A Long Look at Reality

Bazin’s call for “A sense of the ambiguity of reality” (Cinema 52) parallels Kracauer’s argument that “There are no wholes in this world; rather it consists of bits of chance events whose flow substitutes for meaningful continuity” (Film 297). Realism, then—as set against the real/”real”—becomes a means for re-presenting the world, forcing the viewer to re-recognize that which she thought she knew so well. I see an apple in my hand as food as I eat it; seeing that same apple on the film screen may force me to see beyond seeing the apple as just a means for food—it may move me to step back, to see the “apple-ness” of the apple, etc. For Bazin, one of the best ways of going about this “making strange” is the long take—(today, I think it safe to say that what many consider (whether implicitly or explicitly) the sine qua non of “Art House” films is Bazin’s long take).

Sidenote: Here’s a site where they measure the number of takes per movie: http://www.cinemetrics.lv/cinemetrics.php. De Sica’s average shot length (ASL) for Bicycle Theives: 7.2; compare to Tarkovsky’s Rublev: 34.1 or Antonioni’s L’Avventura: 18.

Realism’s goal is not reality per se, rather the construction of a mirror that makes reality new: Bazin— “Not to produce a spectacle which appears real, but rather to turn reality into a spectacle: a man is walking along the street and the onlooker is amazed at the beauty of the man walking” (Cinema 176). The danger in making film a means for edification—for discipline—rather than for entertainment, is, among other things, boredom. For a viewer accustomed to a fast-paced short-take Hollywood/Television diet, long-take “Fine Art” films can quickly cause impatience. Such films, then, act against their purpose—they cannot re-present the world to the viewer if that viewer is falling asleep. Conversely, they end up creating a select audience—“It must be a serious/Art film, because it has long takes.” Hollywood films with longer ASLs are immediately labeled “serious” (or, the other way around: films that want to be considered as “serious” employ the long take)—No Country for Old Men (5.1 seconds), There Will Be Blood (13.5 seconds) compare to Quantum of Solace (1 second).

As for sound— in the case of Umberto D., sound mostly provides atmosphere. For much of the film, the soundtrack is plaintive, well in line with the pitiable main character. Crescendos rise noticeably during two scenes: when the protagonist considers becoming a beggar (his small frame dwarfed by tall building columns), and when he takes Flike to the train tracks.