Jean Painleve

I've been studying Painleve for an assignment lately, he is one of those individuals who seemed to take on all of life at the same time and somehow make it work.  He was into everything, always on the periphery of important political, scientific, and cinematic projects.  He was very close friends with Jean Vigo and Eisenstein.  Founded the worlds first diving club.  Filmed the liberation of Paris from the street level.  Managed to disgust Luis Bunuel with footage from eye surgery.  Had a penchant for auto racing.  Escaped from the nazi occupation with diving equipment that he made himself.  And most importantly made a huge number of glorious nature films.

The Seahorse

Scratch

I love this...

It's a little bit earth-shattering to actually see the atmosphere that some important recordings were born in.

Off the hook

Last week during a discussion about Altman's Nashville, a professor said that the character Haven Hamilton looked at his audience as if he was putting them under surveillance.  I liked how he used that word 'surveillance.'  There is something really interesting to me about seeing someone intently watch a group of people that is watching them, I'm always dying to know what is going through their minds.  Are they thinking about what it's like to be there at that moment performing, wondering if this performance is special while they are still in the middle of it?  Are they trying to read the crowd's temperament and respond to it accordingly?  Or maybe they feel totally present and aware of the moment and they just want to take it in.

No matter what is going on, there is something enticing about this kind of stage presence.  I tried to think back to places that I've seen it before.  I remember a few times in person, but most intensely I remembered this Rolling Stones footage...

And here is the Haven Hamilton number...in all it's glory.  The song begins around the 1:20 mark of the clip, but if you haven't yet seen Nashville, I insist that you do so at your earliest convenience.