This is a wonderful, moving assemblage of fragmentary experiences which, held together only by the voices of Bruce
Weber and his friends, gently carries you into the heart of the
deepest aesthetic wonder. More than any other film I have seen,
this one embodies, 'here is the glory of art, the sheer white heat of
its passion in making and feeling'.
Perhaps you need to be a Bruce Weber afficionado to be this
turned on; perhaps you have to share his wonderful obsessions -
but I don't think so, because the whole point of the film is that
*everyone* has the capacity to feel this strongly, to be this in touch
with the way they feel. We may not all be able to take a great
photograph to record the experience, but we can treasure the
intensity of feeling it.
As he always has done, while he tantalises me with beautiful
images, he also introduces me to something - this time the
singing of Francis Faye - that I hadn't experienced before. And as
with Chet Baker (in Let's Get Lost), I'm looking forward to having
my musical life enriched by the introduction when I go and find
some of her recordings.
What worried me? That passage near the beginning on Tower
Bridge with La Traviata's 'life is passing; you can live it to the full if I
am strong and leave you to live without me'. This film is a
wonderful gift from BW, and I hope this (and the other little clues
he drops on the way) aren't hinting that he thinks he's moving on,
because Bruce Weber has brought a light into my life that I'm not
ready to lose just yet.
Oh, and if you've seen the book and Peter Johnson, you'll wish
there was more of him; for he seems a really nice (sorry, this is a
UK way of putting it) bloke, someone you'd like to meet and make
friends with, not just the most beautiful man you've ever seen. I
wish there was more in the film of Peter too, but more than that, I
want more of BW's obsessions, more of his capacity to see and to
show.
This is a seriously beautiful film. Go see, and then go look at your
own world. Bruce Weber will have helped you to see more of it.
Weber and his friends, gently carries you into the heart of the
deepest aesthetic wonder. More than any other film I have seen,
this one embodies, 'here is the glory of art, the sheer white heat of
its passion in making and feeling'.
Perhaps you need to be a Bruce Weber afficionado to be this
turned on; perhaps you have to share his wonderful obsessions -
but I don't think so, because the whole point of the film is that
*everyone* has the capacity to feel this strongly, to be this in touch
with the way they feel. We may not all be able to take a great
photograph to record the experience, but we can treasure the
intensity of feeling it.
As he always has done, while he tantalises me with beautiful
images, he also introduces me to something - this time the
singing of Francis Faye - that I hadn't experienced before. And as
with Chet Baker (in Let's Get Lost), I'm looking forward to having
my musical life enriched by the introduction when I go and find
some of her recordings.
What worried me? That passage near the beginning on Tower
Bridge with La Traviata's 'life is passing; you can live it to the full if I
am strong and leave you to live without me'. This film is a
wonderful gift from BW, and I hope this (and the other little clues
he drops on the way) aren't hinting that he thinks he's moving on,
because Bruce Weber has brought a light into my life that I'm not
ready to lose just yet.
Oh, and if you've seen the book and Peter Johnson, you'll wish
there was more of him; for he seems a really nice (sorry, this is a
UK way of putting it) bloke, someone you'd like to meet and make
friends with, not just the most beautiful man you've ever seen. I
wish there was more in the film of Peter too, but more than that, I
want more of BW's obsessions, more of his capacity to see and to
show.
This is a seriously beautiful film. Go see, and then go look at your
own world. Bruce Weber will have helped you to see more of it.