Cinema of John Boorman by Hoyle Brian;

Author:Hoyle, Brian;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2012-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

Despite the relaxed shooting schedule, the film was made for eleven million dollars, a tight budget for a work of this scale. Hiding these budgetary limitations took a good deal of creativity and skill. For example, only fifty-five suits of armor were created for the film, and in the final battle Arthur’s knights were filmed charging in their silver armor; the suits were then painted black and used to outfit Mordred’s army.[53] On the whole, these measures were successful and the film’s strained resources rarely show. Indeed, more than one critic has commented that it looks like it cost four times its budget.[54] The film’s remarkable visual qualities were recognized at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival where Excalibur was shown in competition. Although it was hotly tipped to win the Palm D’Or, it finally lost out to Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Iron (1981), although more for political than artistic reasons.[55] Excalibur, however, was compensated with a special one-off prize for “Best Artistic Contribution” to the festival.

Although the film was an enormous commercial success, it received decidedly mixed reviews when it went to general release. Taken together, the reviews indicate that Excalibur is something of a dizzying folly, containing both the best and worst of Boorman. The worst means an occasional inability to maintain narrative momentum and coherence, awkwardness in the writing and handling of dialogue and characterizations, and unevenness in tone. The best means a visual inventiveness that includes a canny ability to tell stories with pictures, an almost unerring eye for composition, and superb handling of action. It also means a refreshing quirkiness and an unmistakable energy that, despite its numerous shortcomings, keep the film thundering along.

If the director remains acutely aware of these flaws, he also remains proud of the film, which, for him, represents the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Moreover, the film’s popularity more than vindicates his chosen vocation. In Excalibur Boorman ably demonstrates the mythopoeic function of cinema. As he has argued, “film is a language all its own, unlike any other form of expression.” However, he continues, “It is perhaps closest to the experience of dreaming, which takes us into the subconscious, where, to paraphrase Merlin, ‘all things are possible.’ . . . That is perhaps what makes film the perfect medium in which to re-live a timeless myth.”[56]

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