melbourne cinémathéque – elia kazan: the outsider.
having missed the opening to this year’s three week kickoff to the cinémathéque season (featuring kent jones & scorsese’s a letter to elia), i was glad to have cottoned on to the fact that we were back up and running in time to catch a double-hander of elia kazan’s two most seminal films.
a streetcar named desire [kazan, 1951]
streetcar swept the academy awards in ‘52 with four statuettes, and tellingly all but one came in the acting categories. modeled on his own acclaimed stageplay, tennessee williams’ powerfully provocative script – a seamless integration of modernist ideas, savagery, delusion and its unintended humour – is a showcase for kazan’s performers. as the elliptical blanche dubois viven leigh deservedly took home best actress, her chameleonic, swinton-esque mood swings ultimately revealing a sincere tragedy beneath her pompous exterior. yet for me it’s the naturalism and animalistic rage of marlon brando’s stanley that’ll be why we remember a streetcar named desire – and for reshaping the way movie stars could perform, he perhaps too ironically was the only one left empty handed. history had other ideas.
east of eden [kazan, 1955]
kazan’s retelling of the biblical cain and abel parable has been praised for its mythic ambition and cinemascope visuals, and yet east of eden felt ultimately unassured, a little on-the-nose and lacking in the subtlety that artists of today might feel more comfortable indulging in. released in the same year as nicholas ray’s rebel without a cause, jimmy dean fails to attain the same level of purity in his adolescent rebellion despite similarities in both films’ concerns with the influence of paternal love as second nature. a film of undeniable aesthetic and thematic forward-thinking, east of eden was sadly a little too up and down with its cinematic delivery.
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