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Rock and Roll Auteurs
Rock and Roll Auteurs
By Glenn Kenny
Special to MSN Music
From the very outset of her career, Madonna has been committed to
demonstrating that sensational pop commercialism and artistic credibility don't
have to be mutually exclusive ideas. For that and several other reasons, it's
hardly surprising ... morethat her most recent venture is as a film director firmly
based in what critics call the auteurist mode. The much-mutated "auteur theory"
holds the director as the bringer, or non-bringer, of a very personal creative
stamp to a given film. Madonna's first feature, "Filth and Wisdom," was a cheeky
and indulgent look at the hungry years of some aspiring creative types, no doubt
heralding back to the Material Girl's lean Lower East Side origins. Her new
feature, "W.E.," which has been widely slagged on by critics on the festival
circuit, is a quasi-meta look at the love story of Wallis Simpson and the
non-King Edward, and is likely an effort in the "rich unpleasant people have
feelings, too" genre. Upon the film's release and, perhaps, the same
box-office oblivion that was "Filth and Wisdom"'s fate, we look at the
filmmaking efforts of other pop and rock icons to find out if this dabbling ever
really takes.
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