Helicopters, above, but also conveys the emotional side of his character, curious about everything he finds on the planet
akin, perhaps, to the single- shot tour of the Hermitage in Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark. Instead I got a package of short documentary segments (on Manet’s early life, on Paris in the period, on safely transferring fragile prints across the Atlantic) tied to discussions on the key works while positioned right in front of the painting in question.
GRANTED, t he HD photography and bigscreen scale of the images allowed me to see individual brushstrokes and cracks in the varnish. But what was gained through magnified size was lost through cinematic ratio: the paintings filled the screen but often at the expense of the top or bottom, left or right of the canvas. The balance of Manet’s composition was a regular casualty. And the pizzicato music accompanying these private views was a constant irritation that distracted me from forming my own impressions of each work.
The highlights were well covered – Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe, Olympia, Music In The Tuileries, The Railway and, in particular, the melancholy gaze of A Bar At The Folies- Bergere. This was without doubt a really thorough, beautifully illustrated programme on Edouard Manet. I now have a better sense of how he used portraiture to evoke the modern world that was evolving so quickly around him. But did I leave with the sense of having shared the actual exhibition experience of Manet: Portraying Life? Not even close. Manet: Portraying Life has an “encore” screening at GFT today at 2pm. The first museum exhibition screening, Pompeii Live From The British Museum, is on June 18 at 6:45pm Blood Simple: Director’s Cut (18) This reworking of the Coen Brothers’ stylish 1985 film noir is one of the few director’s cuts that is actually shorter than the original – three minutes have been shorn, which has tightened the ending and seen some scenes excised altogether. M Emmet Walsh (Blade Runner’ Bryant) plays the man hired to kill the unfaithful wife of a Texas bar owner; Frances McDormand is the lady in question. You’re Human Like The Rest Of Them: The Films Of BS Johnson (15) Dead by his own hand aged just 40, Bryan Johnson was a novelist, poet, critic, TV producer and – as shown by this release on the BFI’s Flipside imprint – an experimental filmmaker of some skill and invention. Included here are 10 shorts covering the period from 1967 until his death in 1973, as well as documentary extras and an essay by Johnson’s biographer, novelist Jonathan Coe. Mayday (15) If you missed the BBC’s recent weeklong murder mystery, catch up with it now. A beguiling tale with supernatural elements strung through it, the drama turns on the disappearance of a May Queen ahead of the traditional celebrations in an un-named English town. It’s scripted by Whitechapel writing team Brian Court and Caroline Ip and features exemplary performances from Aidan Gillen, Sophie Okonedo and Lesley Manville. If David Lynch shot an episode of Midsomer Murders, it would look like this. Dead Head (15) A first-time release in any format for this lost gem of 1980s TV starring Denis Lawson, Lindsay Duncan, George Baker and Simon Callow. It begins with a woman’s severed head being found inside a hat box by a petty criminal (Lawson) and turns into a political conspiracy. Controversial at the time, it has never been repeated by the BBC. Plus – saving the best for last – it has a script by celebrated (and notorious) playwright Howard Brenton. They don’t make them like this any more.
Barry Didcock