Jack Hazan’s A Bigger Splash finally found its niche. Not to be mistaken for Luca Guadagnino’s 2015 film—which didn’t have Hazan’s blessing to share the title—Hazan’s 1974 film played the Locarno and the New York Film Festivals among others, but didn’t have much of a theatrical footprint outside of London.
Splash follows artist David Hockney in the aftermath of his break up with lover and muse Peter Schlesinger, with unprecedented access to their inner circle. A year into the shoot, Hockney convinced Schlesinger to sit for a painting. Hazan saw the opportunity to introduce Peter to the narrative and three years later the film debuted to middling praise but gained a cult following. A Bigger Splash was recently restored and has debuted at New York City’s Metrograph theater in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
We sat down with Hazan...
Splash follows artist David Hockney in the aftermath of his break up with lover and muse Peter Schlesinger, with unprecedented access to their inner circle. A year into the shoot, Hockney convinced Schlesinger to sit for a painting. Hazan saw the opportunity to introduce Peter to the narrative and three years later the film debuted to middling praise but gained a cult following. A Bigger Splash was recently restored and has debuted at New York City’s Metrograph theater in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
We sat down with Hazan...
- 6/26/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
A Bigger Splash director Jack Hazan on the 'master' Michelangelo Antonioni, David Hockney and Peter Schlesinger: "The scene in the park when David photographs Peter, it's a reference to Blow-Up." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The morning before the theatrical release at Metrograph of the 4K restoration of A Bigger Splash, director/cinematographer Jack Hazan met with me for a conversation at the Ludlow Hotel. We discussed the initial influence of Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris and where Marlon Brando is for him, Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Eclisse, L'Avventura and Blow-Up, Robert Bolt, Joe Strummer of The Clash in Rude Boy, David Hockney and synaesthesia, and a surprising shower scene that Jack Hazan calls an antidote to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
David Hockney illuminates his Patrick Procktor portrait
A Bigger Splash, co-written with editor David Mingay, captures a version of David Hockney's life in the early Seventies through the appearances of Celia Birtwell,...
The morning before the theatrical release at Metrograph of the 4K restoration of A Bigger Splash, director/cinematographer Jack Hazan met with me for a conversation at the Ludlow Hotel. We discussed the initial influence of Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris and where Marlon Brando is for him, Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Eclisse, L'Avventura and Blow-Up, Robert Bolt, Joe Strummer of The Clash in Rude Boy, David Hockney and synaesthesia, and a surprising shower scene that Jack Hazan calls an antidote to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
David Hockney illuminates his Patrick Procktor portrait
A Bigger Splash, co-written with editor David Mingay, captures a version of David Hockney's life in the early Seventies through the appearances of Celia Birtwell,...
- 6/25/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Nowadays, one can’t open a film festival line-up without seeing the words “documentary/narrative hybrid.” Though the documentary community is touchy about the nomenclature — (is it docu-ficton? docu-drama? Aren’t all documentaries narrative in some way?) — there’s no disputing that films that challenge the conventions of traditional documentary storytelling are lately in vogue. Robert Greene has built a career on provocative genre agnostic films such as “Bisbee ’17” and “Kate Plays Christine;” Errol Morris’ “Wormwood” pushed the form to new artistic heights; even Martin Scorsese recently toyed with audiences with the tongue-in-cheek Bob Dylan tribute “Rolling Thunder Revue.”
Blending fact and fiction is old hat for Jack Hazan, the filmmaker behind “A Bigger Splash,” a beguiling meditation on love and art forged from the real life of English painter David Hockney. Borrowing its title from one of Hockney’s most famous paintings, the film follows Hockney as he struggles...
Blending fact and fiction is old hat for Jack Hazan, the filmmaker behind “A Bigger Splash,” a beguiling meditation on love and art forged from the real life of English painter David Hockney. Borrowing its title from one of Hockney’s most famous paintings, the film follows Hockney as he struggles...
