Re: Line Cross Curve

[Norman Buchwald <jbuchwald@huey.csun.edu>]

"rec.music.gaffa" <100661.1730@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
>I saw its premier in Leicester Square in November 93 with Kate in 
>attendence.  I must admit, I cringed a bit throughout; I mean, Kate 
>kept presenting it as a "film" but really it's an extended video 
>with a bit of dialogue.  As a video it works really well, but as a 
>film?!
>
>The clip of "The Red Shoes" is some of her best visual work to date.
>
>Will


Well, it's like a musical.  Maybe operetta is the more appropriate term. 
 When Kate did THE NINTH WAVE she wanted to do something more than one 
song, three to five minutes long.  TLTCTC appears to have been made in a 
similar vain, regarding a video and a story.  (Kate was planning to do 
this with TNW in the first place.)

I consider the result to at first, appear like a music video ("Rubberband 
Girl") but then continue into a story.  Suddenly that fan bursts onto the 
scene and it's no longer a video album or EP, really.  Though it 
gradually turns into a story.  It is a film that features the songs.  But 
don't many musical films do that?  I guess because of the emphasis on 
VISUALS and images and symbols, we may be tempted to use the term 
"video," but I almost feel that Kate is reinventing the video album, and 
may even pioneer the possibilities of future video films, in general.  
TLTCTC is a shorter film, then say The Wall.  (And more linear and 
recognizably structured, maybe.  Well considering the multiple film 
genres employed in the film, I'd say it's still not exactly, linear).  
Kate has simply blurred the lines of video album and film.  I'd still 
recommend getting the video tape, (anyone who is interested).  I read 
another post where someone was complaining about the acting and Miranda 
Richardson.   I should remind everyone that Miranda Richardson's 
character, Lindsay Kemp's character, and Lily are represented here as 
"magical characters" in a world that exists in the mirror.  They are part 
of the fairy tale, "Red Shoes."  That means that they tend to act in 
unusual ways because of the nature of their world.


                                          The Storm
                                          Murderer!  Murderer of calm!