MovieChat Forums > Au hasard Balthazar (1966) Discussion > It's popularity...

It's popularity...

posted 17 years ago by mangoloid
3 replies | jump to latest

It seems that over the past couple of years, this film and Bresson in general have received a boost in popularity. Of course, I'm only talking from the perspective of the internet, and the meager notice this film got around IMDb and other pop. sites when I discovered it. But there's been a noticable surge of Bresson fans on the internet and I was curious what other people made of this.

Could it be that the internet has been this powerful in bringing the art cinema to the interested people? Behold the wonder of mass communication. IMDb, Criterion, TSPDT, SoC, etc... Is film literacy becoming so much easier with home video and canons? I think so.

I proclaim ignorance in everything I say.

[–] bw92116 17 years ago

I would have never seen it if Criterion hadn't released it on DVD. It just showed up one day at the video store a couple of years ago. I think Bresson is slowly growing in popularity. It seems like most people in the U.S. have never heard of him. The average filmgoer in the U.S. does not watch foreign-language films, or old films, or black-and-white films, and "Au Hasard Balthazar" is all three of those, so it's difficult to get people in the U.S. to watch it, or any other Bresson film for that matter.

[–] mangoloid 17 years ago

We're not talking average film-goer, but average film buff. Criterion and the internet have definitely pushed Bresson into greater prominence. I remember when this film had barely 800 votes here on IMDb. Now it's got... over 2,000? Yeah.

I proclaim ignorance.

[–] Trouter2000 17 years ago

Well I know that if not for the internet, my love of film would have been limited to only IFC and TCM. If you asked me on my opinions about Ozu I would probably have responded with 'Whats an Ozu"". However, IMDB, TSPDT and amazon.ca have all helped me experience film, and I have now seen a huge variety of different cinema, I would not have known existed before.

Its like a film studies course for someone who doesn't want to take that course. Really it's a great tool.

Last film seen: Au Hasard Balthazar 9/10