PLAIN TALK & COMMON SENSE (UNCOMMON SENSES) (Jon Jost, 1987)
By grunes
The following is one of the entries from my 100 Greatest English-Language Films list, which I invite you to visit on this site if you haven’t already done so. — Dennis
Jon Jost’s holistic films interrelate a series of humane, social and political concerns. Plain Talk, a British documentary Jost wrote, directed, cinematographed and edited, addresses U.S. myths and realities. It reminds us that we reside on confiscated land.
The film’s opening is lyrical, as a shot of sturdy wild grasses changes to one of a pulsating river superimposed over which a hand tries grasping the U.S., which Jost’s voiceover poignantly explains always eludes him. American tourists are shown at a topographical point where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet, accompanied by an inscription in stone: “Four states meet here in freedom under God.” Playfully, compulsively, families take photographs, unwittingly reducing the experience of place to things: snapshots—commercialized “memories.” People are thus deftly divided from their humanity by a commercial(izing) culture. They are also being divided from Nature, for, Jost’s voice reminds us, states’ boundaries, artificial, were drawn by politicians.
The film itself becomes a kind of tourist in its attempt to take hold of America. A segment presents overlapping voiceovers reading from a plethora of American documents and utterances, accompanied by gorgeous abstract designs that compare the U.S. to a vast cosmic mystery. Jost then analyzes America, initially in terms of European perceptions of it and, later, in terms of demographic facts and figures. (Examples: 1% of the population owns 33% of the nation’s wealth; 31% of eligible voters elected Ronald Reagan president in 1984.) A chamber of commerce-type promotional film about Colorado Springs yields to a frightening consideration of the Strategic Air Command and its role in overseeing prospects for World War III.
In this “essay from the margins,” Jost addresses U.S. nuclear obsessiveness, the military-industrial complex, marketplace tyranny, and the pernicious nature of the nation-state. It’s edifying stuff.
This entry was posted on November 8, 2007 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Formal Capsule Film Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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PLAIN TALK & COMMON SENSE (UNCOMMON SENSES) (Jon Jost, 1987)
By grunesThe following is one of the entries from my 100 Greatest English-Language Films list, which I invite you to visit on this site if you haven’t already done so. — Dennis
Jon Jost’s holistic films interrelate a series of humane, social and political concerns. Plain Talk, a British documentary Jost wrote, directed, cinematographed and edited, addresses U.S. myths and realities. It reminds us that we reside on confiscated land.
The film’s opening is lyrical, as a shot of sturdy wild grasses changes to one of a pulsating river superimposed over which a hand tries grasping the U.S., which Jost’s voiceover poignantly explains always eludes him. American tourists are shown at a topographical point where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet, accompanied by an inscription in stone: “Four states meet here in freedom under God.” Playfully, compulsively, families take photographs, unwittingly reducing the experience of place to things: snapshots—commercialized “memories.” People are thus deftly divided from their humanity by a commercial(izing) culture. They are also being divided from Nature, for, Jost’s voice reminds us, states’ boundaries, artificial, were drawn by politicians.
The film itself becomes a kind of tourist in its attempt to take hold of America. A segment presents overlapping voiceovers reading from a plethora of American documents and utterances, accompanied by gorgeous abstract designs that compare the U.S. to a vast cosmic mystery. Jost then analyzes America, initially in terms of European perceptions of it and, later, in terms of demographic facts and figures. (Examples: 1% of the population owns 33% of the nation’s wealth; 31% of eligible voters elected Ronald Reagan president in 1984.) A chamber of commerce-type promotional film about Colorado Springs yields to a frightening consideration of the Strategic Air Command and its role in overseeing prospects for World War III.
In this “essay from the margins,” Jost addresses U.S. nuclear obsessiveness, the military-industrial complex, marketplace tyranny, and the pernicious nature of the nation-state. It’s edifying stuff.
Tags: Jon Jost
This entry was posted on November 8, 2007 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Formal Capsule Film Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.