Abel Ferrara

nice book. I read it.

Comment by smith from athens — April 19, 2007 @ 5:23 am

Oh, come on! The guy is not overlooked because he’s some brave visionary, pushing back the aesthetic and thematic frontiers of contemporary cinema (though his best work certainly does this); he’s not ranked in the same leages as Scorsese and/or Tarantino (and, what, this is the yardstick, now?) because the sad truth is, he’s an addict, and as anyone who’s dealt with him on even a cursory basis will tell you, his work, his career, and his physical health has suffered - badly - as a result of his substance abuse.

One look at New Rose Hotel reveals, not some inspired deconstruction of narrative cinema, but a guy so out of it that he could produce nothing more than an assembly-print.

Also, it’s a little disengenuous to overlook the contribution of screenwriter Nicholas St John in this equation, doncha think? The guy did write most of Ferrera’s best films, and bought a consistent set of themes, motifs and obsessions to the table, so fully fleshed-out and eloquent, that not even though the haze of whatever he on that day, could Abel mess them up.

Comment by Sean from Boston — April 19, 2007 @ 5:31 pm