Promises Written in Water (Vincent Gallo, 2010)

[gokinsmen]

No Malick, but hey, I guess there's this (in competition) at Venice. Some info from a 2009 interview with Gallo.

It sounds morbid in the extreme. "What I have tried to do in this movie is to make choices as if this was the first movie ever made and not to buy into the story of what cinema should be," explains Gallo. This means making the film on the hoof, without much in the way of preparation.

"I shoot a bunch of stuff – improvs, things when people don't know they're being filmed. I look at the footage and separate it into filters. The first category is anything that is beautiful, photographically ... beautiful could be out of focus, it could be a mistake. Beautiful can be intentional. It can be just luck, it can be because the film is processed a little funnily ... Now, I take the film and start to look at the people in the film and I want them to be beautiful. Again, beauty is relative. Beauty can be beautiful ugly. It can be the back of their heads ... "

Continuity editing is deliberately askance. Characters don't wear the same costumes from scene to scene. The director wanted the film to be "honest". He didn't want his cast to "perform" but instead demanded that they behaved naturally on camera. They are mainly unknowns, although Sylvester Stallone's son, Sage, appears.

...

As long as Gallo is satisfied with the film himself, he says that will be enough. "Don't take this the wrong way if you're going to write about it. I am giving zero attention to what the audience thinks. It's not that I resent them or don't care about them. I feel that if I am going to make my best work, I have to take that attitude ... I don't care if it ever gets released, I don't care if anyone ever likes it."

Despite loving Buffalo '66, I put off watching The Brown Bunny for all the obvious reasons. Well, I finally saw it recently and was hypnotized. It tunneled its way into my brain by having such a light touch for an hour or so before turning up the ugliness and melodrama up to 11. I was impressed that Gallo was able to subtract Buffalo 66's "quirkier" elements (many of which I loved), while keeping the same, off-kilter approach.

So yeah, I'm eager to see what he comes up with, here. For the record, I tend to treat his public personality as part Andy Kaufman-like media baiting and part Buffalo '66-style mental-illness, so I'm not really bothered by that extracurricular stuff when it comes to Gallo.

[Fiery Angel]

oh no, he's baaaack

[Oedipax]

oh no, he's baaaack

Thank goodness.

After the false start of this being incorrectly announced for Cannes, I'm glad this really is getting a release somewhere.

[Mr Sausage]

While I sympathize with the motives behind Gallo's approach, his quest to escape not simply this or that tradition, but the entire tradition of film as a medium, cannot but fail. Doing the exact, deliberate opposite of what the tradition demands puts the viewer as much in mind of what Gallo's not doing as what he is. The irony is that the tradition he wants to escape becomes all the more present through its absence. (Or, to use the Oedipus myth as a symbol, Gallo has tried to free himself of paternalism by killing his father only for his life to become totally consumed by the search for every detail of that crime, his father's absence haunting him perpetually).

Didn't he declare after the Brown Bunny disaster that he would never make another film?

[Foam]

Gallo declares a lot of things. Like when he declared nostalgia for the days when Chloe Sevigny would have been lucky to blow for a living--this before her Brown Bunny role; it's amazing to me that she agreed to fulfill it.

Edit: I am (reservedly) looking forward to seeing this, if only because I still think Buffalo 66 is one of the most swaggering and stylish films I've seen.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The Venice Festival now has a very helpful page for the film.

[smak]

Everything about the film is on the official site. There's also a short in competition @ Venice titled, "The Agent" which sounds really interesting.

[gokinsmen]

A cross-section of reviews:

Hollywood Reporter

Playing in the feature competition, "Promises Written in Water" is an incomprehensible, disappointing effort in which he receives producing, directing, writing, editing, music and acting credits, so there really is no one else to blame if this story, about a man who broods on love and death, disappears into the waves almost immediately after its festival outings.

Guardian

The crowds have gathered to see just how further up himself one man can travel...

True to form, Gallo's drama puts the i in solipsism (and then dots it with a scowly face). It is a film in thrall to the micro-budget monochrome art movies of the 1960s and 70s; a picture that loves the cinema of Andy Warhol and John Cassavetes almost (though not quite) as much as it loves the cinema of Vincent Gallo.

The tragedy, though, is that large sections do not appear to share this ardour, and the film's fumbling miscommunications are accompanied by the constant flap of seats.

Examiner

This new film stands out from the crowd for the official competition and is an achievement that lingers for a long time. It should encourage young filmmakers to do something different, not something that has been done again and again - with their cameras, dialogue, editing and sound.

