Even though Robert Bresson's films are known for their minimalist style and almost pathological perfection in their intent (or lack their of), it will come to as a surprise that a certain American film maker "Paul Schrader" was extremely influenced by Bresson's "cinematography"; This term coined by Bresson himself, came to represent his particular style that tried to emphasize nature's purity rather than captured theatre, as had been the case from cinema's inception. In this Smithsonian collection, we'll examine Schrader's M.A. thesis "Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer" which will serve as the basis for understanding the aesthetic values in his later works such as Taxi Driver. We'll also take a look at Bresson's "Notes on the Cinematograph" to understand his philosophy and be able to see this collection as part of a larger framework meant to showcase different manipulations of reality. In order to get a wider grasp on the text, the collection will also include excerpts from interviews with Bresson and Schrader, as well as music from both of the directors' films. Film clips will also sometimes be shown to emphasize the role of music in the storytelling. This collection is meant to serve as the first of three parts that I plan for this project. If a general theme could be assigned to it, it would be the use of music. Since, just like film, it has incredible accessibility which makes it prone to corruption. Within its aesthetic value (or that assigned to by the listener), if it is true that music can only be valued in terms of its pleasure or displeasure, that the knowledge of its form shall not interfere with our ability to comprehend it (in the same way that a botanist who studies a flower doesn't inherently have a larger degree of pleasure while looking at one), and that the expressed emotion might not correspond to a particular emotion (that felt by the composer) or any at all, the whole situation might then start appearing as quite dire and tragic. I hope that throughout this project, I'm able to show this tragedy into effect. From the rotten appeal of manufactured archetypes in "On the search for the perfect mirror" to the exploration of the subconscious in Tereyama's "Hide and Seek", and Bresson's re-discovery of human grace. 

Anybody with an interest on the asthetics of music and/or film theory can enjoy this collection 

#MUST1963Summer23