I’m thinking about the world’s current climate. Of the separation and solitude, the days and nights filled with anxieties I did not have before; simultaneously revelling in the opportunity to shut off from said world and turn my lounge room into a cinema on any given night. To spend a semester exploring the film canon, or better yet, challenging the notions of said canons, is an excellent way to pass the time. Many of the films featured on the Sight & Sound poll have directly correlated with my lists of watched and to-be watched over the years, since beginning this studio I’ve come to think of why that is. Am I genuinely enticed by these films, or do I merely wish to understand why the canonical films have remained as such, with little evolution in the herd opinion, yet boasting an elated sense of prestige (and most likely a Criterion release).

 

What does it take for a work to be deemed a canon? To have your ideas and direction be considered ‘The Greatest of All Time’ by critics, directors and cinephiles alike. 

 

I find the nature of a critic’s poll, such as that of Sight & Sound’s, to be riddled with a sense of elitism and privilege as I begin to dive deeper into the list of all lists. A list which I find to have an evident Western bias and seems to perpetually solidify the “greatness” of being a white male in the world of cinema. Perhaps this is a brash statement to make in my first reflection, however even in these early weeks of our studio I find it refreshing to feel encouraged to disagree, to question and to probe the canonical film and its meanings and merit. What is so “brave” of a critic “to flaunt their non-canonic taste,” after all? 

 

Koehlr writes of L’Avventura’s “subtle straddling of an older world and a new one still in the process of defining itself,” and Vertigo itself is a film thematically concerned with ‘portals of the past’. I found such beauty in Aldo Scavarda’s cinematography in L’Avventura, and Vertigo piqued my interest enough to revisit.  I give recognition to both Antonioni and Hitchcock and the way their films “redefined the landscape of the artform,” and wonder if I will engage with these films at a later date with the same enthusiasm as the critics who praise them. Right now, not so much.

 

We discussed Hitchcock and Vertigo’s ascension to #1, his film’s depiction of women and its clever camera techniques and editing. We spoke of the harsh conditions on set of Antonioni’s L’Avventura and the discomforting male gaze set against the backdrop of a beautiful Sicilian landscape. We were enlightened by Alice Guy-Blaché, a woman who was integral in the birth of cinema, only to learn of the disacknowledgement of her achievements by her peers and historians, even to this day. 

 

My own list reflects the films I love, the films which completely shifted and evolved my own personal taste and perception of film. In my approach to this assignment, inspired by each director listed, I wanted to personalise it and employ visual storytelling in my editing as I spoke of my favourites. I combined scenes from the films with my own narration and included audio from each film’s score. I superimposed images to mimic the visuals and carefully selected clips and scenes to make up my own visual collage.

 

It seems I myself am conflicted wherein my thoughts lie about “the canon”, yet remain enthused to dive deeper as the semester progresses. What I most look forward to however, is what the approaching poll will entail. Will it feature a more diverse reflection of greatness? Or will I eat my words and yield to the cinema of Hitchcock and Antonioni by the year 2032; perhaps even by the end of this studio? Time will tell…