Sunday 20 February 2011

Perfection is not an aim.

Danny Boyle on David Lean "[Lean] dominates the British landscape in a way that I think is unhealthy really.  He was a perfectionist and I'm not sure that the pursuit of perfection is what it's about really.  I think it's about expression, not perfection... I find that perfection a little bit glossy at times really." (from an interview with Danny Boyle in the Guardian - I have searched online and cannot find the article this came from, I should the have kept the paper copy!)

I wrote this down at the time because it stuck in my head in reference to the Free Cinema Manifesto which Lindsay Anderson wrote:

“No film can be too personal…
Perfection is not an aim.
An attitude means a style.
A style means an attitude.”
Lindsay Anderson, Free Cinema Manifesto from the 1956 Free Cinema Programme


I'm with Lindsay Anderson and Danny Boyle on this one, perfection is definitely not what it's about!

2 comments:

  1. Perfection is not an option, in film or in humanity.

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  2. You're right, not an option or an aim. Not withstanding how to define perfection, it would just make the world a pretty boring place!

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