Jean-Marc
Vallée’s upcoming films are Demolition,
a Janis Joplin biopic starring Amy Adams, and a John Franklin film. Vallée’s
productivity recalls that of a R.W. Fassbinder or Steven Spielberg at their
peak, since a new film can be expected each year for the next few years. If
there was any doubt regarding Vallée’s commitment to his personal themes and
ambitions these upcoming projects confirm just this, his loyalty to himself.
If
Demolition was supposed to have been
made right after Dallas Buyers Club
then with Wild something was
liberated in his cinema. After the oppressive and claustrophobic heat of Texas
in Dallas Buyers Club, the open-air
natural landscapes of California and Oregon liberated something in his cinema.
Just like Fantastic Mr. Fox for Wes
Anderson, which afterwards led to the uncontrollable youthful adventure of Moonrise Kingdom, after Wild Vallée is now free to go into
every direction. He’s now headed towards the sprawl in and around New York City
(Demolition), the outdoor concert
venues of Woodstock (the Janis Joplin project), and the boating exploration
from England to Alaska (Du bon usage des
étoiles).
If
medical problems have been at the heart of Vallée’s last two films, what they
represent in terms of the upcoming Demolition
is what it means to loose someone that you’re really close to and that you
love and the bereavement that it causes afterwards. Demolition being the story of a man whose wife dies and takes up
explosives as a hobby. This was already there in C.R.A.Z.Y. and Café de flore.
There
was always alternative music in Vallée’s films from Sigur Rós in Café de flore, to T. Rex in Dallas Buyers Club, to the Jerry Garcia
cover-band in Wild. The Janis Joplin
project will take this musical streak further by essentially focusing on the
folk singer. Wild definitively
presents itself as the pre-cursor to the Joplin project in this respect,
especially the scenes in the small town which is affected by the death of the
Grateful Dead singer.
If
the Joplin biopic might have at first glance stand out in terms of its musical
subject, and further align Vallée with the Cameron Crowe of Almost Famous, further research into
the young musician’s life (e.g. Alice Echols’ Scars of Sweet Paradise) reveals many parallels with many of Vallée’s
other characters. The story is that of a young woman singer, who never felt fully
respected in her life, who would die too young, in her mid-twenties. She lived
her life and her art to the fullest.
But
there’s something sad about the Joplin story too that Vallée could probably
relate to which is that of not being fully appreciated as an original and
personal artist. Even though Vallée is one of the most commercially and industrially
successful directors to emerge in Canada over the last ten years (he’s been at
the Oscars the last two years; though never on camera) there still aren’t
enough people that take him seriously. Respected film websites like Indiewire casually dismiss his work, the
French don’t take him seriously, and there are even some British critics that
outright mock him. No wonder he’s publicly reserved and does not do many
interviews.
His
response to this, similar to Stanley Kubrick after 2001 received so many pans from the New York film critics, is to
just retreat to his home and family in Montreal and diligently work on the
projects that he chooses.
On
this subject, his adaptation of Dominique Fortier’s Du bon usage des étoiles seems like it will be his most ambitious
project. If Vallée has spoken of wanting to make a science-fiction film then
this story of two 19th century British explorers, John Franklin and
Francis Crozier, taking their two ships, Terror
and Erebus, out to the seas to
discover a new world would probably be the closest thing to come to it.
The
book itself (which I hear has a great English translation) is pure Valléeian as
it includes many episodes that seem to come right out of his cinema.
First
off, it’s a Québécois book that takes as its subject a 19th century
British explorer. This jumping of borders and its poetic leaps into the air is
worthy of the director of C.R.A.Z.Y..
And it’s themes of adventure and exploration, humanity in bleak situations, the
lives of great men and their families, and filial bonds and transference are
all already trademarks of the cinema Jean-Marc Vallée.
If
The Young Victoria was at first was
an anomaly in Vallée’s career, a film that he made for Graham King and Martin
Scorsese that was eventually compromised, with Du bon usage des étoiles he further builds upon it, and in the John
Fordian strain of his cinema, he continues his chronicling of humanity’s
history, all of the way now to its origins in 19th century England
and what would lead to the modern 20th century civilization.
But
similar to Kubrick’s Napoleon project, Du bon usage des étoiles isn’t a
glorification of Franklin (he’s barely a secondary character), and the book is
more about the second ship captin Crozier, Franklin’s wife and his niece.
Franklin even dies, long after their boats have been stuck in the Alaskan ice,
in an ellipsis.
Vallée’s
cinema is both extremely pessimistic and hopeful. If there’s a lesson to it its
of how people fail and die, but there’s always an after. See the remaining quarter of Du bon usage des étoiles after Franklin’s death where life just
goes on. But there’s something affirmative about the journey and fight. Looking
up to the sky and stars for some imagination can be inspiring. (A similar
subject to Matt Johnson’s upcoming Operation
Avalanche). Vallée’s cinema, or what it’s like for a shooting star
to extinguish.
1 comment:
Hello David,
I took a little time to go on the blogs of others : that was a while I did not read on yours and I am glad to see all these articles. It is a true source of knowledge for French people like me, who don't really have the opportunity to receive studies about Canadian cinema. I discover in one of your recent interviews a lot of Canadian filmmakers I did not know. So thank you for that !
Unfortunately, I did not know the cinema of JM Vallée so good as you. But I find your study very interesting : it pushes me to discover his movies, especially The Young Victoria because I forgot the diversity of such a filmography. I liked the way you show that Vallée is still improving its themes and ideas despite the eclectic choices of genres or stories. I hope we will receive his new movies in France very soon.
Have a nice day !
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