Costa-Gavras
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Though Gaghan cites Costa-Gavras's “Z” and American political films of the 1970s as sources of inspiration, his film is very different.
Fiercely partisan political thrillers have generally been the province of great incendiary European directors like Costa-Gavras ("Z") and Gillo Pontecorvo ("Battle of Algiers").
Though inspired by Lebanon, birthplace of playwright Mouawad, Villeneuve chose not to name the setting, saying he wanted to set it in an imaginary place, like Costra-Gavras' Z, so as to free it from political bias.
"It is not possible," wrote Jean-Louis Comolli in 1970, "in the name of theoretical purity or rigor, simply to dismiss as totally worthless the mass of films for which The Confession and Z might (and do) serve as models.
"It is not possible," wrote Jean-Louis Comolli in 1970, "in the name of theoretical purity or rigor, simply to dismiss as totally worthless the mass of films for which The Confession and Z might (and do) serve as models.
The kidnapping in Man on Fire doesn't appear to be political, like the Tupamaros' of Yves Montand in State of Siege, yet some mystery bigger than for-filthy-lucre lurks behind this one.
This is not Casta-Gavras’s 1969 leftist agitprop masterpiece “Z.”
…landing somewhere between the politics of Z, Burn After Reading, and, somehow, Southland Tales…
Z was only his third feature but his first political project, and though it followed in a tradition that included Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers and Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (among others), was a risk.
Not a true thriller as much as an investigative procedural with a semblance of geopolitical cred, Z often relies on some slick camouflage of shopworn genre standbys, and perhaps because its pacifist-leaning dissidents made for less problematic heroes than the militant guerillas of The Battle of Algiers, Hollywood bestowed on it two Oscars and a Best Picture nomination.
Z was only his third feature but his first political project, and though it followed in a tradition that included Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers and Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (among others), was a risk.
The quality is there, but the message has already been imparted, to much greater effect, in similar films like Music Box and Apt Pupil.
…film about Greece, made by an expatriate Greek director, but featuring an all-star French-speaking cast, “Z” is, alongside John Frankenheimer's “The Manchurian Candidate” and Jean-Luc Godard's “Weekend,” one of the most important political films of all time.
Otherwise, at times the viewing experience could be quite frustrating, even maddening.Godard shotwith the great cinematographer Raoul Coutard ( Shoot the Piano Player Z ).
Basic Instinct (1992)
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
influenced by Music Box (1989), Betrayed (1988)
Themes
His fourth film on the subject, "Basic Instinct" is obviously a reiteration of the stories and subtexts of his earlier films, "Jagged Edge," "Betrayed" and "Music Box." Writing to a population battered with headlines about pedophiles, cannibals, one-man sperm banks, sleep-around pols, Eszterhas exploits all of our fashionable fears.
Writer Joe Eszterhas shamelessly reworks ideas and themes he had earlier exploited in films such as Jagged Edge and Music Box, but the sheer overheated nature of Verhoeven's direction makes this extremely watchable.
His fourth film on the subject, "Basic Instinct" is obviously a reiteration of the stories and subtexts of his earlier films, "Jagged Edge," "Betrayed" and "Music Box." Writing to a population battered with headlines about pedophiles, cannibals, one-man sperm banks, sleep-around pols, Eszterhas exploits all of our fashionable fears.
Friedkin cites Costa-Gavras's 1969 political conspiracy thriller Z as an influence on his storytelling art and pseudo-documentary aesthetic, and it's easiest to spot the connection in the pessimistic title cards that precede the end credits: More or less everyone involved in the smuggling operation gets off with a wrist slap, save the fall guy, Devereaux, the only one to do hard time, while mastermind Charnier escapes the country, going scot-free.
As Gerstein tries to escalate the horrific situation, to Swedish diplomats, his own Protestant Bishop (who informs him that he is tired of the whining of the Jews), his path crosses that of Riccardo Fontana (Mathiew Kassovitz, "La Haine"), a young, idealistic priest whose family has close ties to Pope Pius XII.
For a more believable story of political intrigue during this period, see Costa-Gavras' Z or All the President's Men.
It's surely no accident that the best nondocumentary films about Nazi persecution -- Louis Malle's "Lacombe, Lucien," Vittorio De Sica's "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," Paul Mazursky's "Enemies, A Love Story," Costa-Gavras' "Music Box," Agnieszka Holland's "Europa, Europa" -- have not depicted the slaughter of the Jews.