Albert Maysles is known for his association with “direct cinema,” or the American version of the French “cinema verité.” This refers to a style of documentary filmmaking in which the director chooses to focus on capturing reality and portraying it in an accurate manner. Maysles’ work can be broken down into three components, which is precisely what we are going to do, while also relating his films to direct cinema and the cinema of attractions.
Part 1: The Concert Film and How Violence is captured.
I have three clips to share, which will inform Maysles’ use of Direct Cinema. Two of which are from films he directed, and the last is from a film which he participated in as a cinematographer. All three fall under the category of the Concert film which acts as an attraction in itself like Nathaniel Hornblower’s Awesome I Fuckin’ Shot That! and Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense. Gimme Shelter, What’s Happening: The Beatles in the USA, and Jimi Plays Monterey are the three films which I would like to focus on, specifically on three scenes which Maysles captured as a fly on the wall in the unfolding of natural and spontaneous events.
Gimme Shelter
At the Altamont Free Concert while the Stones were playing, violence ensued, causing the death of Meredith Hunter. The film sequence clearly shows the silhouette of a handgun in Hunter’s hand as Passaro (a Hell’s Angel) enters from the right, grabs and raises the gun hand, turning Hunter around and stabbing him at least twice in the back before pushing Hunter off camera.
Gunning argues that filmmakers use cinema less as a way to tell stories than as a way of presenting views to an audience. I believe this is in play during the clip. Additionally, the shock and spectacle of the actual violence serves as an attraction.
The next clip is from Maysles’ film: What’s Happening: The Beatles in the USA
It shows the young Beatles interacting together. At 2 minutes 30 seconds Maysles captures the ecstatic women fans which portray what could be a violent and scary segment, what with all the screaming and chaos. Then at 5 minutes 30 seconds he shows Ringo in a violent like, yet innocent state. Maysles captured these many stories through the documentary and then used them as an opportunity to present attractions.
Finally, in Jimi Plays Monterey, where Maysles served as a cinematographer, I thought it would be interesting to include another example of violence captured during a concert film. The Guitar sacrifice, as people often refer to it, begins about 6 and a half minutes into the clip after they have performed Wild Thing, and shows Jimi lighting his guitar on fire and smashing it relentlessly across the stage. Could this be a commentary on how we often destroy the things we love? Regardless, violence is truly captured through the lenses of all the cinematographers who worked on the film. And the women’s reactions are beautifully and hilariously shown as well, in a sort of commentary toward Jimi’s actions.
Additionally, Dave Saunders’ writings on Direct Cinema will be assisting me in my final paper.
-Natalie Peyton
Part 2:
One signature element of Maysles’ work is his incorporation of prominent public figures into his films and capturing segments of their lives on camera. In this sense, the stars themselves and their individual realities serve as the primary attractions in the film. This is consistent with the aim of direct cinema, as well as with Musser’s definition of the cinema of attractions, in which spectacular elements play the role of enhancing the narrative. The following two clips are from Meet Marlon Brando (1965) and Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic (1985), in which Marlon Brando and Vladimir Horowitz, respectively, are the stars of the film. They not only serve as a means of attracting the audience, but they also act to emphasize the narrative because the story revolves around them and events in their lives.
-Priya Sikerwar
Part 3:
To further the concept of “direct cinema”, the Maysles designed new camera and sound equipment that was less intrusive than existing technologies. He developed a revolutionary 30 pound camera and worked with repositioning the viewfinder to obtain more flexible shots. The result was a subtle observation, allowing the subjects to speak for themselves. Below are two clips exhibiting the naturalistic environment the Maysles were able to create:
Grey Gardens (1975)
Salesman (1969)
There aim was for authenticity, a portrayal of the “truth” and immediacy of character studies. The immediacy allowed an egalitarian connection to the viewer which then humanizes the strange people being observed. They hoped to “‘create an intimacy between the subject filmed and the audience'” so that they could be more representational as the entire population (Vogels).
My claim is that this naturalization renders the documentary making process into a naturalistic observational psychological study. In psychology, one method of collecting data is through naturalistic observation, which is defined as a study conducted in a natural environment with little to no interference. That way, the data collected can be as accurate as possible to the behaviors of the test subject. The spectacle of creating this observational experiment renders the viewer not equal, but above the subject as a figure of authority, an experimenter, a scientist, like a spectator at a zoo, watching the animals in their habitats. The drive to analyze and understand others is inherent, as is the need to establish a power dynamic/relationship, thus is the draw of a Maysles film.
-Maria Liu
The Cinema of Attractions 