(I am also including his filmed version of Swimming to Cambodia in this category, since it is based on a nonfiction monologue.)Īlso, it’s worth noting how difficult it is to find some of these movies, despite Demme being a certifiable American auteur. He made an entire trilogy of Neil Young films, chronicled Jimmy Carter and made a movie about his cousin that was admitted into Cannes. And the filmmaker’s gorgeous, black-and-white Netflix film Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids is not only brilliant, but also stands tall as Demme’s final film. Stop Making Sense is arguably the greatest, most artistically accomplished concert film of all time, one that continues to delight and inspire even to this day. This is not to diminish their power or importance, but has more to availability and a lack of time. And he had a lot of creativity.īut before we get started, a couple of notes.įirstly, I am not including Demme’s considerable documentary output. His fearlessness was only matched by his creativity. It’s hard to equate him to another filmmaker (American or otherwise), even now.ĭemme was a restless tour-de-force – always creating, inventing, pushing himself further into uncomfortable territory or unexplored genres. They would be traits that defined his career, even as he moved through more modestly budgeted movies to commercial juggernauts and critical darlings. But even those early movies were infused with Demme’s characteristic energy, enthusiasm and keenly observed humanity. Demme, like many other directors of his generation, started out working with Roger Corman on a number of low-budget exploitation movies. When Jonathan Demme passed away on April 26, 2017, after a battle with esophageal cancer and heart disease, the world lost a true original.
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