Category Archives: Film

The zoom: when and why? Part One

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♪ music for your reading pleasure ♪

In our workshop this week, we were set to the task of creating our own short interview, in preparation of our workings on PB3, and one tip struck me as being particularly flawed: “Do not use zooms. Zooms are unprofessional.”

Personally, I love zooms. I will defend them until the day I die. Zoom aficionados such as Robert Altman and Brian De Palma serve as reminders that the zoom can be used for cinematic grandeur, and not simply a conveyance of unprofessionalism.

This is the best video I could find which encapsulates Altman’s love for the zoom, though do yourself a favour and watch any of his films (a handful are playing at the Cinematheque in Fed Square over the next 3 weeks, you’d be a fool to miss them).

A lot (and when I say a lot, I mean a lot) of Altman’s shots rely on his boundless use of zooms, his reputation as a filmmaker more or less defined by this unlimited, free-flowing nature of filmmaking. Altman is recognised as a ‘maverick’ in making stylised films that are also highly naturalistic; he even produced a multitrack recording technique which presented overlapping dialogue from his multiple actors, wholly emphasising this balance between style and realism. Altman films are a sensory delight; they constantly remind you that they’re films (using zooms to draw attention to the camera’s presence) while encapsulating a devoutly human side (dense and improvisational dialogue) to the production and narrative that some filmmakers tend to reject.

In his prolific use of the zoom lens, Altman achieved a looming presence following the intricacies of his (quintessentially ensemble) cast, a scene from 3 Women (1977) comes to mind as a defining shot; Shelley Duvall’s character walks though her apartment courtyard, past a congregation of other residents (again, each with their own audio track), and the camera follows her on this journey, up and until she reaches her apartment door. (Haven’t seen 3 Women for almost a year, this could be completely misguided). Additionally, he often opted to have the camera always moving, a pursuing character in itself that desires to become part of the ensemble.

British film critic David Thomson wrote about Nashville (1975) noting how “it remains enigmatic how organized or purposeful [it] is. . . . The mosaic, or mix, permits a freedom and a human idiosyncrasy that Renoir might have admired.” and that MASH (1970), an earlier Altman film, “began to develop the crucial Altman style of overlapping, blurred sound and images so slippery with zoom that there was no sense of composition”, these techniques becoming so refined by the mid-70s that they defined what made Nashville “so absorbing.”

Although irrelevant, the life of Altman seemed to be a particularly explosive one, rife with studio complications and those on the business side of the industry (supposedly once “punching an executive in the nose and knocking him into a swimming pool because he insisted he cut six minutes from a film he was working on”). One Stanley Kubrick once complimented Altman’s camerawork, following with, “How did you do it?” – A true father figure in the cinematic world.

Movies I watched this week – 08/04/16

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Week #5. I need a break.

 

Zodiac (2007) dir. David Fincher
02/04/16
rewatch

Written for Letterboxd:

“I just want to help.”

An absolutely celestially exhausting experience. One that poises knowledge as the highest form of power, the need for closure as the driving force and the mystery as the formal bind that ties its inquisitors together only to tear them apart when they stretch too far. Knowing when to call it is the curious man’s only saviour. Gyllenhaal appears to surface as the only figure safe from the catastrophe until full-frontal obsession kicks in gear and the fringes of a homeliness woven by his initial fascination begin to tear at the seams; boxes upon boxes of files inhabit rooms in the place of those close (Sevigny’s “It was just the date that never ended” breaks my sore heart). Manages to appear ethereal all the while conscious that it is drenched in both exposition and information, Fincher juggling multiple characters and time periods without missing a single booming beat. Pre-Avenger Ruffalo and Downey Jr. corroborate on exactly why MCU needs to fade away or at least loosen its restraints and give the superhero stockpile some eminence away from the superhero stockpile. Eternally wishing Fincher and Reznor (and Ross, if he wants) starting collaborating a couple of works earlier, the grimy and industrial reverberations sorely missing from the hazy streets of San Fran. A man can dream. ★★★★★

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) dir. Stanley Kubrick
03/04/16
rewatch

It’s becoming an annual event to experience all of Kubrick’s glory in 70mm at the Astor in April. Still as dazzling as the first time. ★★★★★

