June 29 at 11:02am

WANDA’s Barbara Loden (& John & Yoko)

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Indie Film has not progressed very much in 38 years.  I finally caught up with Barbara Loden’s 1970’s WANDA last night.  It would feel pretty damn fresh today.  It ranks up there among the American Indie greats that’s for sure, particularly among the great debut features, and the ones that the director also stars in.  It made me wish that we had somewhere we could go where we could get an immersive course in Loden’s life.  If you know, let me know.
I couldn’t resist a trip to the Mike Douglas Show, co-hosted by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.  First off I learned Loden was married to Elia Kazan.  The struggles she faced as a female director are as real today as they were then.  Except back then you had the most famous creative couple in the world promoting her work.  And they were great & daring artists too; there is no equivalent today.

There’s been a lot of good writing done on the film, including this from driftingclouds and filmmaker Mary Brownstien’s piece from HammerToNail.  I was really struck by the quality of the performances and Loden’s willingness to let the camera linger.  You can tell she is working with a tiny crew (4 people evidently) and the level of intimacy she achieves is a marvel. The budget, back in the day, was $115,000.  It is required viewing.

8/31/10 Update: The New York Times just reported that WANDA is being restored.  Time to rejoice!


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  • 12.50 is not too much to pay to see a movie. It's great that it's a great movie, but we know the risk: we pay the price and hope for the best. This isn't 1985. Everything costs more. Don't people who complain about the cost of going to the movies worry about sounding like their grandfathers complaining about the cost of a loaf of bread?
  • Maxim de Winter
    When I saw it a long time ago, I thought it might be the great unsung American indie - some scenes point the way forward to Jarmusch and his comedy of understatement, while others feel like the forgotten foundation stone underneath the likes of Old Joy. I haven't watched it in years, time to buy the DVD I think.
  • Lynden Barber
    There's lots on Loden's life in Elia Kazan's incredibly candid autobiography - of course from his very biased and chauvinistic perspective....
  • Christina
    Amazing film! I just saw it last year for the first time and was so blown away. I love her lack of dialogue and her subtle but powerful performance. It was also so revealing that Barbra Loden won an award in Cannes for Wanda but the film was barely seen in the states.

    What an inspiration for Director, writer, actresses like myself, we need more of these gems.
    www.perfectionthemovie.com
  • Beo
    can I borrow? lol
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