The French New Wave Influence on the Modern Independent Film Industry

Paper by Brian Livesay.

The independent film industry is a fascinating genre in contemporary American film. Influenced by pioneers of film such as D.W. Griffith who is considered to be the original “auteur” film maker, as well as those who challenged the powerful film companies and studios throughout the history of film; this genre has developed into a popular and stable genre in the film industry of today. (Film Industry, 2015) John Cassavetes was responsible for the first big wave of American independent filmmakers in the 1960s. Independent films consistently had small budgets with a unique and creative portrayal of reality in comparison to films produced by the studios which had enormous budgets in comparison as well as a cookie cutter style that tended to cater to the wants of average moviegoers. Instead of appealing to the widest audience as possible in order to maximize profits, independent films were being produced that flew in the face of traditional filmmaking success that was developed in the studio productions. The minimalist style of Jim Jarmusch was portrayed in his breakout independent film Stranger than Paradise in 1984.

When discussing the history of independent film, it is important to define certain terms and subgenres. While this paper will be focusing on art cinema, it is important to differentiate the stylistic tendencies of art cinema from other subgenres including cult cinema and underground cinema. Cult cinema includes films that gained cult following with specific niche audiences. Some examples of cult cinema include Blaxploitation films of the 1970s that portrayed anti-white sediment and a high level of violence as well as small budgets. Most of these films are B-level films and were commonly shown in Grind houses of the 1970s. Art cinema could fall within the subgenre of cult cinema. New Wave French films have reached their own cult status and heavily influenced other subgenres of independent film including Blaxploitation films of the 1970s. Underground cinema has a formalized definition that was first established by Sheldon Renan in the 1967 book titled An Introduction to the American Underground Film. In this book, Underground film is essentially defined and refers to a film that was developed by an individual and is a personal statement of the filmmaker. These films radically diverge from typical films produced by popular big budget studios in technique, content, and/or form. They are often produced for extremely small budgets, often under $1,000 and are distributed outside of commercial means. These traits are similar to art films, and could also apply to many of them. Those films produced by Jim Jarmusch did have larger budgets than those typically described in this genre of film even though Jarmusch’s films have very small budgets when compared to mainstream films produced by film studios (Underground Film). Art cinema will be discussed in further detail in the paragraphs below (Hammond, 2006), (Underground Film, 2015).

The success of the American Independent film industry in the 1980s and 1990s was strongly influenced by the early successes of the French New Wave genre that developed during the 1960s. These films were successful in spite of their independence from the clutches of big budget film companies. In the following paragraphs, I will explore the evidence supporting this claim as well as provide examples of some of the film makers involved. I will also focus on one of the works by independent film maker Jim Jarmusch. Jim Jarmusch was one of the top independent American filmmakers of the 1980s and 1990s. Some of his works and overall sense of style will be explored and included because his works reached the forefront of the 1980s independent film industry in America and are highly representative of the independent film industry during this time period (80s film).

The genre that arguably had the most prominent impact on many American independent filmmakers was the French New Wave movement. This style was originally made up of cinephiles turned filmmakers (French New Wave, 2015). Many of these filmmakers were film geeks at heart who wanted to create film in a way that they would enjoy watching as a fan. This spurned a genre of creativity, nuance, and uniqueness that is more like art and less like a product that was designed for mass consumption by as many viewers as possible like most films of that time period. Artistically speaking, these films were uniquely stamped by the filmmaker’s style and creativity. The results were a series of films being produced that conveyed a sense of authorship by the director. This led to comparisons between filmmaking and novel writing. Artistic expression and a sense of pride developed in these independent film pioneers. Their influence was far reaching and their influence has had a major affect on the American and global film industry. This time period and genre of filmmaking is covered in many film study curriculums that are taught in colleges and film schools today. These filmmakers enjoyed films produced by major studios, but also felt that these films were not conveying the true nature of life or subject matter that was being demonstrated in these films. This resulted in a heightened sense of realism in their productions. One interesting aspect of this movement is that it was never actually formalized. It developed out of a shared love of film and dynamically shaped and influenced the film industry from that point on. In many ways the style of old Hollywood was rejected by this genre. These styles of old Hollywood often included a structured narrative based off plot lines or styles that had been previously developed. These established themes and styles included those taken from popular books and past theater productions. The new wave directors were more daring and treated the audience as an intelligent entity as opposed to having stories that were less cerebral in order to be more palatable to a wide variety of audience members. This tendency to produce films that didn’t spoon feed the story to the viewers catered to a more sophisticated audience that hungered for something more (French New Wave).

This new wave style bubbled over into American cinema in 1959 when an American actor who was inspired by this movement named John Cassavetes produced a film titled Shadows in 1959 and followed by Faces in 1968. These films portrayed many similarities to French New Wave films. Cassavete’s films sparked a revolution that transformed Hollywood and its old ways into what can be referred to as New Hollywood. These new directors on the scene that followed in Cassavetes footsteps include high profile directors including Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Cassavetes films continue to inspire contemporary filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh.

One current film maker who is considered by many to be the number one independent film maker of the 1980s is Jim Jarmusch (Winning, 480-483). Jim Jarmusch is an American independent filmmaker born in Akron Ohio in 1953. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in English in 1975 and then attended grad school at New York University. New York University has a famous film department and has had several famed directors in their program. Under the tutelage of Nicholas Ray, Jarmusch developed his skills and gained experience. Jarmusch produced his first film Permanent Vacation (Jim Jarmusch, 1980) with Ray’s help. This film had a $10,000 budget that is indicative of the grass roots style of many of the independent film makers (Winning, 480-483). Jarmusch rapidly rose to the top of the American independent American film makers of the 1980s. In 1984 his breakout film Stranger than Paradise had an increased budget of $90,000. This film grossed over 2.4 million dollars according to IMDB (IMDB). This film was awarded ‘‘Best Picture’’ from the National Society of Film Critics and also a Camera d’Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. The style that Jim Jarmusch exhibits in his films is one of thoughtfulness and is inspired by his logical and relevant circle of interests. These traits have been instrumental to his great success as an independent filmmaker (Winning, 480-483). The key subject matter of Jarmusch’s films seems to be a contrast between society’s perception of the American dream and what that American Dream actually is for those who don’t completely fit in with society’s perceptions. These comparisons commonly take place between three characters or three stories in Jarmusch’s films. These characters tend to be eccentric but each has a point of view that coincides with a contemporary subject in American pop-culture.

