So this idea and the phrase ‘pure cinema’ has been throw around during pretty much every cinema or film course I’ve done although no one has ever defined it for me. I have the feeling that the term is somewhat eludes a universal definition, it seems to be dependant to an extent on your particular ideologies and philosophical values in relation to cinema (I’m sure Bazin and Eisenstien would have different ideas of pure cinema). Before I start thinking through this Idea I should make it clear that I have not really researched this topic specifically although I think it could have been a very interesting area to investigate as a final project. Alright so now I’ve put that little disclaimer up, I’ll attempt to define what the term ‘pure cinema’ means to me, who knows It might be interesting to come back sometime in the near future and see if my definition has changed. In recent memory I’ve heard the term arise from multiple sources in reference to multiple films, most recently as the title of an article part of my research on Jean Luc Godard’s Contempt, in relation to Daivd Lynch’s Inland Empire, my tutor mentioned that some action director filmmaker said that for they though action was a form of pure cinema and I could be wrong on this last one but I seem to remember Robin calling an elliptical sequence from a French new wave pure cinema. So what connects the dots? Seemingly just the medium itself, pure cinema does not seem to be defined by a particular, genre, aesthetic, content, narrative etc. Furthermore I don’t think it can be willing created or even planned, you might be able to set up the pieces but to execute them correctly would be reliant on a combination of various factors actors, mis-en-scene etc. What I’m trying to get at is I think that pure cinema is not a formulaic creation and that like other forms of creative expressions, music for example, its purity cannot be defined or foreseen, it must be experienced. Some filmmakers, like music artists are able to produce this ‘purity’ more consistently than others and so they become autuers and their practise receives celebration. It is important to remember cinema is an industry, and so there are certain formulas which become popular such as the current bulge in big budget super hero movies or in terms of the music industry the old 1-4-5 chord progression. Although I think its widely recognised that this financial success does not have any kind of direct equation or translation to amount of ‘pure cinema’ that is produced by such films. So in ending this loose, unfounded ramblings my loose definiton of Pure cinema would be – a moment in which the formal properties align and harmonize perfectly with the films thematic qualities.

discus throw