People sometimes fail to live
Didn't Sacrifice My Youth for Cinema BS
So said Alan Watts, not to be confused with Tom Waits, about living versus preparing.
It’s a tough nut to crack on defining how to best use each day…but you’ll know as long as you are honest with yourself.
Like when you are stuck in bed for 4 hours with your back preventing you from moving, I made a mental list of things I am going to do and things that are just not worth it anymore.
From time to time, I swear I’ll never watch another movie, as most of them are garbage, but then something in the world or a coincidence gets me interested in a new story.
Like this image from Iran:
One of the great discoveries I made when I just entered film school was the New Wave of filmmaking from France in the 1960s. These young, energetic youths with a vibrant imagination drew inspiration from US films, applied them to their situation in France, and changed cinema. The one thing they loved showing on the big screen was pretty young actresses smoking cigarettes.
Those little nicotine sticks are more than just a smoke, they represent something symbollic and its reawakening now.
The New Wave didn’t invent cinema, but it most definitely influenced all of the great filmmakers since, from Steven Spielberg's use of bicycles in E.T. to Wes Anderson’s ensemble cast and flair, like The Grand Budapest Hotel.
From Hollywood and their political views, they meshed their philosophy into:
Constraint became style (low budget)
Urgency became truth
A Hollywood narrative became the beginning to comment on life and society
The director, not producer or studio, is the author
Focus on freedom, identity, love
Charcters as truth, not as a construct
Always feel alive
Yet, for some reason I couldn’t imitate it in my work, the same thing hanging out with the crew at school. Unsaid was politics. My classmates were on a different wave length then me. And you need a group of people to grow and move forward.
Unlike now, those films were not just entertainment. They were a lifestyle and manifesto. Probably a big reason why no one see them anymore we have trained moviegoers not to think or experience essentially. Main reason theatregoing is down. The films and youthful spirit were of SOcialist and Marxist aspirations. So while the energy was there there was a dark tone.
When politics is lived, experienced, a form arises. When politics is inherited like we see on College campuses, it produces theatre.
What happened to the icons of New Wave?
Here’s Godard, the godfather of the movement, who took his own life at 91 in 2022, but the news just said he passed away. It was peak Biden and most people fatefully accepted that his brand of politics has won and the future is Socialism. If the data was honest, it probably peak his vision of the world; there was nothing else (cynically) to live for. (always wondered if Hemingway blew his brains out currently, would the papers say he “Died peacefully in his family home surrounded by friend?”)
While the last of that era, Bridgette Bardo, died in 2024, and turned out to be a conservative. She truly was a rebel.
Life imitates art, but not always as we expect. The great films they made will live on, and their inspiration was well-placed within the USA's branding of vision and promise. Yet their solution was not. The infantile nature of their political philosophy, we are seeing the tail end from Hollywood, to propaganda to lies, but no cinema verite, which I was told is the essence of filmmaking. I didn’t sacrifice my youth for cinema BS.
Movements arise, and we are seeing this energy in Iran now and because “verite” is honest. THE SAME IMAGES OF THE '60s WE ARE SEEING IN IRAN NOW.
Not in Minnesota. Not in Portland. The real drama is in Iran.
It is as if it was ripped from a New Wave movie, Breathless, or anything els,e it’s the most famous image of the French New Wave of cinema that promised youth, rebellion, righting of wrongs,
Beautiful girls smoking cigarettes in black and white with their lovers and enemies
This is a true rebellion made possible by the USA's current actions globally.
It may take a decade or 5 decades, but humans have value and worth.
The newsletter that I found a year or two ago, shares his personal stories of Iran and has been passionate in his opinions.
According to the good Doctor, revolutions happen as a result of:
People do not rise to be right.
They rise because the body refuses
one more compromise.
When pain reaches this depth,
logic is a luxury.
People do not rise for ideology.
They rise to breathe.
What they are reclaiming
is not power—
it is oxygen.
The first great movie of the New Wave is Breathless. You have to breathe fresh new views into society from time to time.
The current President of the US has done just that by instilling hope, awe, and reverence for Freedom and the belief that everyone has the right to pursue happiness.
When the US leads, people from different nations are inspired by its leadership and create amazing things.
We are seeing a repeat of history now. The secret to maintaining that edge is giving people the space to make decisions and believe in the future.
If you haven’t already or are not aware, Iran and its expats have spawned great films and artists. Sometimes hard to watch, but many times very rewarding.
The hit TV show Blacklist featured a great Iranian actress whose movie was the one that got me interested in this niche.
2026 is already shaping up to be impactful. It’s a good time now to connect with writers you click with and build a little network to be better informed and prepared for the opportunities this year.
Have a nice afternoon,
Eric
