Discussion 7- Week of 4/ 5 Sam Gonzales

I didn’t understand Astruc’s “The birth or a new avant-garde: La camera-stylo,” until I heard Sam’s lecture. The clips that he showed of David Lynch’s films, and the examples that he used made the article a bit clearer for me. The only Lynch film I had seen was Mulholland Drive, and found it to be captivating and stimulating. The plot does not seem to run in a linear fashion, and some of the scenes appear to be surreal and the imagination of the main character, Betty. Sam’s lecture on the importance of the camera pen, or writing directly on film without bothering with the separation of the script-writer, director and producer, reminds me of the movie Memento, which I believe fits in this genre. This cleverly made film is one of my favorites, and is told in two different narratives- one that is in chronological order, and the other in reverse-chronological order. Nolan is one of the few Hollywood writers and directors to think outside the box and make films that are not the typical “Hollywood blockbusters”. His style is dramatic and raw, and really takes you inside the skin of his characters.