Retaliation (1968) dir. Yasuharu Hasebe
04/04/16

What a treasure trove the Swanston library is!! I have never been more impressed by a library’s collection of films (the amount of OOP copies they have is mind-boggling). Retaliation itself is an admirable feat from Hasebe (who would later on go on to create the Stray Cat Rock pentalogy, which I hear are something special), his frames here are always crowded, replicating the characters reservations and hesitations in their mob-related scheming. Nothing particularly special, but any Japanese movie with a sword fight is worth viewing at least once. ★★★

Zodiac (2007) dir. David Fincher
05/04/16
rewatch

Twice in a week for my Intro to Cinema course, but regardless of its length and jam-packed expository content I feel as if I could watch this at least twice a week, every week, for the rest of my life. Fincher is a magician, this has no right being as enjoyable as it is. Clean, gritty cinema. ★★★★★

Crushed (2015) dir. Megan Riakos
05/04/16

Received an email from someone high up in the Media program with an invitation to a free screening at Nova, and who wouldn’t take up the opportunity? For an Australian independent film, it looked and sounded incredibly crisp, Riakos certainly nailing the mood of country Australia without pushing it to parody (although, this featured an incredibly hilarious (intentionally, I assume/hope) bogan guy who generated a fit of laughter with every sentence spoken). Becomes a hilariously messy film by its conclusion, but enjoyable to say the least. I just wish the lead could’ve been replaced with someone with a little more oomph. ★★★

Querelle (1982) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder 
06/04/16

Undoubtedly the gayest film I have ever seen, and will probably ever see. Every character appears drenched in sweat, tightly-clad leather wrapped in binds around their tanned flesh, speaking not-so-poetically in spiels of derogatory descriptions of private parts and private acts that the whole idea of sex becomes so public, an inescapable reality. These men attempt to conceal their pent up homosexuality, in straight up denial to any titles that could possibly emasculate them, yet when given the chance strip down and give in to the pressures. Querelle‘s entire look is so explicitly artificial, shot (in opposition to Fassbinder’s usual on-set shooting preference) in a studio, a pulsating, expressionistic warm pink-red light drenching every inch of the location. Phallic architecture stands so obviously in the streets of Brest, much to the discretion of the sailors who inhabit these streets and loom between ruins and beneath the surface in sewer-esque corridors, trying to mask their true feelings. Scenes in which fights break out tend to appear reminiscent of dance, choreographed so that the actors twirl in circular motions around each other rather than take swings. A truly theatrical and uncanny achievement (and in glorious 35mm!!). ★★★

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
06/04/16

Written for my cinema studies blog post:

R.W. Fassbinder’s haunting The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant exposes the beauty of mise-en-scene, its importance potent in every frame; the entirety of the film’s 2 hour duration is spent closed in the bedroom of one Petra von Kant, no action taking place any further than a few metres from her bed (setting existing as its own character, etc.). As the tale progresses, Petra’s reliance on make-up to cover the insecurities and shortcomings of her highly stylized and material life is attended to heavily, with the change of a wig and switch of an outfit defining each five parts of the narrative. Here, Fassbinder exerts complete control over his actresses (all female cast!), Petra herself receding from a drunken buffoon into an unaccustomed reserved nature by the film’s conclusion. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant also exists as a perfect how to guide of the technique of blocking; the emotional frailty of characters’ woefully defined by their steps, their overlapping bodies as they slump side by side on the edge of a bed. ★★★★

Army of Shadows (1969) dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
07/04/16

Written for Letterboxd:

So outrageously frustrated in my disappointment with this. Call this rating an extension of my immense tiredness as a uni student and cinematic fatigue emerging from the never-ending cinema-going experience that has defined my life these past months, or just a cop-out, a rendering of my poor cinematic judgement, but know I wanted to love this. Melancholic tinges of blue that Melville so perfectly executed later in Le Cercle Rouge fade into a grim greyness, achieving a distinctly more miserable visual tone (accompanied by seriously dismal murders, particularly the strangulation of young Dounat where what are presumably his shrieks of sorrow happen to be coming from a member of the Resistance) to the detriment of the overall form. Nothing Melville puts to screen here ever left me bored, but rarely anything particularly involved me either (some isolated occurrences; namely moments when a hard not to love quasi-spy theme rings off, and scenes in which Melville, as he so illustriously does, leaves the silences to do the talking) and left me craving more of the close-knit crime clan of Rouge as opposed to the distanced leading ensemble that is played out here. I failed (miserably) to find any strand of emotion worth investing in this band of Resistance misfits, and in turn, (the masterpiece that supposedly is, and one day I hope to find as) Army of Shadows failed to slip through the hazy boundaries of imprisonment and into my heart. And yes I know, I’m a POS. ★★★

Taking the weekend off. I hope.

