No filmmaker can match Jean Renoir’s mastery of blending human complexity with visual artistry. That was the entertaining message of Howie Movshovitz’s presentation, “Why Jean Renoir is the Best Filmmaker So Far,” as part of the Arts in Medicine Lecture Series at Anschutz Medical Campus on Oct. 10.
Movshovitz, director of film education in the College of Arts and Media, discussed the unsurpassed eye of Renoir, the son of famed French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, for human emotion and studies in social class. He showed clips of several Renoir films, including “Grand Illusion” and “French Cancan,” during the presentation.
“He has a complexity of his study of human beings that’s just astounding,” Movshovitz told the audience, “and he had the visual talent to embody it.”
Besides Renoir’s skill at giving his characters context – always making clear their role in the wider scope of events – the early 20th century filmmaker infused his films with “a wonderful human tolerance for other human beings,” Movshovitz said. “Renoir is tolerant of virtually all human beings, but he also sees through everybody and what their games are. He has the persistent sense that human life is performance.”
“Denver: From the Cradle to the Grave,” a look at Denver’s history, is the subject of the next Arts in Medicine program, noon, Oct. 24, in Education 2, Room 2303.
For more information about the UC Denver College of Arts and Media: http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/CAM/Pages/index.aspx