- 6/21/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
"There's times when I feel a bit alone as an artist. Truth is, very few artists are interested really in the ideas I am..." Metrograph Pictures has unveiled a new official trailer for the 4K restoration and re-release of the biographic 1970s documentary A Bigger Splash. Filmed over three years, originally released in 1974, the semi-fictional film is about artist David Hockney creating one of his most popular paintings. When his beautiful lover, Peter Schlesinger, decides to break up with him, it leaves David a complete emotional wreck. He suddenly finds himself unable to create anything, awash in depression & loneliness. He finds inspiration in his backyard swimming pool, and begins a portrait of it. "Hazan's film is too-little-seen masterpiece that begs revisiting for a number of reasons: it's both a time capsule of hedonistic gay life in the 1970s and an honest-yet-tender depiction of gay male romance that dispenses with the...
- 6/10/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Though many are familiar with its namesake work, David Hockney’s famous 1967 painting of a splash rising up from a placid California swimming pool, fewer know Jack Hazan’s too-little-seen 1974 documentary of the same name. An early entry into the documentary/narrative hybrid genre, the film “A Bigger Splash” honors Hockney and his mesmerizing work with a portrait of the artist worthy of his creative genius.
A new 4K restoration of this masterpiece of queer cinema will play New York City’s Metrograph later this month, offering audiences a rare chance to catch this seminal work on the big screen. IndieWire is debuting the brand new trailer exclusively below.
Shot over three years in the early 1970s, the official synopsis calls “A Bigger Splash” “an improvisatory narrative-nonfiction hybrid featuring Hockney, a wary participant, as well his circle of friends, many subjects of his portraits, including British textile designer Celia Birtwell,...
A new 4K restoration of this masterpiece of queer cinema will play New York City’s Metrograph later this month, offering audiences a rare chance to catch this seminal work on the big screen. IndieWire is debuting the brand new trailer exclusively below.
Shot over three years in the early 1970s, the official synopsis calls “A Bigger Splash” “an improvisatory narrative-nonfiction hybrid featuring Hockney, a wary participant, as well his circle of friends, many subjects of his portraits, including British textile designer Celia Birtwell,...
- 6/10/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
(Jack Hazan, 1973, BFI, 15)
Among the most strikingly original films on a modern artist (as arresting as Clouzot's Le Mystère Picasso), Jack Hazan's picture takes its title from David Hockney's most famous painting and is neither fly-on-the-wall cinema vérité nor formal documentary. It's a film shot over three years in the early 1970s by a film-maker (credited as co-writer, director and director of photography) fascinated by Hockney's portraits, made with the artist's partial and reluctant participation, and without any specific scenario or agenda. From the semi-improvised, unscripted material, Hazan carved a story tracing the disintegration of the affair between Hockney and his lover and model, the Californian Peter Schlesinger. Incorporated into this episode narrative are members of the flamboyant, charismatic, hard-working artist's circle, most notably Henry Geldzahler, Patrick Proctor, Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark, the subjects of several key portraits.
Hockney was initially horrified by the movie's intimacy, but...
Among the most strikingly original films on a modern artist (as arresting as Clouzot's Le Mystère Picasso), Jack Hazan's picture takes its title from David Hockney's most famous painting and is neither fly-on-the-wall cinema vérité nor formal documentary. It's a film shot over three years in the early 1970s by a film-maker (credited as co-writer, director and director of photography) fascinated by Hockney's portraits, made with the artist's partial and reluctant participation, and without any specific scenario or agenda. From the semi-improvised, unscripted material, Hazan carved a story tracing the disintegration of the affair between Hockney and his lover and model, the Californian Peter Schlesinger. Incorporated into this episode narrative are members of the flamboyant, charismatic, hard-working artist's circle, most notably Henry Geldzahler, Patrick Proctor, Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark, the subjects of several key portraits.
Hockney was initially horrified by the movie's intimacy, but...
- 3/5/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★☆☆ The BFI reissue of Jack Hazan's fascinating 1974 docudrama A Bigger Splash exploring David Hockney's life between 1971-3 - after he separated from partner Peter Schlesinger - could not be more timely as it coincides with the opening of his new show at the Royal Academy of Arts, entitled A Bigger Picture. A Bigger Splash was filmed over three years by Hazan, bringing together some of the most famous figures of the 1970s London art scene including Ossie Clark, Celia Birtwell and art dealer John Kasmin.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 1/31/2012
- by CineVue
- CineVue
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.