Did anyone else draw a connection between the go-cart scene fearturing Jean-Pierre Léaud and the film Rushmore? I am a Wes Anderson fan. However, my appreciation for him is changing. I still appreciate him, but am slowly beginning to realize just how much he's "borrowed" from other directors. Anyway, I can't find a picture of this charming image anywhere.
shareI noticed this as well, though I don't think it discredits anderson's films in anyway. Directors often borrow something for effect, or just as a tip of the hat. The image of Jason Schwartzman on the go cart is quite possibly a nod to truffaut (whom anderson has acknowledged as a major influence) though since the film doesn't hinge on it (it's just a throwaway joke) it's not quite stealing. Jenet's use of the torn up photograph in "Amelie," for instance, has more to do with stealing than with homage since he uses it for the same narrative purpose that truffaut did in "love on the run" so what could be called "homage" on Jenet's part seems to me more like stealing (Jenet crosses over this line numerous times in the film and it's hard to tell when he's paying homage, or flat out stealing for lack of creativity). But Anderson's films are complete within themselves and i've never felt that his allusions are the result of any lack of creativity on his part.
shareYou're right of course. Stealing, borrowing, homage, or whatever you want to call it, is inevitable in any creative endeavor, especially in our post-modern age. Ironically, this is proven by Truffaut's own explicit homage to Welles in this very movie. I suppose my disillusionment (that's probably too strong of a word) comes from my seeing the referent (Truffaut) after first seeing the homage (Anderson). Not grasping the allusion at the time, I made certain assumptions about Anderson's work, thinking he was creating all of these great images and quirks in a vacuum. That was a foolish assumption on my part, and I'm slowly beginning to realize this as my film experience expands.
Interesting and poignant quote from T.S. Eliot: "Bad poets borrow, good poets steal." Whether Eliot is right depends on your view of the creative process. That said, I think Anderson steals better than most. Furthermore, when he does borrow he should be forgiven, if not applauded, because he seems to only borrow from the best of references.
exactly, truffaut did the same thing, for example, the famous freeze frame at the end of "the 400 blows" was an idea that truffaut got from Bergman's "summer with monika" though he used it to better effect (hence truffaut is often cited has having originated the trick)
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Whether it's homage or stealing also depends on how good you are. Seriously, it's all about whether you've good enough ideas of your own or actually are so bankrupt you need to steal. Akira Kurosawa cribbing from Ford is homage. A hack like Sam Mendes borrowing from Peckinpah is pure theft. Rushmore or Bottlerocket Anderson it's homage, with his other movies, well one can't be too sure.
shareI do like Anderson, but you've got to realize how much better Truffaut is, and the go cart shots in both films reveal a reason why. In "Rushmore" it's a throwaway gag, funny but nothing more. In "La Nuit Americaine" it's funny and it tells you something about Leaud's character; he really is a child, to an almost pathetic degree. It's part of what makes the viewer go from thinking he's a horrible little monster to maybe feeling a little sorry for him.
sharetruffaut saw something like two or three films a day when he was a kid at the cinema, many of these being american. truffaut, in my opinion, is much like scorcese. he's a film dictionary of sorts, drawing from sources in creating his films. he merely uses old tricks in new contexts, like the freeze frame, or documentary-style filmmaking in narrative.
anderson is much the same type of director. recall the "barry lyndon" shot comment from the commentary for rushmore - anderson was interested in using the exact same shot as kubrick, but for different effect. anderson is just doing what truffaut did during his career, but younger, i think.
i prefer to think of their film styles in this way though...or at least in the writing: truffaut is quippy. anderson is quirky.
this is like a montage of thoughts that i couldn't coherently form into a paragraph. i hope it makes some sense to you all. i mean yall. i'm from texas...yall.
Ah yes, "y'all" the word that makes up for our lack of the plural you. I've been trying to promote it for some time now. Fosters both politeness and precision. What fool wouldn't like it?
I do like Anderson, but I just don't think he's as good as Truffaut. There just isn't quite the same depth in Anderson. No shame in not living up to Truffaut though. It's like not being Goethe for a poet or not being Babe Ruth for a baseball player.
he is still lifting/homaging/notcomingupwithhisownstuff-ing from la nuit americaine. see his american express commercial: http://youtube.com/watch?v=spCknVcaSHg&search=wes%20anderson
i'm willing to change my opinion when his next picture comes out but until then, i just don't find it clever.
Oh, come on! This commercial is clearly a very clever tongue in cheek homage to Day for Night and Francois Truffaut. I think it shows Wes Anderson fully acknowledging and paying respect to his influences. Being influenced, then evolving your own style is a perfectly natural creative process.
Om Mani Padme Hum
I think Anderson is pretty clever. It's only stealing if you don't expect people to notice it. If you expect your audience to spot the allusion (cf. "Not this one [Klaus]" in "The Life Aquatic", also a Truffaut quote) then it's a reference.
I doubt Anderson would put himself in the same league as Truffaut anyway, and he's not really making the same sort of film.
I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.
I haven't seen this film yet, but I know that the go-cart image in Rushmore is a reference to the early twentieth century French photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue. http://www.hayward.org.uk/exhibitions/lartigue/
From Wikipedia: Anderson is a fan of French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue and has referenced him in his films. A shot in Rushmore is based on one of Lartigue's photographs, and the photographer's likeness was the basis for the portrait of Lord Mandrake in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It should also be noted that Lartigue's older brother (the subject of the photograph referenced in Rushmore) was nicknamed "Zissou."
common, if you've seen "la nuite americaine" you would know that cart scene and comertial are(he uses even the same names, and totally the same scenes like one with the gun)100% homage to Truffaut.Btw, I like the way he did it.
shareAt the same time as people have pointed out, Truffaut always loved to borrow from other filmmakers. What makes it special is that he would often chose devices or techniques which had been forgotten, like the silent film references in Jules and Jim.
Anyway, I've never understood this contempt people have for filmmakers referencing other films. If all they're doing is copying then that's one thing, but the great filmmakers are always borrowing/stealing elements and using them in totally different ways, combining them with fresh ideas or other references to create an entirely new effect. And there's nothing wrong with that.
all film making is ripping off other films. get used to it and you might start enjoying yourself
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I found Jean-Pierre Léaud to be very much like Max Fischer in terms of characterization, dress, and physical appearance. The go-kart scene just sealed the deal for me.
Did anyone else see this? Or was it just the go-kart scene for most people? The line "I need money, I'm going to a whorehouse" (or something to that effect) seems like it could be a Max Fischer line, maybe he'd only go for a happy-ending though.
i always thought he ripped this off:
http://www.lartigue.org/img/mix/chronologie/chrono1905.gif
he did!
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I should warn you -- he's a Fourierist.
Wes Anderson would be nothing without the French New Wave of Directors. Particualrly the film "400 Blows"-Truffaut. Watch that then watch Rushmore.
shareI would've thought that "Jules et Jim" would've been a bigger influence on Anderson. It's definitely all over "The Life Aquatic." "Not this one, Hans."
Truffaut is all over Alfonso Cuaron's work as well.
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I should warn you -- he's a Fourierist.
It's called a reference or an hommage...He doesn't copy or borrowed from other directors, he's creating his own style showing to the audience where he takes his inspiration. I don't see it as borrowing or copying ( he's not Tarantino), it's really just references and Hommage to share his love of cinema .
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