No Home Movie/I Don't Belong Anywhere hit Blu-ray New Year's Eve

Two films concerning Chantel Akerman are being released on Blu-Ray on December 31. Here are reviews of both films from when they played at Lincoln Center a couple of years back

It begins with  four minute long shot of a tree in the desert blowing in the wind. It then shifts to the apartment of director's Chantal Akerman's mother. We watch as the pair interacts over the final months of the elder Akerman's life.

How you react to the film is going to depend upon several things. Are you a fan of the directors, if so by all means dive in. If you are not a fan, or if you are not a fan of films that are told in long static shots, usually at a distance then you might want to stay away.  This is a film where with rare exceptions in the second half, we are forever outsiders. We are watching the conversations and action outside of it all. It's an intentional device that makes us work a little harder at what we are seeing.

I should note that I am not an Akerman fan. I've seen several of her works but they have never truly blown my skirt up. Its not that the films are bad, rather the observational approach, keeping us on the outside, doesn't work for me.  Or if it does, it doesn't work for two hours, I tend to lose interest.

Such is the case with NOT A HOME MOVIE. Somewhere about a half an hour in a lost interest. I had had enough and started to doodle in my notebook. I hung out to the end but how I felt about the film never changed. On the other hand some people I spoke to after seeing the film said glowing things. Granted they tended to be fans of Akerman and were familiar with her recent work which also featured her mother.

As I said at the top how you react will depend upon how you feel about Akerman's style.

Stunning portrait of Chantal Akerman makes it hard to believe she just died since this film includes the director editing her last film NOT A HOME MOVIE and she seems to be in excellent health even if she smokes like a chimney. It's a brief film full of clips and talking heads, including actors who worked with her and the directors she influenced.

In the last year and a half I've been bumping a lot into Chantal Akerman's work a great deal. There have been numerous articles I've read, documentaries I've seen and her films to consider. Some of the cinema I've talked about here at Unseen and some I've just let slide because it didn't spark anything in me. While seeing all of the films material on and from Akerman has given me a respect for what she did, it never made me a fan because let's face it some of her films are an acquired taste- NOT A HOME MOVIE being a perfect example.

I DON'T BELONG ANYWHERE on the other hand makes me want to go back and retry some of Akerman's films films again. While I am not certain I will feel as wondrous about her films I suspect I will understand them a bit better.  At the same time there is nothing like having the people she worked with explain to you what they got from working with her or having  director who stole from her explain why she was so influential. For me the film was full of all these "AH HA!" moments that made me sit up and begin to reassess what I had seen in the past. For me this is the point where all the dots concerning Akerman came together.

This is a great film on a respected filmmaker. Its so good that I when I was watching the film I stopped taking notes and just let the film go. I didn't want to miss anything.

If you are a fan of Akerman or have any interest in her films or her influence then you must see this.