Author Archive
An Analysis – Kieslowski, The Past and 3D
I recently watched Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colours: Blue (1993), the first film in his Three Colours trilogy. His style felt like something I’d never seen before: it struck me as daringly paced and elegantly shot with a confident manipulation of color that didn’t feel forced.
READ MOREAn Analysis – Häxan (1922)
One of my contributions to the horrible festivities for October is a discussion of Benjamin Christensen’s Häxan (1922). As we’re still relatively far from the main event on the 31st, it feels apt to look at a film that rests at the edges of the horror…
READ MORELooking, Hearing, Spying
In the latest episode of Mark Cousins’s The Story of Film: An Odyssey, a TV show airing here in the UK at the moment, it was suggested that sight—the fulfillment that comes from seeing something—is one of the key underlying themes of the Hollywood films of the…
READ MOREAn Analysis – Herzog’s Voice
I want to celebrate Werner Herzog’s voice, one of my favorite noises in cinema. I don’t speak metaphorically here: I don’t mean his cinematic “voice,” revealed through things like his shooting style, editing technique or any recurring themes. Instead, I’m more concerned with actual sound: his…
READ MOREWhat We’re Watching – 6/30/11
As I finished some exams a few weeks ago, I’ve been able to watch a lot more films recently. In fact, I’ve probably seen more pictures over the last couple of weeks than I caught over the preceding couple of months. Here, then, are a…
READ MOREA Moment in Audiard’s “A Prophet” (2009)
It began, perhaps, the moment the deer flew into the air. Upon impact, when car and flesh collide, we move from within the cabin to a view outside. Shot in slow motion, the carcass rises with a lightness, unexpected because of its weight, and we’re…
READ MORENarration in Nicholas Ray’s Noir “In A Lonely Place” (1950)
To continue the MacGuffin’s discussion of film noir, I’m looking in detail at Nicholas Ray’s In A Lonely Place (1950), a classic picture with a couple of cracking performances from Humphrey Bogart and Martha Stewart and a drunk man who recites Shakespeare.
READ MOREHow Should We Watch A Film?
I’m sure that most readers of this film blog hoped that Father Christmas would have delivered at least one DVD to them for the 25th of December. A few may have gone to the cinema on Christmas day, watching the latest release as part of…
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