Birds of a Feather: Camargo’s Debut a Tepid Chekhovian Transplant
Contemporizing classic literature can be a tricky feat, though it more often than not seems unjustified. Actor Christian Camargo has reworked Anton Chekov’s classic play The Seagull for his directorial debut, Days and Nights, curiously setting the Russian tragedy in 1984 New England. With an extremely lucrative cast at hand, Camargo’s fiddling around with the text isn’t completely bereft of ingenious new ways to converse with Chekov’s classic, though more often than not, this is simply another tedious glimpse of familial dysfunction, relocated to the heart of a Wasp’s nest. While it isn’t necessary to be familiar with the material Camargo is in correspondence with, one’s awareness of it may impede rather than enhance this film, which often feels strained or confused upon comparison.
It’s Memorial Day Weekend in 1984, and famous...
Contemporizing classic literature can be a tricky feat, though it more often than not seems unjustified. Actor Christian Camargo has reworked Anton Chekov’s classic play The Seagull for his directorial debut, Days and Nights, curiously setting the Russian tragedy in 1984 New England. With an extremely lucrative cast at hand, Camargo’s fiddling around with the text isn’t completely bereft of ingenious new ways to converse with Chekov’s classic, though more often than not, this is simply another tedious glimpse of familial dysfunction, relocated to the heart of a Wasp’s nest. While it isn’t necessary to be familiar with the material Camargo is in correspondence with, one’s awareness of it may impede rather than enhance this film, which often feels strained or confused upon comparison.
It’s Memorial Day Weekend in 1984, and famous...
- 9/26/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
French film director and close associate of François Truffaut
The film director Claude Miller, who has died aged 70 after a long illness, was continually dogged by comparisons to his friend and mentor François Truffaut. Hardly a review of his films failed to mention Truffaut in some way or another. This came about for various reasons. Miller was Truffaut's production manager on several occasions and made subtle references to the older director's work in many of his own films, almost always mentioning him in interviews. He had a small role in Truffaut's L'Enfant Sauvage (The Wild Child, 1970) and adapted La Petite Voleuse (The Little Thief, 1988) from a 30-page screenplay that Truffaut had written a few years before his death.
When Truffaut was once asked whether he had started a school of directors, he denied it. "These people are more influenced by other directors than myself. If Claude Miller has points in common with me,...
The film director Claude Miller, who has died aged 70 after a long illness, was continually dogged by comparisons to his friend and mentor François Truffaut. Hardly a review of his films failed to mention Truffaut in some way or another. This came about for various reasons. Miller was Truffaut's production manager on several occasions and made subtle references to the older director's work in many of his own films, almost always mentioning him in interviews. He had a small role in Truffaut's L'Enfant Sauvage (The Wild Child, 1970) and adapted La Petite Voleuse (The Little Thief, 1988) from a 30-page screenplay that Truffaut had written a few years before his death.
When Truffaut was once asked whether he had started a school of directors, he denied it. "These people are more influenced by other directors than myself. If Claude Miller has points in common with me,...
- 4/6/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
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