MEEZ-AHN-SEHN

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In the cinematic world, a setting, an outfit or the colour of a light can exist itself as a character within a film. The city of San Francisco bleeds through every visceral frame of David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007) just as the three respective European locations in which the films of Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy (1995-2013) [Vienna, Paris, Peloponnese] breathe life into the conversations and happenings between its two leads, giving birth to crucial context in which the film’s events unfold. Through these location choices (with a little help from Linklater’s inspired direction), dialogue is given room to flow within each location, representing a different chapter of the character’s lives, with each portion a unique (yet undoubtedly European) look and mood, natural and authentic. On the opposite end of the spectrum we are given an auteur like Wes Anderson, who is famously (or infamously, depending on your taste and tolerance for aesthetics) known for his artificial and manufactured settings, often opting for custom purpose-built sets, stop-motion animation and miniatures (many exteriors in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) are minis).

R.W. Fassbinder’s haunting The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) exposes the beauty of mise-en-scene in every frame; the entirety of the film’s 2 hour duration is spent closed in the bedroom of one Petra von Kant, no action taking place any further than a few metres from her bed (again, setting existing as its own character). As the tale progresses, Petra’s reliance on make-up to cover the insecurities and shortcomings of her highly stylized and material life is attended to heavily, with the change of a wig and switch of an outfit defining each five parts of the narrative. Here, Fassbinder exerts complete control over his actresses (all female cast!), Petra herself receding from a drunken buffoon into an unaccustomed reserved nature by the film’s conclusion. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant also exists as a perfect how to guide of the technique of blocking; the emotional frailty of characters’ woefully defined by their steps, their overlapping bodies as they slump side by side on the edge of a bed.

Movies I watched this week – 01/04/16

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Week #4. My eyes are less bloodshot now. The majority of films I’ve seen this year have been older films screened in the cinemas. I love it.

 

Burn After Reading (2008) dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
27/03/16
rewatch

A masterpiece for reasons I can’t explain. Every single performance here shows its respective actor at their absolute best. ★★★★★

Super (2010) dir. James Gunn
28/03/16

Gunn’s take on the average man willfully turned superhero is a tonal mess, but this doesn’t detract from the sheer guts it has in its gory and nihilistic presentation of violence in contrast to Frank’s (Rainn Wilson) unhinging devotion to God. Ellen Page goes against all morals to play this part. Seriously, shut up crime. ★★★

Tropic Thunder (2008) dir. Ben Stiller 
28/03/16
rewatch

I only managed to catch about 3/4 of this but it still remains a fairly volatile experience, treating its familial narrative with a quietly restrained emotional core and extending satire that hits further with every passing minute. A pleasure to see Downey Jr. channeling some long lost psycho-Australian vibes (I’m looking at you, Natural Born Killers) and Tom Cruise’s physical appearance deserves no other word than ‘gross’.  ★★★★

Greed (1924) dir. Erich von Stroheim 
30/03/16

My first silent film, experienced in the glory that is 35mm. For a film of its time, it certainly boasts some outrageous violence (husband murdering wife, men dying of dehydration in Death Valley). Greed forces its titular term on the viewer with no restraint, the destruction of all human connection comes at the cost of a shimmering coin. It’s hard to pick a single character that doesn’t express this desire, Stroheim’s world created solely on the belief that man is a glutenous monster, finding the possession of wealth a greater satisfaction than any humanly touch. ★★★½

Queen Kelly (1929) dir. Erich von Stroheim
30/03/16

My second silent film (thanks Cinematheque), also experienced in glorious 35mm. The fact that this was never completed is one of the most depressing things in the world. Glimmers of Stroheim’s genius are caught floating in every frame, every scene, every second–MGM studio execs were blind not to see it. Resorting at some points to a radical transitioning between still photography and title card, frantically trying to piece itself together, Queen Kelly in its now state remains one of the great films that never was. ★★★½

