From an eight-part series about my key creative influences between the ages of 14 through 29, arguably the years when the foundation of one’s artistic point of view is established.
The Peter Greenaway work I’m talking about includes his shorts from 1973 through 1978, and the features ‘The Falls’, ‘The Draughtsman’s Contract’ and ‘Drowning by Numbers’.
(He’s made other remarkable aka notorious films, but they did not connect with me in the same way.)
I wrote a 7,000 word essay on ‘The Draughtsman’s Contract’ which was published in a film journal. It was the first Greenaway film I saw and it was a revelation.
As I saw more of his films Greenaway became what could only be described as a “retroactive influence” on me, in that he solidified through example what I was already staggering toward on my own.
I saw The Falls at Pacific Film Archive and realized it was a far better version of the hour-long film I had created in graduate school. It was also funnier and had Michael Nyman’s music which was cheating.
I saw A Walk Through H at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It combined storytelling over false maps in a way I had played with. It was also funnier than what I was doing, and had Michael Nyman’s music which was cheating.
It also dovetails directly with my love of alternative and imaginary cartography.
In a similar way Vertical Features Remake was a more devastating satire of formalist experimental filmmaking than I was capable of writing in the criticism I was publishing at the time. It was also funnier than what I could be with the topic, and had Michael Nyman’s music which was cheating.
It was an inspiration to see someone like Greenaway walk on the same path as I was, even if he was doing it better.
He inspired me to bring more rigor and specificity. Freed me up to be more humorous. I couldn’t solve the Nyman problem, though. It was cheating, anyway.