others - Sans soleil (1983) Discussion

[–] benji-13 16 years ago

The only other film like this I've seen is Baraka, check out this site which has info on Baraka and other similar films:
http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/baraka.aspx

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[–] gdface 16 years ago

Yeah, Baraka immediately comes to mind for me too. Also, Koyanisqaatsi and its sequel, though those movies have an odd musical soundtrack as opposed to the odd narration of Sans Soleil.

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[–] Max_Planck 16 years ago

Personally, I can hardly think of a film more different to Sans Soleil in content, style and intention than either Koyaanisqatsi or Baraka. True, they are shot in different countries round the world. But then so is a Bond movie.

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[–] gdface 16 years ago

Max, I agree with your post, but I think we're using different criteria. I recommended the movies based on the similar type of experience I had watching them, not on any actual similarity between the films themselves.

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[–] AssetsonFire 12 years ago

Don't be coy. They're impressionistic, cross-cut between diverse locations, they touch on ritual, tradition, modernity, progress, mortality, technology etc. The similarities are blatant.

Oh whisky, leave me alone.

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] nights91 16 years ago

My Winnipeg is quite similar in tone although nowhere near as successful.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] dr_remlaw 15 years ago

While nothing is quite as overwhelming as Sans Soleil, Chris Marker's other films are also brilliant and well worth watching, especially if you want to see how some of his ideas developed and where they went afterward. Letter From Siberia, Le Mystere Koumiko, Grin Without A Cat, Le Tombeau d'Alexandre and One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich are all absolutely amazing - really I don't think he's done anything that isn't worth watching.

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[–] Max_Planck 15 years ago

I was watching Fata Morgana the other day....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067085/

...and found myself reminded a little of Sans Soleil.

A European's fascination with foreign lands, a sort-of documentary style, slightly hallucinatory imagery, philosophical ruminations, a female narrator....you know what I'm saying?

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[–] twelvepointnine 14 years ago

Tarkovsky's Nostalghia comes to mind with its half-forgotten memories, filled in with idolized fragments of one's past.

Chaos reigns

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[–] Zoomorph 13 years ago

The Falls (1980) by Peter Greenaway is the closest thing I've seen to Sans Soleil.

~ Observe, and act with clarity. ~

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[–] johnkstone1234 13 years ago

The work of Kore-eda, a great Japanese writer/director, often hinges on philosophical themes of memory interlaced with reflections on the art of film. His best work is Afterlife, which I believe shares some common ground with Sans Soleil.

Following the themes of memory, technology, and multiple cultures' approach to these and other subjects, I think Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World actually overlaps in some interesting zones with Marker's essay.

There are certain works outside of film that came to mind when I watched Sans Soleil. One is Roland Barthes' book of essays on the differences between Western and Eastern (especially Japanese) culture and outlooks, Empire of Signs. And then there is the play, "Mnemonic," by Simon McBurney and the Theatre de Complicité -- a masterful work imaginatively playing on themes of memory, history, and the occasional need to forget,

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[–] 13 years ago

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