Cinematic Pilgrimage: Six From Chris Marker

A reliable biography of French filmmaker Christian François Bouche-Villeneuve does not exist, apparently by his choice, which leaves us unable to verify the rumors that he was born of Mongolian nobility, or explain his choice to rename himself after the Magic Marker beyond its obvious utility as (ahem) a pen name. If you know his name without knowing his films, it’s probably because his short experimental sci-fi La Jetée—a time-travel vision of apocalypse told almost entirely in still photographs—was the inspiration for Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys. But most of his work has been in documentaries, which in his hands are not so much reportage as a combination of ruminative essay, radical politics, and visually punning avant-garde poem. Besides La Jetée, this series features five of Marker’s most prominent works, including his ethereal travelogue Sans Soleil and cinematic tributes to his two favorite Russian directors: One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich, on Andrei Tarkovsky (of the non-George Clooney Solaris), and The Last Bolshevik, on silent-era pioneer Alexander Medvedkin. Arsenevich and Remembrance of Things to Come also happen to be Marker’s two most recent works, so this is an excellent opportunity to see what he’s been up to lately.
Oak Street; 309 Oak St. S.E., Minneapolis; (612) 331-3134; oakstreetcinema.org