Wednesday, November 15, 2017

On Dangerous Ground (1951)



“Nicholas Ray is Cinema.” - Jean-Luc Godard

I’ve been wrestling with that statement for the better part of two decades. Let me state up front that I don’t dislike his films. I’ve seen six and have enjoyed them all. They’re good pictures, capably told, and filled with immense sadness. But is that the epitome of Cinema? Ray is often revered for his use of the wide-screen frame, but to my eye, it’s purely functional. Not bad, but functional. And what of the films he made before CinemaScope? But there is also no denying that he is an auteur. The sadness I spoke of earlier is uniquely his. It’s there in all of the films I’ve watched so far: sadness and regret.

The more I reflect on it, Godard’s statement was the mid-century equivalent of clickbait. Simply stating that someone is a good director who makes films you relate to was not enough! It was especially not enough in an era when genre films were thought of as trash and directors seen as little more than glorified traffic cops. Godard’s hyperbole did the trick at the time and placed necessary attention on a serious artist. But is Nick Ray truly the be all and end all of Cinema? I don’t think so. I don’t think any artist can ever truly epitomize all of their medium’s endless possibilities. If this was possible, what would be the point of any other mere mortal picking up a camera? Nicholas Ray is a very good director. Let’s just leave it at that.

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