Alexa: I chose “Faces Places” as this week’s movie because I remember seeing it crop up on dozens of lists of the top 10 movies of 2017 and I wondered what all the fuss was about - and I can easily say all that high praise was warranted. This is a delightful little gem of a film, the type of thing I crave discovering on Netflix. As a journalist I’ve always been drawn to profiles and features because I love telling other people’s stories, and that’s exactly what “Faces Places” celebrates. Director Agnès Varda and artist JR simply travel throughout France, meeting and talking to ordinary people in ordinary places. Watching this film, I was immediately reminded of the last line of the U.S. version of “The Office” - “There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?” That sentiment is “Faces Places” in a nutshell. There is tremendous value in every person’s story, in every person’s experience, just as there is tremendous value in the power of creation and imagination. Varda and JR use their art to preserve and amplify the beauty of everyday slices of life both past and present, like the stunning mural they create commemorating a town’s mining history and the last remaining resident of the miners’ houses. Typically I don’t care for documentarians who insert themselves too much into their work, but in this case, I think featuring Varda and JR so heavily was essential to understanding their art and their motivation. In a modern world often driven by divisiveness and vitriol, “Faces Places” is a poignant reminder of the connections that make life beautiful.
Chris: There is no denying that Faces Places is a beautiful movie visually and though I knew nothing of the movie going in, I found myself connecting deeply with both Varda and JR almost immediately. There’s a refreshing laid back approach in the attitude of most of the people affected by the posters JR and Varda put up which makes sense because had those people protested, it would’ve been cut from the movie. However, the one thing that immediately came to my mind when they were doing the posters at the factory was how differently this would have gone had it been an American corporation. There was such embrace of art by the people in charge of the factory that I don’t believe any corporation in America would have done unless it had been part of some marketing scheme. I don’t know exactly what that says in general or what it says about how I view corporations but I thoroughly enjoyed this refreshing view of a people embracing and being moved by very personal art.
Jason: Alexa viewed this film through the eyes of a journalist. I saw it with the eyes of a visual artist. The conversations between Agnès and JR about the photos, the locations, the murals, and even the people are so genuine and express so much of how artists see the world around them. Their differences in opinion come together to create such breathtaking art just as their opposing personalities form a natural dialogue between them. It’s as if their combined interaction is what is truly doing the creating as opposed to either one of them individually.
I was a little unsure of the movie as a whole going into it. Was wasn’t expecting foreign language (not that that is bad, just unexpected) and the tone took some getting used to. But as I watched, the chemistry between the two key players charmed me. Their exploration of the beauty surrounding everyday people touched a nerve that made my usually cynical heart warm for a little while.
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