Blip.056: The Incredible Vision of Luc Besson

You definitely know it when you see it.

I recently came across a terrific behind-the-scenes documentary about The Fifth Element, which is one of my favorite sci-fi movies. Like many of Luc Besson’s movies, it’s sometimes goofy and often over the top, but it’s also massively entertaining and I love it. The brilliant look of the film was realized by Jean-Claude Mézières and Jean Giraud (known as Moebius), who I was familiar with from his comics in Heavy Metal magazine. Moebius also collaborated with the great Alexandro Jodorowsky on a brilliant comic called The Eyes of the Cat (be sure to check the links in the video description for more great stuff).

If you’re unfamiliar with Besson’s work, here are a few links:

La Femme Nikita with Anne Parillaud and Tchéky Karyo (you might remember him from Bad Boys), was the first Luc Besson movie I saw. It’s a terrific action movie, which sadly was remade as Point of No Return with Bridget Fonda. It was okay, but nowhere near as good as Besson’s version.

Subway with Christopher Lambert. I was (and still am) a huge fan of Highlander (directed by Russell Mulcahy, who cut his teeth directing some of my favorite music videos, including Hungry Like the Wolf, The Wild Boys, and The Voice), so when a friend told me about another movie with Connor MacLeod, I had to check it out. Subway is quirky and maybe even cheesy in some parts, but you can’t deny that the director had a unique vision.

Leon: The Professional is probably my favorite Luc Besson movie. It stars a badass Jean Reno (who was also in Subway), Danny Aiello (Moonstruck), and Gary Oldman in one of my all-time favorite performances by him, which is saying something.

Additional links:
An evening with “Moebius” — A CTN exclusive special event (2010)
Heavy Metal Movie Trailer
OMNI Magazine Archive

---

One more thing:

Yesterday, I posted a special bonus edition of Iterations that contained a link to download a free PDF version of the Insights section of my book, Photography by the Letter. It’s a collection of Q&As with 10 fantastic photographers, including Koci Hernandez, David duChemin, Rachael Talibart, and Brooke Shaden. I’ve heard reports that the post went straight to the spam folder, so you may not have seen it. I’m not sure why that may have happened, but please do let me know if that was the case for you so that I can try to get it sorted ahead of future posts.

---