Ten Minutes Older: The Cello

The second of the Ten Minutes Older films replaces the plebian trumpet with the much more noble cello. Otherwise, the concept is similar: Nine leading directors each get 10 minutes for a short film. Mike Figgis’s About Time 2 utilizes his trademark split-screen technique, wherein the footage from four simultaneous shoots is shown simultaneously. Bertolucci gives us a typically beautiful work in Histoire D’Eaux wherein a migrant worker wanders off into happiness. Claire Denis, Jean Luc Godard and Volker Shlondorf all add name-brand work. The anthology film is a rarity these days, and to get directors of this caliber to participate is quite a coup. While not every segment hits on every cylinder, you only have to wait 10 minutes to see what’s next … and it’s usually worth the wait.