Tag: film
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…
Black-and-White Movies: Meditating on Monochrome
In the days before DVDs, when my sister and I were kids, our parents would often stage movie nights, a post-homework foray during which we’d all watch a film of their choice on VHS in their bedroom. On one such occasion – and much to our dismay – they picked North by Northwest (1959), leading…
Lot in Sodom: Reading Film Against the Grain
Many of the film reviews that circulate in the blogosphere are written by and for laymen. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that (I’m more or less a layman, after all), but every now and then I crave a deeper analysis—specifically, one that takes into account the formal elements of filmmaking. In addition, I often notice…