Reflecting on the films we studied

At one point in comparing the works of one of the filmmakers we studied, ‘Kurosawa’s Dreams and Rhapsodies’, Linda C. Ehrlich commented on Kurosawa’ past and later works as “although he has mixed Western and Eastern aesthetics and philosophical systems in the past, with great success, in his later films his skills as an ‘alchemist’ in this regards fails, becoming instead a confusion of modes”, (Linda, 164).

What I did like to suggest about ‘the Atomic Café’ as a post-modern masterpiece is that, unlike Kurosawa in his later films, the co-producers (Jayne Loader, Kevin and Pierce Rafferty) application of their skills as an ‘alchemist’ was a great success. As it is detailed in ATOMIC CAFE: HISTORY DONE RIGHT, Conelrad added that not only did the producers edit the footage for maximum irony, but it was backed by phenomenal soundtrack, which developed fresh and original work. In support of this claim, Jayne in her interview with Conelrad, said that they succeeded because they worked straightly with their principle of ‘compilation verite’. Jayne went on further to admit that they mixed up motion pictures together with the soundtrack about the cold war, because they got to know ‘the Atomic Café’ movie was going to be about “the Atomic Age (instead about propaganda in general).”

Another information which made me suggest that ‘the Atomic Café co-producers had ‘alchemist’ skills is that, Jayne Loader mentioned that in her 2002 interview with Conelrad, she successfully made another compilation verite film about animals and animal rights entitled “Why do we treat them like animals?” From here you can access Conelrad’s 2002 interview with Jayne Loader.