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Innocence at 5th Ave Cinema

By Erik McClanahan
May 18, 2016
Film

It’s okay if you’ve never heard of Lucile Hadžihalilović. She’s a great filmmaker who rarely makes movies. (If you do know her, well then, I already like you.)

Her first feature film, 2004’s “Innocence,” is screening at PSU’s 5th Ave Cinema this weekend. You should see it if you care about film. And if you don’t, hell, you should still consider catching the 35mm print the student-run theater will be showing. Telling an opaque female coming of age tale set in a gorgeous but quietly nightmarish boarding school, “Innocence” is a rare specimen in the film world. An auteur-driven female story told by an actual woman. Nearly all levels of the industry hierarchy are sadly still dominated by men. But that hasn’t stopped Hadžihalilović from making her own completely unique stamp in world cinema. Just in small doses.

The Internet tells us she’s in a relationship with Gaspar Noe, the highly transgressive French filmmaker behind such gloriously stylized provocations like “Irreversible,” “Enter The Void” (which Hadžihalilović co-scripted) and last year’s limp, goofy but occasionally engaging 3D porn “Love.” Beyond whatever her personal connection is to Noe, the two have been important collaborators since the early 90s, when they started a production company called Les Cinémas de la Zone and she was his editor on his first two breakout films “Carne” and “I Stand Alone.”

Before succumbing to the typical issue at hand with her work—that she’s almost always discussed in film circles as Noe’s wife first and a filmmaker second—I should make clear that she’s a wonderfully gifted visual stylist in her own right. With two features (her excellent new film, “Evolution,” screened at PIFF this year and should arrive back in theaters by the fall) and several long-ish shorts under her belt, her slow-burn style of quietly escalating moodiness is already honed and recognizable. And though she’s worked with Noe a lot, her style is nothing like his, favoring the subtle, considered and more deeply haunting effects of tone and atmosphere over his visceral punch of camera movement and style. You don’t have to like one more than the other, but if you hate Noe’s work, I’d be willing to bet big you’d love her films.

Only problem is, she just hasn’t made enough. I wish I knew more as to why it’s taken so long between projects. It’s without doubt presumptuous, naive and even pretty damn selfish of me to want more from a filmmaker whose work I enjoy, especially when I don’t know why. I don’t mean to conjure any conspiracy theories, but there’s been a lot of evidence and testimonies of late shedding light on how difficult it is for women filmmakers getting work. Yet directors like her with a specific point of view and original style seem to struggle the most to get work produced. Could this be at least part of the reason we’ve only got two features from her in nearly thirty years as a filmmaker? It’s not out of the realm of possibility. (I’m working on an interview when “Evolution” opens in Portland and hope to get some understanding.)

But that’s where those plucky young film loving folks at 5th Ave Cinema have done right by Lucile Hadžihalilović and other talented female filmmakers like Kimberly Peirce and Kelly Reichardt (their respective films “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Meek’s Cutoff,” both excellent as well, will screen there in the following weeks). Hadžihalilović, along with the absolutely brilliant Scottish director Lynne Ramsay (I sure wish 5th Ave was showing “Ratcatcher” or “Morvern Callar” in this female-director-heavy series too, but alas, it’s not to be), are two of my favorite working filmmakers these days, man or woman. None of them have made enough movies, far as I’m concerned.

If you catch “Innocence” this weekend, I bet you’ll feel the same way.

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