Le Cercle Rouge (1970) dir. Jean-Pierre Melville 
31/03/16

Glorious 35mm!! (dear Astor, please fix your projectors, I do not appreciate the clipping). Truly an inspiring gateway into French crime cinema, one tinged with a melancholic blue in each frame. Melville is more interested in letting silences speak for themselves (that heist scene! an unspoken tension like you wouldn’t believe). “All men are guilty“, Melville knows this, and by the time the leading trio find themselves in the titular red circle we know this cycle never ends. ★★★★½

Form (or the use of expectations and its ability to engender meaning)

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Debuting in the heart of the 90s, Todd Haynes’ Safe (1995) stunned critics and audiences alike, findings its eventual place in film history after being voted the best film of the 1990s in the 1999 Village Voice film poll. On the outside, Safe may appear simply a drama, elevated by Julianne Moore’s phenomenal (and breakthrough) performance, but within, thanks to the meticulously expressive hand of Todd Haynes, the film operates on multiple levels. Stretching its metaphorical meanings from a methodical allegory for the AIDS crisis in the 80s to acting as the cinematic definition of the feeling of anxiety, Safe is bursting at the seams with symptomatic meaning.

Through the gracefulness of Hayne’s creative talent the film is able to convey these themes and ideas without appearing as preachy or overbearing. Haynes reserves an exuberance of explicit meaning and opts for simplicity and subtlety to drive the core message to viewers. With this he achieves (at least by my definition) narrative perfection; the ability to craft a gripping and investing story while lacing it with poignant social commentary which bleeds from every frame.

It’s easy to tell Haynes put his heart and soul into this feature, composing each and every shot for maximum emotional reach, aesthetic beauty and symbolic prowess; he frames Moore (as Carol before Carol) in ways that act as an extension of her isolation within her materialistic lifestyle, working in complete control of every facet of the frame. Moore is shown endlessly trapped within the confines of her designer San Fernando villa, shot hovering on the peripheries (even in her own garden, Haynes positions her lost amongst her own jungle, a slow zoom out wholly encapsulating these emotions). Sound design here also plays an enormous part in capturing the ambiguities of Carol’s disease, the perpetual whir of electricity detailing her deterioration and superimposing the sound of silence during the film’s brooding first act. Thematically, Safe (to me at least) defines the feeling of anxiety; the hopelessness of an explanation and an understanding from others which is epitomised by Carol’s final relocation to Wrenwood, and to a greater extent, the enigmatic Lester (pictured on the poster).

Safe remains inexplicably ambiguous. Audiences formal expectations are toyed with even from the film’s theatrical release poster. Contrasting the insanely polished look and feel of the film with a gritty, and in many ways trashy (colour balance is off, text is scattered and raw), poster, Haynes and co. attempt to mask the film’s prejudices. If you saw that poster and said you expected a first-class drama run solely by Julianne Moore which pokes hints as self-help culture and speaks volume and the materialistic state of Western society, you’d be lying.

Movies I watched this week – 25/03/16

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Week #3. My eyes are bloodshot.

 

Hail, Caesar! (2016) dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
17/03/16

Cinema as gospel. My friends who didn’t enjoy this told me that their cinemas consisted of a scatter of 5 or so people, none of whom were familiar with the Coen’s sense of humour-suckers. For me, the cinema was packed, Caesar having found its way into the largest of Nova’s cinemas (at least that I’ve seen) and into the hearts of the masses. Not a joke went astray. Josh Brolin is a star and Alden Ehrenreich is a superstar. ★★★★½

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) dir. Wes Anderson
22/03/16

Odd how the Intro to Cinema course screened the least Wes Anderson-y movie (I am yet to see The Darjeeling Limited so I can’t say this in full confidence) for its obligatory Wes Anderson screening (ok, the screening was actually for mise-en-scene but it wouldn’t be an introductory film course without an Anderson). Handheld here plays a big part in breaking his typical visual style but it isn’t all for the worse, creating a certain freedom of expression which is vacant from his other works. Also contains one of the craziest scenes Anderson has put to screen (this one) which is a riot in itself. ★★★★

Night Nurse (1931) dir. William A. Wellman
23/03/16

Pre-code era worked wonders on Night Nurse. Barbara Stanwyck undressed multiple times on camera, sleeps with both a skeleton and a woman, is almost raped only to be knock unconscious by a drunkard, and attempts to stop a couple from systematically starving their children only to laugh the film to its conclusion after discovering the death of a man. ★★★★

