美国国家公共电台 NPR Documentary Giant Albert Maysles' Last Film, 'In Transit,' Is Still In Limbo

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The last film by documentary giant Albert Maysles is getting a rare screening this week in New York. It's called "In Transit¹." It was finished more than two years ago just before the award-winning director of "Grey Gardens" and "Gimme Shelter" died at age 88. But Maysles' last movie has been difficult to see because of questions about who owns the rights. NPR's Joel Rose explains.

JOEL ROSE, BYLINE²: "In Transit" takes place entirely³ on the Empire Builder, a three-day train route between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest. Some riders are heading toward new opportunities. Others are trying to get away.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "IN TRANSIT")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Nobody at work knew I was fixing to just pack up all my stuff and leave.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Laughter).

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I'm serious. I just grabbed all my stuff, got my check, went, and got the ticket and got on the train.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: They actually thought I was going to be at work last night.

ROSE: Filmmaker Albert Maysles had been thinking about this movie since the 1960s.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALBERT MAYSLES: My dream film is my train film.

ROSE: That's Maysles speaking at the Commonwealth⁴ Club in San Francisco in 2009 when he was 82 years old.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

A. MAYSLES: As any of you would know who have traveled on a train, even on a bus and sometimes on a plane, meeting strangers - and strangers become friends. That is my goal always in what I do.

ROSE: Albert and his brother, David Maysles, were pioneers of what they called direct cinema - stories without narrators that turned ordinary people into larger-than-life figures, like door-to-door Bible salesmen in the documentary "Salesman" and two eccentric socialites living in a crumbling⁵ mansion⁶ in "Grey Gardens." Both of those films have become classics, and Albert Maysles' daughter Rebecca says he had big plans for "In Transit" as well.

REBEKAH MAYSLES: He had always thought that it would be wonderful to make a film about people who are on these trains, meet them and then follow them off the train. It was a place where you could have access to all different people with all different stories.

ROSE: But raising money for such an ambitious project proved challenging. Then four years ago, the cable TV channel Al-Jazeera America put up $600,000 for Maysles and his team to produce an hour-long TV special. The filmmaker and his crew settled on the Empire Builder, and his producer Erika Dilday says they shot more than 400 hours of material.

ERIKA DILDAY: And between this line that goes across these Indian reservations and the oil fields and, you know, this barren winter country and that beauty that he wanted to catch of people in just this moment in time who lay themselves out there for you - I think it's magic.

ROSE: On the train, an unexpected friendship forms between a very pregnant young woman who's heading home to Minneapolis and an older Marine⁷ Corps⁸ veteran.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "IN TRANSIT")

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: I just don't see how people can live out here. Like, what is there to do, count cows and sheep?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Well, like we just saw, there's the lumber⁹ store, the coffee shop and the topless bar. You would definitely have employment in 1 of the 3. I don't know which one.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Laughter) You got jokes.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: I'm only kidding. I'm only kidding.

ROSE: Filmmaker Albert Maysles didn't interrupt these conversations with a lot of questions, says "In Transit's" editor, Lynn True.

LYNN TRUE: For him, it was about observing and listening and allowing things to unfold as they will. You know, he was probably the least nervous of all of us that we would get a film out of this, whereas the rest of us were a bit more nervous.

ROSE: In the end, Albert Maysles and his crew collected enough material to make a longer feature-length documentary. Maysles approved the final cut just a few days before he died in spring of 2015. Producer Erika Dilday says she was working with Al-Jazeera America to release the film in theaters.

DILDAY: They were starting to put together a big PR campaign, and that's when everything folded. And it was just disappointing that it couldn't happen the way we'd wanted it to.

ROSE: Al-Jazeera America abruptly¹⁰ shut down in early 2016 "In Transit" played some film festivals, but it was never broadcast on TV and never got a wider release. Dilday says she approached the network about buying the rights to the film through the Maysles Documentary Center, which she runs. But Dilday says Al-Jazeera has never responded.

DILDAY: I think the film should be here. This film belongs with the Maysles family and the Maysles Center. Whether or not it gets here, I don't know.

ROSE: Al-Jazeera did not respond to requests for comment. The final cut of "In Transit" remains¹¹ at the Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem, which hopes to screen it again after this week, but nothing is scheduled. Joel Rose, NPR News, New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALLEN TOUSSAINT'S "WININ' BOY BLUES")

1 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

5 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

6 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

7 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

8 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

9 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

10 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。