One of the primary notable aspects of The Five Obstructions, as commented on by our presenter Dittmar, is
the essential un-Americanness of it. Its primary focus is short films, a very
unpopular artform relegated primarily to art students and amateur directors in
the United States. It is also primarily a movie about the close, Platonic
relationship between two men: an uncomfortable subject for US audiences,
especially if the film is not explicitly comedic in nature. Another unusual
aspect of it is the necessary repetition of themes, words, and images as well
as longer, less obviously narratively important sequences, which would have
little place in American films whose standard length of scene has steadily
decreased since the 1950s to the point where most sequences are now less than three
minutes. Finally, the film is shot in several different languages without a
clear distinction between what is being spoken at the time; normally if there
are a variety of languages in a film American audiences expect to be cued into
this through some expression in the subtitles or otherwise while European
audiences, much more universally multi-lingual, are less interested in such
distinctions.
I agree with your assessment of The Five Obstructions and your thoughts regarding the un-American aspects of the film. Many American viewers would view the movie as pretentious and in many ways it is but sarcastically. I find the movie no only be a psychoanalytical exploration of both the filmmakers but also a comedic punch to elitist European filmmakers. The average American viewer would not pick up on these subtle stereotypes the directors portrayed in the film because it’s a movie not aimed toward an American audience.
ReplyDelete