French New Wave films also had a big impact on Jim Jarmusch’s style. Jean-Luc Godard’s films Weekend and Breathless are two examples of works that heavily influenced the style of Jarmusch. Jim Jarmusch uses jump-cuts often in his films. This technique creates a disconnection between the film’s characters and the continuous flow that affects the logical perception of the passing of the characters through space and time. This is often used in the film Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995). In this William Blake (Johnny Depp) is an accountant in the Wild West era that unwittingly gets caught up in a love triangle and kills the man who murders his newly acquainted female partner. This incident embarks William Blake on a journey across the plains in order to escape from hired bounty hunters hired by the stepfather of the man that William Blake is responsible for killing. As the trio of bounty hunters pursues William Blake, Blake meets a Native American man named “Nobody” that saves his life and nurses him back to health after catching a bullet during the self defense killing that he committed. This film is shot completely in black and white with intriguing imagery and aesthetically pleasing shots. This film uses jump cutting to show where William Blake is in his travels in comparison to those that are in pursuit. This is effective storytelling as William Blake is traveling far and wide in order to escape while the bounty hunters follow his trail of clues. Scenes jump between William Blake and back to the bounty hunters as they find another piece of evidence that they use to track William Blake. As each cut scene enfolds, it tells a story of the individuals involved. For instance William Blake and Nobody encounter a group of strange travelers who can’t be trusted. Even though there behavior is strange and threatening, Nobody encourages and demands William Blake to approach them. This is done as a test for William Blake and not simply in order to ask for food and to enjoy the comfort of a campfire. The ensuing scene is intriguing, odd, and violent. The camera captures interestingly aesthetic black and white visuals throughout the scene that utilizes the campfire and subsequent shadows from the fire brilliantly. As the scene escalates in danger towards William Blake, Nobody is approaching the camp unbeknownst to the viewer. Shortly before terrible acts are committed against William Blake, Nobody emerges from the shadows to save his companion.

The use of black and white film creates an intriguing atmosphere for the viewer. Right from the beginning, the viewer is presented with visuals that are not typical of modern films that overwhelmingly utilize color film in their productions. During a panning shot of the city of Machine, smoke is billowing in the distance that looks both intriguing and surreal to the viewer as smoke spews out of a smokestack that is visually emphasized by the contrast between the black and white juxtaposition emblazoned within the scene. In addition to the aesthetically pleasing and intriguing visuals are unique and welcoming sound affects played by guitar throughout the entire film. These guitar sounds are used to convey a sense of mood to the audience with a screeching type of sound for uncomfortable and jarring scenes and a lighter and more rhythmic sound for the scenes that are less intense. This film used the famous musician, songwriter, and guitar player Neil Young for these sound affects and the music that is played throughout the film. It is important to note that Johnny Depp wasn’t the only big name star that was present in the film. Other high profile actors included the late Robert Mitchum, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, and Billy Bob Thornton. There is even a small role played by the famous musician Iggy Pop.

Another notable scene occurs among the bounty hunters as they are making their way along the prairie in pursuit of William Blake. As they ride, they come across a pair of dead bodies. Two dead lawmen are lying on the ground that had been killed during their pursuit of William Blake. One of the dead men fell such that his head landed in an arrangement of sticks. These sticks were arranged in a circle in order to be used in a campfire. The image of the man’s head lying in the circular arrangement of sticks was found in a way that was familiar to the viewer. This image was an example of pop-culture being used in his film. This particular image is a famous religious icon and is identified as such by one of the bounty hunters. In the scene, the identifying bounty hunter approaches the dead body and gets disgusted. The bounty hunter is not disgusted with the fact that there is a dead body lying on the ground, but instead is disgusted by the religious imagery that is presented by this body lying on the ground. He channels this emotion and subsequently smashes the skull of the dead lawman with the bottom of his boot. It is a violent and bloody act that not only creates a vivid and visual act of violence by the bounty hunter, but also shows the individuals temperament and violent tendencies.

I believe that the French New Wave movement has heavily impacted the American film industry and is largely responsible for the auteur movement as well as the development and evolution of the independent film movement and its current level of success.

References

80s film. (2015). The History of Film. The 1980s. Retrieved From http://www.filmsite.org/80sintro6.html
Film Industry. (2015). The History of Film. The Pre-1920s. Retrieved From http://www.filmsite.org/pre20sintro3.html
French New Wave. (2015). FRENCH NEW WAVE: WHERE TO START. What is the French New Wave, anyway?. Retrieved From http://www.newwavefilm.com/new-wave-cinema-guide/nouvelle-vague-where-to-start.shtml
Hammond, Michael, Williams, Linda.(2006). Contemporary American Cinema. England: McGraw-Hilll.
IMDB Stranger Than Paradise. (2015). Retrieved From http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088184/business?ref_=tt_dt_bus
Underground Film. (2015). Underground Film Journal. What’s An Underground Film, Anyway? Retrieved From http://www.undergroundfilmjournal.com/whats-an-underground-film-anyway/
Winning, Rob.(2000). International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers 4th edition Vol. 2: Directors. 4th ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000 480-483