Monday Mailbag

I wrote some stuff. People read it. Some wrote in.

Last week's Michael Haneke essay began with a quick sweeping statement about European directors. It bugged Josh Cambria.

In that article you claimed that there are only 5 major active European filmmakers. Say what? What about Jean Luc Godard, arguably the greatest living filmmaker. Also, Chris Marker, Peter Watkins, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Cristi Puiu, Werner Herzog, Arnaud Desplechin, Alexander Sokurov, Jan Svankmajer, Claude Lanzmann, Chantal Akerman, Claire Denis, Terence Davies, Mike Leigh, Manoel de Oliveira, Agnes Varda, Aki Kaurismaki, Alain Resnais. I guess these people don't count.

Thanks a lot for writing Josh. Of course, they count. I've thought about that list and how quickly I dashed it off. The point I was making was merely to skim some of the cream off the top. I'm not crazy about all the folks you mention, but most of them are great. A lot of them I love. But my curt introduction was meant to situate Haneke in a rarefied universe that, for the sake of argument, could also include many people from a bigger list, one that would ADD Claude Chabrol or Jacques Rivette, whom neither of us included. But the piece was about Haneke, and rather than begin with a long digression I figured I'd cut to the chase.

Gina Fried inquired about "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."
You seem to imply that she is portrayed as a virgin in this film, yet in the first "Elizabeth" she was (or at least seemed to be) having a love affair with Robert Dudley. Did I misunderstand, or is she merely recreating herself as a virgin?

Gina, the two movies dramatize Elizabeth I's determination to remain chaste during her reign, having been tempted to give in on numerous occasions. Alas, her relationship with Dudley, aka the original Earl of Leicester (played by Joseph Fiennes in the first movie) was never consummated. Also: In that review, I tried to do some basic math on the Queen's age and, as Edward Franks was kind enough to point out, I failed. She's 52 in "The Golden Age" not 47. It's hardly a defense, but I did say I arrived at that number by my own math. Even so, I will never add or subtract in public again.

Lastly, Valerie Champion chastised my review of Tyler Perry's latest hit "Why Did I Get Married?".

It is so one- sided when journalists write a narrow minded review, as yours did. Please remember that we all walk in different pathways. Believe it or not Oprah, Dr. Phil and Dr. Laura all got filthy rich helping abusive women, low self-esteem sufferers get on the road to recovery. Wesley maybe you should ask around your circle of friends to see if any of them are going through trials and tribulations. You will be surprised to know that the people who were portrayed on the screen live and play very close to your snooty world. You missed the point big time here.

All I said was Perry needs better cinematography and editing. Oddly, the bigger his empire gets, the more confident the movies get.