L'Age d'Or
d. Luis Buñuel, 1930
I won't even pretend to have a handle on Luis Buñuel's second film, 1930's L'Age d'Or, on just one viewing (Mulholland Drive, anyone?), but it's certainly a fascinating piece of cinema. From the documentary-style opening sequences to the shocking imagery throughout, Buñuel never disappoints. J. Hoberman rightly points out in his review that L'Age d'Or is not as visceral as Buñuel's debut, Un chien andalou; instead, I think it points towards his later cinematic masterpieces in terms of subject matter and montage. It seems to me Buñuel is exploring the relationship between violence, sexual desires, and the divine in L'Age d'Or. More on this later, I suppose. Maybe I was still too hung up on Los Olvidados to think too much about this one.