Meet John Doe (1941) dir. Frank Capra
23/03/16

The finale of the six-part Barbara Stanwyck showcase at the Cinematheque. Also happens to be the worst of the bunch; I was sadly left feeling every minute of its 2 hour runtime. Stanwyck is great as per usual but is kept in the background for the most of the picture, leaving an (admittedly fantastic) Gary Cooper front and centre. Alludes to communism in ways odd in a 1940s American picture also. ★★★★

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) dir. Zack Snyder
23/03/16

Don’t even get me started. This is no way deserves the title that it has. Not the Batman v Superman we deserve, nor the Batman v Superman we need right now. No rating

Henry Fool (1997) dir. Hal Hartley
25/03/16

★★★★

Fay Grim (2006) dir. Hal Hartley
25/03/16

★★★★

Ned Rifle (2015) dir. Hal Hartley 
25/03/16

Written for the trilogy. Also written for Letterboxd. 

If there’s one thing I love and adore about Hal Hartley’s Henry Rifle trilogy it’s his commitment to the absurdities of his self-contained universe—these joyous implausibilities range from Simon Grim’s humble beginnings in the domestic epic Henry Foolas a garbageman to his fantasies of arousing a career as a stand-up comedian following his Nobel Prize-winning poetry venture in Ned Rifle, and to the adjacent timeline of his sister Fay concerning a wholly-tilted dreamlike espionage segment (the entirety of Fay Grim) in which she is sentenced to life imprisonment after committing treason against the United States). And this is only the beginning… Hartley has stumbled onto something fantastical here, a truly unique three-part masterwork of hilarious oddities which embrace the buoyant possibilities of transcending the mundane disposition of suburban life while equally balancing the more morbid and melancholic sides of the human psyche.

As Henry Fool once said, “Certain work needs to be experienced all at once in order for one to appreciate the full force of its character”, and this globe-trotting tragicomic saga is one of those works. ★★★½ (for Ned Rifle)

 

For real, my eyes are bloodshot.

2016 in film: the place to be

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After having the beloved Astor Theatre release its half-yearly lineup (20th March-2nd July) and finally securing my Cinémathèque yearly pass (snatched up a Nova Privilege card too) I am about to ready to bleed my eyes out watching more than my fair share of movies this year. Currently aiming to consume more films than I ever have in a year (and I logged around 400 feature films last year). Wish me luck.

My definite cinema watchlist for this year (so far):

The Astor Theatre

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey (Ultra rare film print)
  • Re-Animator (35mm) + The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (2K)
  • Heaven’s Gate (4K)
  • Leon: The Professional (2K) + Subway (2K)
  • Inception (35mm)
  • Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Ultra rare film print) + The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Ultra rare film print)
  • Lolita (35mm)
  • The Mirror (Ultra rare film print) + Ivan’s Childhood (Ultra rare film print)
  • Taxi Driver (4K)
  • Inherent Vice (70mm)

 

Melbourne Cinémathèque

  • APRIL 13 – MAY 02
    BEAUTIFUL LOSERS: ROBERT ALTMAN’S PANORAMIC CINEMA

    • McCABE & MRS. MILLER
    • 3 WOMEN
    • CALIFORNIA SPLIT
 (35mm)
    • VINCENT & THEO
    • SHORT CUTS (35mm)
    • ROBERT ALTMAN’S JAZZ ’34 (35mm)

 

  • SEPTEMBER 28
    REDUX: THE POETIC CINEMA OF ANDREI TARKOVSKY

    • ANDREI RUBLEV (35mm)

 

  • MAY 18
    BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT: THE FILMS OF MARGOT NASH

    • THE SILENCES
    • VACANT POSSESSION

 

  • OCTOBER 5
    UNSETTLING WORLDS: TWO FILMS BY LYNNE RAMSAY

    • RATCATCHER
    • MORVERN CALLAR (35mm)

 

  • NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 16
    THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY: THE CINEMA OF HOU HSIAO-HSIEN

    • A CITY OF SADNESS (35mm)
    • THE ASSASSIN
    • A TIME TO LIVE, A TIME TO DIE
 (35mm)
    • DUST IN THE WIND
 (35mm)
    • THREE TIMES
    • FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON

 

  • MAY 25 – JUNE 08
    “EVERY GREY HAIR ON MY HEAD I CALL KINSKI”: THE COLLABORATIONS OF WERNER HERZOG AND KLAUS KINSKI

    • AGUIRRE, WRATH OF GOD
 (35mm)
    • MY BEST FIEND
    • NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (35mm)
    • WOYZECK (35mm)
    • FITZCARRALDO (35mm)
    • BURDEN OF DREAMS

And there are only the screenings that I am really, really (x2) excited for. Don’t forget the others that I only have a single level of excitement for them. 50 bucks says I’ll need thicker glasses by the time the year is done. This is what I moved to Melbourne for.

