Ever Green
This fortnight’s Forgotten ties into our blogathon theme, obliquely. It’s a somewhat late film of songwriter and screenwriter Adolph Green, in a unique role as leading man, working with spring chickens Alain Resnais and Gerard Depardieu. It’s charming and odd. “O-kay… well that wasn’t good,” said Fiona. I disagree.
You can read it Here.
shadowplay 
December 4, 2014 at 7:55 pm
December 5, 2014 at 1:40 pm
A very strange film, I’m not sure it entirely works, but when it does it really does, and it’s sometimes quite beautiful
One problem, for me, is that the American performers, besides Green, give very…English directed by French performances.
Feiffer was surpised, because Resnais always deferred to the writer. that he was not allowed to come to Paris to watch the filming and also blames this for the film’s failure.
There were also the budget cuts, Resnais/Feiffer’s original idea was that there would be two different sets for every scene. So we’d see rooms from an American perspective, and from a French perspective. I think that’s why some of the Paris scenes are less visually interesting.
For ages I wondered if John Ashton’s American director was satirizing anyone in particular, then I realized: the pretentious quotes, the absurd macho behavior, the drunkenness, the inability to work in America anymore, the Feiffer connection-It’s a rather cruel depiction of his old collaborator Robert Altman
December 5, 2014 at 4:23 pm
The character obviously has connections to Fuller and others, but Altman seems best suited to the more obnoxious aspects. Although perhaps only Milius could be that much of an ass (God bless him).
December 6, 2014 at 12:26 pm
Great piece, but one note: Green wasn’t married to Comden.
December 6, 2014 at 1:08 pm
Yes, thanks, David Ehrenstein made the same observation. The romantic in me wanted to pair them up, I guess.