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DIVA

If you have been reading this blog very long, you know that my favorite movie of all time (with few exceptions) is Diva (1981), a relatively obscure French film that I play every year or so.

It has never gotten the recognition it deserves. The only reason it survives at all is that a small Parisian theater played it for 9 months and then it was taken up by a NYC distributor and put out in the US where, to be fair about it, did get acclaim in its time.

So it is not unrecognized.

And I do have a few other favorite movies.

Superlatives always collapse under scrutiny.

Nevertheless, it remains to be rediscovered again.

Look at this:

Restored 'Diva' is back in the spotlight

The LAT can be a little tricky in the 'events' section so if you can't get the link, here is the meat:

Just as the French have given Jerry Lewis more respect as a filmmaker than Hollywood, it was American audiences that turned French director Jean-Jacques Beineix's quirky caper flick "Diva" into a hit 25 years ago.

"America saved my film," says the 61-year-old Beineix. "People [at home] said that this movie was just glossy and had no significance, no scenario, and it was all surface and no brain. When the film was released in France [in 1981], it was a total flop."

Rialto Pictures, the New York-based boutique distribution company that rereleases classics and rarities, has beautifully restored "Diva." The new print arrives Friday at the Nuart in West L.A. for a two-week engagement.

Well, Beineix didn't make many films. And it is not a 'caper flick'. If anything niched, it is a disquisition on the nature of art and reproduction of art with a dollop of the caper film and a generous dose of some wonderful music with an unconventional romance.

What is so attractive about this film?

It has four stories that interweave very cleverly.

The actors, still more or less unknown, are very attractive.

It is beautifully photographed. Paris also stars.

The music is awesome particularly the singing of Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez who was and still is a diva.

I rest my case until the jury can see the film for itself and judge the merits.

It may not become your favorite but you will not be disappointed.

Labels: best films, film, films