Thursday, January 22, 1998
Meet documentarian in real life and through his movies
FILM: Albert Maysles series to feature direct cinema, panel,
workshop
By William Li
Daily Bruin Contributor
No scripts. No interviews. No explanatory voice-overs. No
re-creations.
Welcome to the world of direct cinema, a style of documentary
filmmaking pioneered during the ’50s by Albert Maysles and his late
brother David. An award-winning filmmaker, Maysles introduced a new
way to infuse reality into documentary films.
Along with his brother and other colleagues, Albert Maysles has
made more than three dozen direct cinema films over a span of four
decades.
Thanks to the UCLA Film and Television Archive and Marina
Goldovskaya, who is a close friend of Maysles and a professor of
the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, a series of select
Maysles films will screen on campus starting tonight. Maysles will
also be on campus for a panel discussion and workshop this
weekend.
Direct cinema came about as America’s response to Jean Rouch’s
cinema verite. Filmmakers like Maysles sought reality as Rouch did,
but it also relegated the filmmaker to a position of
unobtrusiveness and impartiality. Without the use of re-creations,
interviews and voice-overs, filmmakers like Maysles seek to portray
reality as it is.
"What is the greatness of Albert Maysles?" Goldovskaya asks as
she reflects on "Grey Gardens," a film about a relationship between
a mother and a daughter. "(It is) that he was able to find such
characters in real life, and very realistically, without pushing,
without staging, without re-creating anything. Just get it from the
real life. For me, these two people are still alive."
By capturing a life on film, the Maysles works have become
windows into another era of American society as well as
explorations into characters. "Salesman," for example, follows four
door-to-door Bible salesmen as they travel from Boston to
Florida.
"It’s a film that is not only about these four people selling
bibles to the people," Goldovskaya explains as she relaxes in her
quiet home.
"It’s about the values of the society. It’s a kind of travelogue
that shows very deep portraits of different people. And at the same
time, it shows this picture of the world in 1968, when the film was
made. A portrait of America, if you want."
Like other kinds of historical records, these films provide
important insights about the past that are still relevant
today.
"Young people do not know these films," Goldovskaya admits. "And
I think that it is absolutely important for us, for the students
and for citizens to see these important achievements of the human
spirit."
In addition to "Salesman" and "Grey Gardens," Maysles and
Goldovskaya have also chosen to do screen documentaries on
prominent celebrities such as "Meet Marlon Brando," "Orson Welles –
Spain" and "What’s Happening! The Beatles in the USA." Other looks
at stardom include "Showman," about Hollywood producer Joe Levine,
and "A Visit with Truman Capote," about the author of "In Cold
Blood." Other films include "Gimme Shelter," a film that deals with
a fan’s murder at a Rolling Stones concert and "Letting Go: A
Hospice Journey" that examines the hospice movement.
Part of the key to making direct cinema films was Maysles’
understanding of psychology. He earned a bachelor’s and a master’s
degree in psychology and has taught the subject himself for three
years at Boston University.
"(The Maysles brothers) find ordinary things, ordinary
characters and disclose them, reveal them and show how unique a
human life is. How fragile it is," Goldovskaya says. "Only very few
people, such as Albert Maysles, can use (direct cinema) in a very
human way, in order to show the depth of the human soul, of the
human heart, to look into the human being, disclose the inner world
of a person. He does, in documentaries, what only big writers can
achieve in literature, such as Hemingway."
At the age of 72, Maysles is still making documentaries,
although he’s interested in switching to video technology, which is
cheaper than film. His works in progress include documentaries on
Los Angeles’ Getty Center and on America’s poverty problem.
"In spite of his age, he’s full of life, full of energy, full of
plans," Goldovskaya says. "He’s packed with his stories and his
energy and his charm and this creative passion. I think it will be
so refreshing and so inspiring for our students in UCLA to meet him
and just feel what a person he is."
Judging by all the marquees in Westwood, documentaries generally
receive less attention than fictional films. "Salesman" was shown
once on PBS and other Maysles films have had limited theatrical
releases.
"Documentaries must be a part of our lives" Goldovskaya says.
"We miss such interesting human things because when we have a
little bit of free time we go to the movies to see entertainment
films. I think that every human being, every person who wants to
think a little bit about life, not only to get pleasure, has to see
documentary films. He has to see the best documentary films. These
are the pearls, the diamonds of the human spirit."
FILM: The "Meet Albert Maysles" film series starts tonight at
7:30 p.m. and runs through Monday at the James Bridges Theater. On
Sunday at 5 p.m. Albert Maysles will appear in person for a panel
discussion. For more information, call (310) 206-FILM.
Marina Goldovskaya
Filmmaker Albert Maysles (right) will be featured in the
screening series, "Meet Albert Maysles."