get five people to watch The Five Obstructions

I’m crossing this one off the list and it feels good to finish it. I don’t know why it took so long, but it probably has something to do with me not pushing it very hard. Being a teacher (and a teacher of filmmaking) means that I could have shown it to a class and completed it 4 times, but I wanted to get five people who were further away to watch it, so now I think that I can cross it from my list.
If you haven’t seen the only Lars von Trier film that I would recommend and you’re interested in filmmaking and constraints it’s definitely worth watching.
Thanks everyone for watching!

So much dreck is available on video these days. Even entertaining and meaningful movies are out there. But this one is a reach. It’s a movie about making a movie – not just any movie, but remaking a existentialist/absurdist short about the estrangement and disconnection.

The challenge is to remake the movie – and it gets done 5 times – with various constraint (such as no more than 12 frames in a shot after editing). Eventually we see the movie remade as a cartoon. It all works, at each level, talking to us differently, prompting us, and even the director. Five stories that are one story that are life itself – and estrangement made manifest. But yet they remind us each of who we are, how we feel, and how we are the I to every Thou who is a member of homo sapiens sapiens.

It’s also a heck of a lot of fun watching the behind the scenes arguing and the creation of constraints.

So go out and add this to your Netflix Queue, then report back her with a comment when you’ve seen it. (While you’re at it, Be my netflix friend!)

For those of you who like finishing goals, set this one: watch the “The Five Obstructions”

I suppose that if I never write an entry, I won’t get many people to watch the film. I had almost forgotten about it, but ToddieM reminded me when he left a comment and said that he watched the film. Then I starting thinking about the goal again and how to get other people (4 other people to be specific) to watch it.
The Five Obstructions is a fascinating film about embracing constraints. The more I think about constraints and working within them, the more I believe that they’re essential to creativity. It’s not about filling in the blanks or colouring within the lines but rising to a challenge.
Possibly coincidentally I saw that Emily recently watched the film, so maybe I need to only have 3 other people take up the challenge. It could be that I may be the reason she watched the film, but it’s quite likely that her eclectic good taste lead her to the film.
If this works, maybe we should have mini decentralized, world-wide film screenings/discussions of interesting and important films. Ideally we’d have a private plane that would fly around the world, collect up the audience and watch the film together in a theatre and then we’d go out for something to eat and drink as we discussed the film, but it probably will be easier to have a goal and write about it here on 43 Things…

one of the things i did since joining 43 things which i means a lot to me. i know it seems small but this film i to me amazing in its reality, in how it touches work ethic and interpersonal relationships.

i got one more person to see it. yay! and now, my friend boughtme the DVD and we’ll watch it together—it’ll be my 3rd time seeing it and he’ll be the 5th person. very close to achieving this goal basically.

2 more to go.

I was lucky to catch this in the theatre, as I am intrigued by the idea that intentionally limiting your choices (methods/materials/time/etc) may enhance your creativity and productivity. In the literary world, this idea has been applied in the form of “constraint,” for years. It is interesting to see this idea applied to other artistic mediums. The difference between the two film-maker’s personalities is striking as well. Though they didn’t all enjoy The Five Obstructions, it was not difficult to convince five of my friends to rent it.

got 2 people to see it.

yes!

i just watched it recently. it is indeed on Netflix. also a public library in my area has it. i’ll see if i can get anyone to see it.