Tag: cinema
It’s True Because It Works: Historical Storytelling in Lincoln
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012) may seem at first glance a straightforward historical film, narrating how President Abraham Lincoln ensured the liberation of the slaves at the end of the American Civil War. But closer examination of the characterisation of this great president, impeccably played by Daniel Day-Lewis, reveals a script that forces us to challenge…
Hollywood and Societal Problems: Inflated, Created or Unrelated?
One day, film critic of tomorrow, you will be able to say you were there at the dawn of the #WOMTAY. But you will have to read until the final paragraph to know what that means. Ann Hornaday caused a bit of an internet stir with her column in Sunday’s Washington Post in which, among…
Edge of Tomorrow: Resorting to Repetition
Let’s retire the genre of movies that repeat scenes or plotlines over and over again with slight variations. That’s right, Edge of Tomorrow (2014). You don’t get props from me. I blame Rashomon (1950) for this. It’s never been my favourite Kurosawa film – despite its vaunted status – owing to its repetition. And I…
Unresolved Endings on Screen: The Art of the Lingering Question
In his book Cinema and Soviet Society, Russian scholar Peter Kenez notes this fascinating piece of artistic anthropology: In pre-revolutionary Russia, it was not uncommon for silent film directors to shoot two separate endings for a movie. A happy ending would be marketed specifically toward the USA and Western Europe, while at home in Russia,…
The Lunchbox: Moments that Shine
When the lights came on and the credits began to roll, my confused fellow filmgoers remained in their seats, blinking at the screen as if to ask “Wait, that’s ALL?” One by one, they shuffled from the theatre like dazed sleepwalkers, rudely jostled from their dreams of a perfect, Hollywood ending. Warning: spoilers for The…