Manifesto
Directed by:
Julian RosefeldtScreenplay:
Julian RosefeldtCinematography:
Christoph KraussPlots(1)
Julian Rosefeldt's film Manifesto pays homage to the moving tradition and literary beauty of artistic manifestos, ultimately questioning the role of the artist in society today. Manifesto draws on the writings of Futurists, Dadaists, Fluxus artists, Suprematists, Situationists, Dogma 95 and other artist groups, and the musings of individual artists, architects, dancers and filmmakers. Passing the ideas of Claes Oldenburg, Yvonne Rainer, Kazimir Malevich, André Breton, Sturtevant, Sol LeWitt, Jim Jarmusch, and other creators through his lens, Rosefeldt has edited and reassembled thirteen collages of artists' manifestos. Performing these 'new manifestos' as a contemporary call to action, while inhabiting thirteen different personas - among them a school teacher, a puppeteer, a newsreader, a factory worker and a homeless man - Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett imbues new dramatic life into both famous and lesser-known words in unexpected contexts. Rosefeldt's film reveals the performative component and the political significance of these declarations. Often written in youthful rage, they not only express the wish to change the world through art but also reflect the voice of a generation. Exploring the powerful urgency of these historical statements, which were composed with passion and conviction by artists many years ago, Manifesto questions whether the words and sentiments have withstood the passage of time. Can they be applied universally? And how have the dynamics between politics, art and life shifted? (Modern Films)
(more)Reviews (2)
A who’s who of modern art via Cate Blanchett's thespian escapism. It's not a drama, it's an exhibition and a pure experiment that no one should confuse with "going to the movies". If you look at it that way you can stomach it and understand the wide range of ratings. It's not educational because the monologues don't have any introduction to what they're related to (unless you remember the forty names that appear in half-second slots at the beginning – Gaspar Noé just mischievously stuck himself in there without having to say a word, the punk), it's not analysis or comparison. More than anything, it's a wild hive-mind of the need for resistance, since the quotes come from the most radical periods of the aforementioned artists. If there's any correlation between the stylized sequences and the ideas being uttered, I didn't find much; indeed, the quotes from Marx in the ruins of an industrial building seem out of place, dictating the points of Dogme 95 to small children while drawing (in opposition to the previously cited art brut) is probably a weird joke, but as to what fluxus has to do with stage dancing or why Dadaism is quoted over a coffin, I'll have to eavesdrop from some side table in Café Jericho to find out.
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I can't help it, but I perceive the movie "Manifesto" more as an experiment, which is an interesting example of how it is possible to conceive a film, as well as an example of how it is possible to act. Cate Blanchett is here like a chameleon, and it is she - not the thoughts - that makes it worth watching the movie.
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