The story wore thin quickly, not for lack of substance, certainly neither for lack of trying, but simply for lack of finding any further substantial clues to verify Fincher's involvement in that one commercial singled out by Kubrick.
Quoth Kubrick: "Last year Michelob did a series, just impressions of people having a good time. (...) And the editing, the photography, was some of the most brilliant work I've ever seen. Forget what they're doing -- selling beer -- and it's visual poetry. Incredible eight-frame cuts. And you realize that in thirty seconds they've created an impression of something rather complex. If you could ever tell a story, something with some content, using that kind of visual poetry, you could handle vastly more complex and subtle material."
Like Fight Club? The Social Network?
David Fincher's first feature-length director's credit is given for the music documentary "The Beat of the Live Drum" in 1985, also having had directed several videos for rock icon Rick Springfield by that time. Now while I can indeed verify that David Fincher has directed a Michelob commercial, I can only suggest a heap of circumstancial clues: such as that Rick Springfield held close ties to Michelob at the time, Fincher's subsequent work as a beverages mastermind, and how distinctly the ad in question looks like a Fincher effort. All of this could mean that a young Fincher directed "The Night Belongs To Michelob" -- the clip mentioned and complimented on by Stanley Kubrick.
Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly begins his personal Fincher narrative from a different vantage point, Aerosmith's "Janie's Got A Gun", and goes on to craft a quite unique blend of personal comment, film review and film comparison, identifying key similarity in Kubrick's final film "Eyes Wide Shut" and Fincher's newly unboxed "Gone Girl".
Was all of this Kubrick / Fincher / Michelob quibble a bit confusing? Well, consider it a "brilliantly woven structure" for this post; it's my tribute to Gillian Flynn. Somehow it seemed to make sense and it seemed quite fitting also with Kelly's meandering explorations -- and the only way to share that 'Schroedinger's maybe' of Kubrick recognizing Fincher.
Do go on and read "A Study of Psychopathy in the Heteronormative Patriarchal Occult" though, it certainly is quizzically intriquing and one of the more extraordinary reviews for "Gone Girl" you will find out there. And while you're at it: Please join me in saying thanks to Mark for that amazing Kubrick find, and Gould for the Kelly piece -- Thanks guys!
OK, now I will obsess about this commercial. It's very fincheresque indeed :) Very interesting find. Thanks.
ReplyDeletethat IS Fincher. definitive marks> the push-in tracking shot on extreme close-up at 0:10, the subsequent sudden staccato pan between the monitors, the follow of the abrupt body move with a long lens (0:35), the hard lighting on faces that uses the nasal bridge opening to reveal the opposite eye (0:10, 0:18, 0:26), the puffy lighting style & the edgy bluish tones... and the rest are exctly the Ridley Scott-influenced choices that all the Propaganda boys eventually picked up and upgraded.
ReplyDeleteanyway, someone should ask Fincher on a Q&A if he assumes the paternity for this commercial :)
I've been an admirer of Fincher before the critics turned their vests or box office smiled to him eventually. I remember seeing Alien3 in an empty South Carolina theater, and twice by the way. Se7en blew me away, the perfectly framed serial killer movie, hell painted like a work of art. The Game, a 'minor Fincher', was an enjoyable roller coaster executed with perfect precision, even if ending was not a real one. Fight Club remains one the best novel adaption ever. Clever and provocative. Unmatched critic of our consumer society so far. Zodiac the ultimate Fincher masterpiece, when critics started to realize he was more than a 'music video director', but also an hors pair actor's director.
ReplyDeleteFrom there, for me, it's all downhill. Did my look change or Fincher became too aware of skills and visual trademark to the detriment of story's sake? Button, left alone some glimpses of real darkness, felt like Forrest Gump remade by Fincher. All his creative powers felt wasted when seeing Social Network. A useless tale of millionaire brats. Dragon Tattoo was beautifully crafted no question about that but the editing was so fast you didn't care about the characters and you felt like Fincher was just looking forward to ending the movie as fast as possible. His TV ventures reinforced the impression that his moviemaking skills were devaluated : he edited his movies faster, used elevator music (yeah definitely not and Raznor fan). He no longer crafted, he manufactured.
Now Gone Girls to me just confirms the bad trend. Sure it's very faithful to the novel, perfectly cast and beige and blue shot. But what is there to feel excited about? Pretty much nothing. Fincher directed his War of Roses, his dark comedy. He stuck so much to the original material there's no surprise, nothing's at stake. There are some truly amazing dark moments, incredible shots that I felt belong to a thriller Fincher should have made. I'm still waiting for that a Fincher to be back. Fincher is best when he makes thriller.
I understand your point of view Gould event if I don't share your opinion. I worship Fincher (and Kubrick) since I'm 12 (I'm 18 now) to a point that you can't even imagine and not only his work in cinema, advertising and music videos but also what his work reflects of him and of his personality. But I'm not the kind of person that will tell you : "every single film he makes is going to be great cause it's a Fincher movie" even if he hasn't made bad movies since the beginning of his career in my opinion.
DeleteI loved Gone Girl, even more The Social Network (that I've seen 12 times, once a day for 12 days only in theaters). I am not a huge fan of The Dragon Tattoo though even if it's still great.
For me, Benjamin Button is such a tremendously beautiful movie and it's a really dark film if you really think about it. It has a melancholic and really dark tone, very similar to The Game's opening scene from the childhood of Nicholas, that nobody else than Fincher could have bring to it. Benjamin Button is actually, in my opinion, one of his most personal films with Zodiac.
And what I'm worried about as a Fincher "supporter" is that it seems he's becoming a bit lazy in the sense that he doesn't try to go beyond what he makes very well. For the moment, he hasn't made his true cinematic masterpiece in my opinion even if Zodiac nearly reached that. And the problem is that now he's slowly shifting towards TV and repetitive style in movies and I think to truly make his mark among the greatest in film history, he's going to have to reinvent himself to achieve the film of his life !
"From there, for me, it's all downhill. Did my look change or Fincher became too aware of skills and visual trademark to the detriment of story's sake?"
DeleteI see it completely differently. With Zodiac his stories became much more sophisticated. The substance started to get as much attention as the style. Acting became really interesting. Say what you want about Benjamin Button, but Brad Pitt gives a very good performance in this movie. Definitely one of the highlights of his acting career. Same with Jessie Eisenberg, so far the role in The Social Network is his best. After that Rooney Mara gave a captivating performance in Dragon Tattoo. And now a mesmerizing performance by Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl, worth of every single award. I love Se7en and Fight Club they both feature great performances but I tell you, right now acting in Fincher movies is ten times better then it was back then ;)
"His TV ventures reinforced the impression that his moviemaking skills were devaluated : he edited his movies faster, used elevator music (yeah definitely not and Raznor fan). He no longer crafted, he manufactured."
Again, I disagree ;) His TV ventures will help to reinvent the medium. He put Netflix back on the map. House of Cards is TV at it's best. And I hope his version of Utopia will raise the bar even further.
"And what I'm worried about as a Fincher "supporter" is that it seems he's becoming a bit lazy in the sense that he doesn't try to go beyond what he makes very well."
Benjamin Button and Gone Girl cannot be more different :P Same with Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network... and I could go on and on. Each movie in his filmography is unique, unlike anything he made before. In my eyes he constantly reinvents himself.
Gosh, I sound like such a fanboy. But I really think that the last few years (this one included ;) ) has been really great and that his career is on the right track.