film maker ... he is a commercial stooge that found a trick that worked and he made millions off it. Very NY kind of thing! His "films" were just a turn the camera on and let's make believe. And like "Sleep" ... it deserves to be trashed and not mentioned, but it has a famous name attached to it! We just never learn, do we?

Even in several Film Festivals, I'm not sure I could mention anything more ... sometimes I want to say that a couple of films by Pedro Almodovar are a bad excuse for a film, but he was the darling of the wine and kiss folks in Portland, and all the parties ended up being private and only the invited could go. He manages to make a "story", though sometimes you just want to throw it at the wall to see if it sticks!

I wanted to mention Alejandro Jodorowsky, but in all honesty I do not find him offensive, though some folks banned him in Mexico City for his theater actors having sex on stage. I think he slims that down in his films, but sometimes, you get the feeling that a lot of it was cut down ... so it could be released, and this makes for his films having a very tough and ugly bunch of cuts, that tend to hurt the story board, and you wonder what the sense of it is ... I'm not sure it is supposed to have any sense! But I have to admit I wanted to see these things without the cuts. But I doubt we will ever see any of these things redone and cleaned up!