Presence ( Närvarande )

Presence (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: Närvarande
Language Selections:
Danish ( Subtitles )
English ( Subtitles )
Swedish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Sweden ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
82 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 2003 and produced in:
Sweden ( Scandinavia, Iceland )

Directed By:
Jan Troell

Written By:
Rolf Börjlind
Peter Dalle

Actors:
Gunnel Hemmel
Georg Oddner
Klaus Rifbjerg
Jacques Werup

Synopsis:

On a whim, a young Swedish jazz drummer named Georg Oddner hopped a boat to New York, wrangled an unpaid apprenticeship with Richard Avedon at the height of his 1950s stardom, and began a lasting career as a fashion photographer and visual artist. Yet this gentle tribute by his friend Jan Troell, a Scandinavian director best known for his New Land immigrant saga, builds a persuasive case that Oddner has made music all along. Rhythm remains the basis of Oddner's images, whether he's photographing jazz greats, calendar models, or umbrellas discarded on Manhattan streets: As if to underscore the point, clips of Oddner at work show him beating a tattoo on any available surface as he composes his photographs. Troell's true subject, though, isn't rhythm or melody, but harmony: the balance Oddner seeks between his subjects and the space that surrounds them, which fixes them not just in the moment, but in the memory. Troell's method threatens to slip into Ken Burns hagiography whenever he applies tired pan-and-zoom effects to Oddner's photos, obscuring the balance and compositional texture (the presence) of his subject's artistry. In most respects, though, this elliptical, unconventional portrait avoids the dullest tropes of documentary filmmaking, eschewing talking heads and watchful-god narration for the thematically appropriate propulsion of Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis standards. Oddner comes across as an unpretentious but exacting artist driven by deeply humane principles, and Troell honors his credo: that images should stand on their own, not as illustrations of text--even the text of Oddner's own life.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 15 November, 2005.

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