Today we decided to take a look into our ‘films to watch’ list and go for something we’ve been avoiding for a while and we landed on ‘My Dinner with Andre’. It’s one of those films that everyone says you have to watch if you’re into films and before beginning it, all we knew was that it was a purely dialogue-based film – just a conversation in real time between two men. While watching, you’re completely entranced by the whole thing and now that we’re sat down trying to write about it, there doesn’t really feel as if there’s much to say other than that it's a simple, dialectic piece of film making that feels like a play. But anyway, it's a conversation between two interesting people who are educated, slightly enlightened, but forever questioning of the structure of the universe. It’s actually a film that was entirely devoid of clichés. This may be because of its unassuming concept, but also because there really is nothing like this film around.
Some people find the conversation boring and the mood morose, others think the political and socio-economic values of the conversation are too opposed to their own ideals. To love this film, you must love dialogue, subtlety, and the sweet surrender of the theatre (which fortunately we do). Otherwise this film will bore you to tears. If you philosophise, wonder, or debate the many merits of the universe, this is a film that will speak to you on an atomic level. We found the two men interesting, but not fascinating, and that's a good distinction. You want to feel like you yourself could speak about travel, morality, and the sanctity of art, or else you're lost. We were very much taken along for the ride and feel better for it.
This combined with our recent introduction to Kerry Tribe has influenced us to start thinking more seriously about writing the script for the audition tape film. It was an idea we had for quite some time but now we’ve done the appropriate amount of research to start properly thinking about what we want it to be. We’ve now gone back and watched some of our favourite dialogue-heavy films because our interest in the audition tape films is that there’s nothing to prop up the story, other than the acting; there’s no costume, no set, no props or music, nothing. Just an actor and their craft.
These films which are revolve around the dialogue are as close to what we’re considering as one can get from these types of films. Feature films have something different to contend with when it comes to an audience; they need to satisfy them to make money. This is why we tend to focus on them more than the artist films which can sometimes feel more about portraying a feeling or a certain aesthetic. It’s the notion of how a conventional narrative can be told that we’re investigating. Sorry, we never mentioned the films we re-watched; Sex, Lies and Videotape, Tape, the whole before trilogy directed by Richard Linklater and Room in Rome.
