Genre Trouble and Extreme Cinema : Film Theory at the Fringes of Contemporary Art Cinema

This volume re-evaluates theories of genre and spectatorship in light of a critic-defined tendency in recent art cinema, coined "extreme cinema". In Genre Trouble and Extreme Cinema, Bordun argues that the films of Mexican director Carlos Reygadas and French director Catherine Breillat expand our generic classifications. Through the re-organization of the visual presentation of genre-specific clichés and devices, their films transform sense experience and thought. Bordun contends that their films make it apparent that genre is not established prior to the viewing of a work but is recollected and assembled by spectators in ways that matter for them in both personal and experiential terms. In fostering this experience of collection, these two directors propose a kind of ethics of curatorship: spectators are tasked with collecting and recollecting their film experience to generate particular social, cultural, and political critiques. The author deploys contemporary film theories on the senses, both phenomenological and affect theory, and partakes in close readings of the films' forms and narratives. The book thus adds to the present literature on extreme cinema and film theory, yet sets itself apart by fully deploying genre theory alongside the methodological and stylistic approaches of Stanley Cavell, Vivian Sobchack, Laura U. Marks, and Eugenie Brinkema Acknowledgements 5 Contents 7 List of Figures 10 Chapter 1 Introduction: Genre Trouble and Extreme Cinema 11 Body Genres and Extreme Cinema 17 Film Theory After Maurice Merleau-Ponty 22 Beyond the Shock of On-Screen Sex and Violence 33 References 36 Chapter 2 Carlos Reygadas, the Avant-Garde, and the Senses 39 The Difficult Film 43 “[A]ll the Levels of Perception” 47 Narrative Shock 47 Cinematography and Levels 57 A Slow Dream, “As If” It Was Real 67 References 72 Chapter 3 !Que Viva México!: Reygadas as Documentarian 76 Performative Documentary 77 Human Animals, Non-Human Animals 89 Fictional Death: “Come Play with Us Cos Dad Has Died Already” 95 References 105 Chapter 4 I Don’t Know It When I See It: Catherine Breillat’s Pornography 108 Erotic and/or Pornographic 112 Looking-At Breillat’s Films 120 References 129 Chapter 5 Horrible Pornography: Fat Girl (À Ma Soeur!, 2001) 132 Sexual Numbers 133 Fat Girl: Synopsis and Sexual Numbers 135 Pornography “Too Late!” 138 Pornography Under-Age 145 Problems with the Pornographic 148 Horror “on Time!” 151 Breillat’s Horrible Fat Girl 161 References 169 Chapter 6 On-Screen and Off-Screen Flesh and Blood: Performance, Pornography, Spectatorship 173 Blow Job (2005) 179 Mesquida’s Tears 188 The Extradiegetic and Profilmic Event in Breillat’s Brief Crossing 196 The Ethics of Breillat’s Method 198 Affective and Possessive Spectatorship 201 References 203 Chapter 7 Reframing Spectatorship Theory with Extreme Cinema 207 Pornography and Psychoanalytic Film Theory 207 The Confrontation with the Real of the Film 212 The Remembered Film 216 Postscript 221 References 222 Chapter 8 Conclusion: Know Genre, No Trouble 224 A Courageous Supplement 230 References 235 Filmography 237 Bibliograp hy 239 Index 242 This volume re-evaluates theories of genre and spectatorship in light of a critic-defined tendency in recent art cinema, coined "extreme cinema". In Genre Trouble and Extreme Cinema, Bordun argues that the films of Mexican director Carlos Reygadas and French director Catherine Breillat expand our generic classifications. Through the re-organization of the visual presentation of genre-specific clichés and devices, their films transform sense experience and thought. Bordun contends that their films make it apparent that genre is not established prior to the viewing of a work but is recollected and assembled by spectators in ways that matter for them in both personal and experiential terms. In fostering this experience of collection, these two directors propose a kind of ethics of curatorship: spectators are tasked with collecting and recollecting their film experience to generate particular social, cultural, and political critiques. The author deploys contemporary film theories on the senses, both phenomenological and affect theory, and partakes in close readings of the films' forms and narratives. The book thus adds to the present literature on extreme cinema and film theory, yet sets itself apart by fully deploying genre theory alongside the methodological and stylistic approaches of Stanley Cavell, Vivian Sobchack, Laura U. Marks, and Eugenie Brinkema Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction: Genre Trouble and Extreme Cinema (Troy Bordun)....Pages 1-28 Carlos Reygadas, the Avant-Garde, and the Senses (Troy Bordun)....Pages 29-65 !Que Viva México!: Reygadas as Documentarian (Troy Bordun)....Pages 67-98 I Don’t Know It When I See It: Catherine Breillat’s Pornography (Troy Bordun)....Pages 99-122 Horrible Pornography: Fat Girl (À Ma Soeur!, 2001) (Troy Bordun)....Pages 123-163 On-Screen and Off-Screen Flesh and Blood: Performance, Pornography, Spectatorship (Troy Bordun)....Pages 165-198 Reframing Spectatorship Theory with Extreme Cinema (Troy Bordun)....Pages 199-215 Conclusion: Know Genre, No Trouble (Troy Bordun)....Pages 217-229 Back Matter ....Pages 231-244 Annotation This volume re-evaluates theories of genre and spectatorship in light of a critic-defined tendency in recent art cinema, coined 'extreme cinema.' In 'Genre Trouble and Extreme Cinema, ' Bordun argues that the films of Mexican director Carlos Reygadas and French director Catherine Breillat expand generic classifications. Bordun contends that their films make it apparent that genre is not established prior to the viewing of a work but is recollected and assembled by spectators in ways that matter for them in both personal and experiential terms. The author deploys contemporary film theories on the senses, both phenomenological and affect theory, and partakes in close readings of the films' forms and narratives