Promises Written in Water

Recently i got familiar with buffalo 66, and brown bunny, i was impressed by vincent galo's film making. cuz there is so less modern films i like. however this one - promises written in water , is true to it's title. cuz i can't find it anywhere, not on dvd and not to download.

the best thing about promises written in water is how it reveals the narcissism, not in the director, but in consumers of cinema today. by presenting an impressionistic cycle of events that belie the richness of love beyond the walls of a cinema and providing the opportunity for an audience to re-experience them purely empathically--anyone with whom the events do not resonate is just expressing both an inability to empathize and the personal tragedy of never having accidentally loved in the absurd way that love should exist. everyone knows asking an audience to think about anything is hard. we now know that asking them to recognize their own vulnerability is even harder.

I attended the world premier of Promises Written in Water at the 67th Venice Film Festival. Vincent Gallo's third feature film may in fact be his best-directed film so far, which is saying a lot since he directed two of my all time favorites, Buffalo 66 and The Brown Bunny. Gallo's newest film Promises Written in Water is an extremely fanatical yet stripped down poetic masterpiece. Predictably the film has already been and will surely continue to be misunderstood for it is complete originality. Gallo's newest film is extremely radical and complex and its story is told in a subtle manor way outside of the convention of the mainstream. The films vocabulary is stunningly sophisticated and those who choose to describe the film in standard film review terms are insulting cinema and insulting themselves. Since Promises Written in Water does not follow a program which is comfortable for lazy mainstream writers, they must lash out against Gallo and they do so most often more personally than in regards to his work. Still Gallo continues to grown creatively and Promises Written in Water reveals the work of an very important high-level filmmaker at the top of his game. The film is simply beautiful. If your lens for watching films is stuck in past references or your expectations are standardized then I suggest you avoid this film. Personally I am grateful that a great filmmaker like Vincent Gallo can still exist in this world.

Saw this film at TIFF the other night. I must admit I was a Vincent Gallo fan while growing up, having loved both the offbeat Buffalo 66' and The Brown Bunny but Promises Written in Water is an absolutely terrible film. Narcissistic in the worst way imaginable and grotesquely misogynistic throughout. As per usual, Gallo was not in attendance to promote his film, having instead opted to go back to New York or LA to avoid the cacophonous sounds of laughter at the puerile dialogue, terrible editing, awful photography and amateur acting. There is nothing remotely noteworthy about this film other than the running length which is a mere 75 minutes. Gallo is an original artist to be sure, but that doesn't mean what he makes is all that great. See it as a curiosity piece.

Better luck next time....

Calling this Vincent Gallo's best and most original film is a very big statement. Considering both Buffalo 66 and The Brown Bunny are both brilliant masterpieces and completely original. However this film is unlike anything ever made by anyone. The story is complex, deep and feels like it was adapted from a thousand page classic novel. Yet the film itself feels like a minimal portrait. As well it is the best looking black and white film I've ever seen in my life. Vincent Gallo composed and performed the original soundtrack which is simple, jazzy, very lyrical, very beautiful and highly effective. Gallo's editing is unlike anyone else and like The Brown Bunny the film is pieced together in a way unlike all the other standard cinema of today. I am very very lucky to have seen this film. And in today's very dry creative world Vincent Gallo is a very odd rare phenomenon.