Movies I watched this week – 18/03/16

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Week #2 babyyyyyyy. Quite a heavy week in retrospect.

 

There Will Be Blood (2007) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
12/03/16

The final step in my efforts to complete PTA’s filmography; not exactly a let down as such, but definitely my least favourite of his works, simply because of how painstakingly engaging they all are. Daniel Day Lewis’ career is not something I have followed in the past but by god does he prove his worth here. Truly a grueling and committed performance. TWBB‘s first half is without a doubt its highlight. Heartaches like this don’t usually come in the first ~20 minutes unless you’re watching something like Up, but from the get-go the film exists to force Daniel Plainview’s pure and undying ambition onto you. With Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood scoring, TWBB excels in all areas audio, infectious symphonic strings bathe the Southern Californian plains. Haunting, but less inspired than the remainder of PTA’s catalogue. ★★★★

Don’t Go In The Woods (1981) dir. James Brynan
13/03/16

Watched in light of the Video Nasties phenomenon/discussion in my Pop Culture in Everyday Life course. My friend and I have dedicated ourselves to completing the list (the only previous entry I have seen is The Evil Dead), so we selected 4 from the list and began the challenge. Enveloped by poor acting, dialogue, editing, pacing and just about everything else under the sun, Don’t Go In The Woods is purely laughable. Ridiculous to the point of hysterics and confusing in terms of all character motives. The Room of slasher films. You’ll never guess where they went. ★

The Burning (1981) dir. Tony Maylam
13/03/16

Part 2 of Ye ol Video Nasties. Pretty much a better Friday the 13th than Friday the 13th. Joyous to see Jason Alexander in his first acting role. ★★★

Anthropophagus (1980) dir. Joe D’Amato
13/03/16

Part 3: if you don’t enjoy gore, chances are you won’t enjoy the climax of Anthropophagus. There’s morbid, and then there’s Joe D’Amato. ★★

The House by the Cemetery (1981) dir. Lucio Fulchi
13/03/16

Part 4, possibly the only one with any decent artistic merit (The Burning maybe), but here, Fulchi embraces the horror genre. He is the zoom master. Stunningly shot. ★★★½

The Graduate (1967) dir. Mike Nicols
14/03/16
rewatch

What is there to be said about The Graduate that hasn’t already been said? A friend likened this to the works of Antonioni and I couldn’t agree more; inward emotion expressed outwards through the environment. ♪ In restless dreams I walked alone ♪  ★★★★★

Ballet Mécanique (1924) dir. Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy
15/03/16

A experiment on the coexistence of man and machine, the organic versus the mechanic not in rivalry but in contrast. Here, we begin to see the human body as a machine in itself, each limb working as a cog in an instrument. The scoring shares similarities to Death Grips.

The Dante Quartet (1987) dir. Stan Brakhage
15/03/16

La Jetée (1962) dir. Chris Marker
15/03/16

The Illustrated Auschwitz (1992) dir. Jackie Farkas
15/03/16

We Have Decided Not to Die (2004) dir. Daniel Askill
15/03/16

Un Chien Andalou (1929) dir. Luis Buñuel
15/03/16

Double Indemnity (1944) dir. Billy Wilder
16/03/16

Is it just me or do all close-ups of Barbara Stanwyck seem to glow? ★★★★½

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) dir. Lewis Milestone
16/03/16

Viewed in glorious 35mm. An utterly absurd tale from beginning to end. A young Kirk Douglas shines. Anyone have any statistics surrounding the number of lung cancer patients in the US in the 1940s? ★★★★

Mulholland Drive (2001) dir. David Lynch
17/03/16
rewatch

Viewed in glorious 35mm. The ending has never scared me this much until now. Goosebumps. ★★★★½