Chris Marker's remarkable documentary about the rise and fall of the New Left in the 1960s and 1970s was originally released in 1977, but was reworked in 1993 in the wake of the Cold War's end and the collapse of the Soviet Union. A Grin Without a Cat (the idiomatic French title, Le Fond de l'Air Est Rouge, can be literally translated as "The Essence of the Air is Red") is divided into two parts. The first part, called "Fragile Hands," focuses on the emergence of leftist movements circa 1967,
the Vietnam War serving as the lightning rod for radicals of all stripes to come together to agitate for their utopian dreams. The second part, entitled "Severed Hands," details the slow demise of the invigorated left, from forces within (the discord between different factions) and without (the role of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. in keeping the countries in their backyards in line). This three-hour epic offers a stunning assemblage of period footage. For younger viewers, excerpts of iconic historical figures such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevarra, Mao Tse-tung, and Salvador Allende should be particularly eye-opening. For all its expansiveness, A Grin Without a Cat flits by with blithe disregard for the audience's level of acquaintance with the events and figures discussed. Consequently, viewers well-versed in the history of the period might find Marker's essay on the New Left more fulfilling than those without any background on the subject. ~ Elbert Ventura, Rovi
The greatest documentary ever made about the struggle for socialism. The real thing, I should add, rather than the epithet applied by Glenn Beck to the Democratic Party and its leader Barack Hoover.
Depending on your mood and your familiarity with international politics from 30 to 40 years ago, A Grin Without a Cat can be either talky and esoteric or haunting and prophetic.
Just to take in Grin's first few moments, a mash-up of Battleship Potemkin and police whacking May '68 protesters, is to see a mind sifting through chaos and making beautiful, critical sense of it.
For a film that's almost strictly for the political and artistic converts, A Grin Without a Cat is a surprisingly forthright examination of how the left dropped the ball.
A masterpiece among masterpieces, the two-part, three-hour A Grin Without a Cat is Chris Marker's most ambitious, clear-headed string of cinematic clauses and ideological couplets, and also his most impenetrable.
This slapdash documentary about left wing political movements is probably best understood in the original French and was a lot more relevant in 1977 when it was first made.
While it regards 1967 as the key turning point of the 20th century, and returns again and again to images of dissidents in the streets, it's alarmingly current.
An exhaustive investigation into the roots and after-effects of the revolutions and counter-revolutions that rocked France, the U.S., China, Latin America and Czechoslovakia in 1967 and 1968.
Marker's incredible collection of newsreel footage -- TV footage from various countries, home movies and other celluloid wonders -- eventually shapes a scattered, pinwheel idea of the era's attitude.
One of Marker's most ambitious films. At the end of his 'militant phase' Marker wanted to make a film made entirely from found footage, and this results in an extremely dense work exploring the rise and fall the new leftist movement throughout the world during the late 60's to 70's. While a lot of the footage is of
the talking heads variety, they are edited in an associative collage form that doesn't cohere to a set message or idea but instead form a sort of dialogue that examines the events shown in relation to similar events during that period of time. I found this much harder to get into than Marker's other films because there is so much history and politics that I'm not familiar with. While there are some of Marker's humor and wry commentary, the long passages of talking heads does make a lot of the film quite dry. This was his last feature before Sans Soleil, and the use of color tinting hints to digital image manipulations in 'The Zone'.
(Theatre) (First Viewing, 1st Marker film)
A difficult but ultimately rewarding film experience. Communism is not something taught in much detail in the American school systems, so for the first half of the film I felt like I was desperately treading water, trying to keep my head above the waves (and quickly losing
the battle) as I tried to understand the importance of Communism on world events during the 1960's as it was presented to me in rapid-fire pace. It was rough going for the first hour or so.
But suddenly I began to realize that while I wasn't fully comprehending the details of the situations presented to me, the power of the images conveyed the message that (I think) Marker was trying to get across- the power of the masses when they unify.
A four hour version of A Grin Without a Cat was made in 1977, in 2002 Marker re-edited the film, cutting out over an hour of its running time, which he felt made the film too confusing.
A fascinating film, especially now upon reflection. Its artistry and power makes a contemporary documentary like Bowling for Columbine seem like child's play- juvenille, obvious and artless (not that I liked the film much anyway, but that's beside the point). I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of Marker's work in the coming weeks- just from one film (and not even one of his signature ones), it is obvious Marker possesses a unique perspective and voice in cinema
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January 15, 2004
Jesse Last
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