See cinema differently
The devil’s in the details. Short essays on small elements in films that make a big impressions.
With it's almost Kubrickian poise, bitter Scottish landscapes and it's juddering, unearthly score provided by Mica Levi, Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin has an understandable - if unfair - reputation as a cold, cruel and detached beast. Scarlett Johansson's inscrutable, unnamed human facsimile may seem in-keeping with this assessment, not exactly warming up the screen. …
Continue reading "Minutiae: The Cake Scene in Under the Skin"
Ghost in the Shell - both in manga and anime form - draws from a wide spectrum of philosophy for its deliberations on the nature of consciousness and the borders of existence. It's characters quote Descartes, Confucius and a gamut of others as they ruminate and cogitate, between - or even during - bouts of tactical …
Continue reading "Minutiae: The Interlude in Ghost in the Shell"
Its exceedingly easy to dismiss the Friday the 13th series. From Sean S Cunningham's 1980 original through to the trash-humping 2009 Marcus Nispel remake, the slasher series is about as disposable as franchise cinema gets, even in horror circles. There's no single outright masterpiece in the set, and even the hardcore fans of the series will …
Continue reading "Minutiae: Love in Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter"
It's easy to feel crushingly demotivated as 2021 begins, especially here in the UK, where COVID cases are at an all-time high, most of us are in a kind of faulty lockdown and the actualisation of Brexit feels like the beginning of a years-long winter, Westeros-style. Happy New Year indeed. To try and reignite a …
Continue reading "Minutiae: The Beginning of Post Tenebras Lux"
This week saw the long overdue physical re-issue of David Cronenberg's seminal 1996 film Crash via an extraordinarily lavish Arrow Video release. Replete with hours of extras, it will surely be the definitive release of the film. One of the hallmarks of a true cinematic great is it's ability to reveal new things to you …
Continue reading "Minutiae: The Positive Approach to Disability in Cronenberg’s Crash"
The following contains significant plot spoilers for the movie. The link between rain and catharsis is a staple of cinematic storytelling, often representative of a release of tension, a moment of acceptance, or some other instance of resolution. From Rutger Hauer musing on memories like "tears in rain" as his Roy Batty shuts down at …
There are a handful of directors who compete, in my mind, for all-time greatest. Kelly Reichardt, David Lynch, Yasujiro Ozu, Abbas Kiarostami... Abbas Kiarostami. The late Iranian master who, between 1987 and 1994, directed three interconnected films that came to be known as The Koker Trilogy (a moniker he allowed but didn't coin). The three …
Continue reading "Minutiae: The Zig-Zag Path in The Koker Trilogy"
This week sees the UK blessed with a bluray release of Samuel Fuller' 1964 film The Naked Kiss, added to the Criterion Collection's slowly growing roster on this side of the Atlantic. It's a most welcome opportunity to rediscover one of the more outrageous and sensational films in the director's canon. While not my personal …
Continue reading "Minutiae: The Opening Scene of The Naked Kiss"
As a new generation of filmmakers - particularly horror filmmakers - emerges in the states, John Carpenter's influence continues to grow more and more significant. Not only are modern directors eager to try to reproduce the suspense and terse unease of Carpenter's signature pictures, but they are also heavily influenced by the threadbare synth scores …
It's pretty much a note of permanent record on this little site of mine that, in spite of the blog's ill-thought-out name, my favourite David Lynch film (and favourite film of all time) is Mulholland Drive. It's the film that got me obsessing over film. It changed my perspective. Obsession is accurate, as every little …
Continue reading "Minutiae: The Use of Coca-Cola in Mulholland Drive"
Josh and Benny Safdie's Heaven Knows What didn't make much noise when it landed in the UK. Indeed, none of the duo's films quite managed to break into public consciousness until Robert Pattinson starred for them in 2017's Good Time, and even then the fanfare generally remained squarely within the cinephile community waiting to embrace it. That's …
Continue reading "Minutiae: The Kubrickian Cut in Heaven Knows What"
This week Ennio Morricone was reported to have taken potshots at Quentin Tarantino in an interview with claims that he called the director a 'cretin' whose movies are 'trash'; something Morricone has since vehemently denied. Whether he did or not, it seemed like a viable time to take a look back at my favourite moment …
Today I saw Ridley Scott's Alien on the big screen for the first time. I've seen it countless times before, but this was the first as it's supposed to be seen, making the screening a small personal landmark for me. It's one of my all time favourite films. That it was the theatrical cut pleased me …
The Lost Highway Hotel 