Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Visual Journal of Raymond Depardon

Journal de France (2016) - Depardon
depardon
An intimate portrayal of a journalist, photographer, filmmaker Raymond Depardon as he embarks on a tour of his country with his large format still camera. Unseen narrator is his long time collaborator/wife/Sound recordist Claudine Nougaret. It's both journey through time and intimate portrayal of Depardon and his unending curiosity around the world and at home. Depardon's assembled, mostly handheld reportage takes us to various political hotspots around the world since the 60s - Venesuela, Chilé, Czechoslovakia, Congo, Djibouti, South Africa and a lot more. It also illustrates the artist's obsession with the desert with all it represents. We get to see how Depardon and Nougaret hooked up through various stock footage. It's a great doc that avoids being a sentimental nostalgia piece. Great Saturday morning movie it turns out to be.