Paul Schrader, argumentista do filme Taxi Driver, está em Portugal e dá amanhã uma conferência de imprensa no âmbito da 29ª edição do Fantasporto. O cineasta será homenageado com o Prémio Carreira ao lado de Wim Wenders e o seu mais recente filme, Adam Ressurected, encerrará o festival. [via Público]
Realizador e argumentista norte-americano (n. Grand Rapids, Michigan, 22.7.1946), parceiro de Martin Scorsese em Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) e Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Como realizador, começou por abordar preferencialmente a corrupção, a pornografia e a prostituição, em filmes de contornos fortes: Blue Collar (1978), Hardcore (1979) e American Gigolo (1980). Escritor forte, mas versátil, foi o argumentista de, por exemplo, The Yakuza (1975, de Sydney Pollack), Obsession (1976, Brian de Palma), The Mosquito Coat (1986, de Peter Weir). Em 1985, dirigiu o filme Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.
«If you see anything from the inside it makes sense»
(excerto do guião de Hardcore):
NIKI (continuing)
You have to believe in something.
What do they believe in -- the
Whatjamacillit church?
JAKE
Christian Reformed. It's a Dutch
Calvinist denomination.
NIKI
Do they believe in reincarnation? I
believe in reincarnation.
JAKE
They believe in the 'TULIP.'
NIKI
What the crap?
JAKE (smiles)
It's an anagram. It comes from the
Canons of Dort. Every letter stands
for a different belief. T-U-L-I-P.
Like -- are you sure you're interested
in this?
NIKI
Yeah, yeah, go on.
JAKE
T stands for Total depravity, that
is, all men, through original sin,
are totally evil and incapable of
good. 'All my works are like filthy
rags in the sight of the Lord.'
NIKI
Shit.
Jake is charmed. He's never been called upon to explain his
beliefs to someone so totally ignorant of them.
JAKE
Be that as it may. U is for
Unconditional Election. God has chosen
a certain number of people to be
saved, The Elect, and He has chosen
them from the beginning of time. L
is for Limited Atonement. Only a
limited number will be atoned, will
go to Heaven.
NIKI
Fuck.
JAKE
I can stop if you want.
NIKI
No, please go on.
The INTERCOM ANNOUNCES a flight: Jake listens for a moment.
It's a flight to Mexico City.
JAKE
I is for Irresistible Grace. God's
grace cannot be resisted or denied.
And P is for the Perseverance of the
Saints. Once you are in Grace you
cannot fall from the number of the
elect. And that's the 'TULIP.'
NIKI
Wait, wait. I'm trying to figure
this out. This is like Rona Barrett.
Before you become saved, God already
knows who you are?
JAKE
He has to. That's Predestination. If
God is omniscient, if He knows
everything -- and He wouldn't be God
if He didn't -- then He must have
known, even before the creation of
the world, the names of those who
would be saved.
NIKI
So it's already worked out. The fix
is in?
JAKE
More or less.
NIKI
Wow. Then why be good? Either you're
saved or you ain't.
JAKE
Out of gratitude for being chosen.
That's where Grace comes in. God
first chooses you, then allows you,
by Grace, to choose Him of your own
free will.
NIKI (amazed)
You really believe all that?
JAKE
Yeah. (shrugs)
Well, mostly.
NIKI
I thought I was fucked up.
JAKE
I'll admit it's confusing from the
outside. You've got to see it from
the inside.
NIKI
If you see anything from the inside
it makes sense. You ought to hear
perverts talk. A guy once almost had
me convinced to let his dachshund
fuck me.
JAKE
It's not quite the same thing.
NIKI
It doesn't make any sense to me.