Gallo shows what new language in cinema can be about. Several of the scenes in the film should become a part of contemporary cinematic history. Primarily of great interest is the use of the camera, in the most amazing closeups that go beyond how Hollywood uses these. Perhaps silent film closeups have more in common with these shots. These are mega closeups, and executed beautifully by cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi. The body as landscape is part of his introspection.

[Markson]

Everything about the film is on the official site

The "note" below the synopsis is too much! If it didn't appear on the official site, I'd think it was parody.

(Cue remarks about self-parody.)

[James]

I was thinking the same thing, but you know what? I'm think it's almost self-parody parody. Sort of like Gallo continuing to build his persona. I'm looking forward to the movie and the mixed/negative reviews only have me more excited.

[mikkelmark]

Didn't he declare after the Brown Bunny disaster that he would never make another film?

That is why it is called "Promises Written In Water".

[Duncan Hopper]

Gallo has refused to let the London Film Festival screen it.
When LFF contacted Gallo about screening it, his three word reply was: 'For what reason?'

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Incredible. He's my hero. He should tour with Crispin Glover.

[gokinsmen]

Gallo has refused to let the London Film Festival screen it.
When LFF contacted Gallo about screening it, his three word reply was: 'For what reason?'

God Bless You, Vincent Gallo...wherever you are.*


*(probably smoking on balcony, bragging about the size of his dick)

[James]

Didn't he declare after the Brown Bunny disaster that he would never make another film?

That is why it is called "Promises Written In Water".

Wait, is this a joke? Or is that the actual reason? If that's the reason it's called Promises Written in Water, then this may be my favorite movie title ever.

[mikkelmark]

Didn't he declare after the Brown Bunny disaster that he would never make another film?

That is why it is called "Promises Written In Water".

Wait, is this a joke? Or is that the actual reason? If that's the reason it's called Promises Written in Water, then this may be my favorite movie title ever.

It was a joke. I am sorry there was no winking smiley to indicate it.

[Cde.]

Gallo isn't subtle enough for a joke like that.

[gokinsmen]

Shane Danielsen's usually pretty fair. A mixed review from a rare original fan of The Brown Bunny:

But this excerpt is re: Gallo's short, "The Agent"...

I liked it, liked its provocation and its aesthetic – and that affection turned to flat-out love when the end-title screen came up, noting that the film was (and I quote) “bought to you by the Gray Daisy Films Foundation. A viewer-supported organization dedicated to the advancement of outspoken Caucasian non-Jewish heterosexual good-looking male filmmakers and movie stars,” which “needs your support to continue bringing you high-quality films.” Below this text was an address for donations.

The message stayed onscreen for two full minutes. Further proof (as if any were needed) that Gallo belabors his punchlines, but also a hint that there might be slightly more self-knowledge there than many give him credit for.

[Ovader]

I should contact Gray Daisy Films Foundation for assistance with my film projects

[HarryLong]

I should contact Gray Daisy Films Foundation for assistance with my film projects

Well, if Gallo is the standard for "good looking," no one short of Quasimodo should have any trouble getting in.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

He should remake Citizen Kane, and star in it of course.

[GTO]

He should remake Citizen Kane, and star in it of course.

Close. He should make a movie about an emotionally-stunted jackass who's trying to remake Citzen Kane and star in THAT.

(Said as someone who would finance that, or any other Gallo movie, if I had the cash).

[tavernier]

He should remake Citizen Kane, and star in it of course.

Close. He should make a movie about an emotionally-stunted jackass who's trying to remake Citzen Kane and star in THAT.

(Said as someone who would finance that, or any other Gallo movie, if I had the cash).

Spoken like a true Buffalonian who has had dealings with the man who thinks he's the greatest thing to ever come out of Buffalo (I vote for Rick James).

[GTO]

Well, although I'm in Buffalo currently, I'm not a true Buffalonian, given that I wasn't born here or anywhere nearby. Besides which, true Buffalonians hate Gallo and Buffalo '66 with a passion. It's far too accurate* a portrayal of the city and the natives.

Nor have I had any "dealings" with Gallo. I doubt very seriously he's a fun person to be around, although it probably would be safer than hanging out with a kidnapping crackhead rapist like, oh, say Rick James.

*Except for that "can't find a bathroom" bit at the beginning. As a true Buffalonian, Gallo knew or should have known to just a trot a block away to Main Place Mall.

[Oedipax]

A lovely capsule review by Michael Sicinski.