So I’ve recently posted a few slides from my Virgin Media Shorts entry that’s currently in the works. I’ve just finished the first third of the animated section so thought I’d post it. Only the first thirty seconds or so will be like this as doing it frame by frame means I won’t finish it in time. The clip here has exactly 319 individually edited slides; an extreme Gif if you will. Though most of the film won’t be like this, I’ve been too influenced by the special effects in F.W Murnau’s Faust and Jiri Trnka’s The Hand not to give it a go.
The film itself is going to be a silent short (I’m yet to do the word slides) about an alcoholic who’s time is slipping away. The animated section is all of course out of reality but the ending, which will be shot in the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, is going to hopefully change the scale completely and show the vast emptyness of the character’s life as opposed to the small room you can see from the clip. It may also end up as a little nod to Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia but overall it should be a highly original film!
The next post on it will hopefully be a link to the finished video on the actual Virgin website. Do please vote for it as I could seriously do with some equipment as it’s all been filmed with a digital photography camera and edited in an old version of Photoshop!
Thanks
Adam
Writing about a film such as Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker is not an easy task. Anyone with a pure and honest love for cinema will find Tarkovsky’s work in general to be awe inspiring, perhaps even approaching cinematic perfection.
Stalker is something so ambitious in its message and graceful with its visuals, watching another film after it can be extremely trying, yet simply waxing lyrical about it wouldn’t do it justice either. There are no mere words to describe experiencing Stalker. Even in past reviews where it has been stated that a film is one of the best, Stalker defies even those sweeping statements. When film is in such perfect circle of business, box office, money and celebrity, it’s refreshing to simply let a piece of art flow over you. Stalker is the perfect film to get lost in and the perfect reflection by which one can judge the world and find the cracks in the mirror.
The narrative finds us in a cold, totalitarian world, maybe even a police state somewhere in the cyber-punk future. It is even in this mere diversion that Tarkovsky’s brilliance shines through with him resisting the obvious urge to make the film look like a Science Fiction piece such as Blade Runner or 1984. A writer and a scientist seek out a stalker; a man who knows the secret ways of an area known only as The Zone. The Zone protects itself from outsiders and is banned from being visited by the state as, hidden within its decaying walls and fields of long grass, there exists a room where the wishes of anyone can be made a reality.
Making use of colour, sepia print and black and white film, Tarkovsky builds a world not unlike a dreamscape, exhibiting some of the most startling and gorgeous visuals ever presented. The dangers of The Zone are a particularly stunning feat, with it never being truly presented to the characters, instead showcasing a metaphorical danger hinting again at the potential of it being a mere dream. An oncoming wind approaches the writer as he takes the wrong way in The Zone. His fear tells the viewer that he’s in danger rather than a typical Indiana Jones type saw swing.
This metaphorical idealism is established most strongly in the now famous, Room of Dust scene where the writer is presented with eternity in the form of crumbling dust. The pipe he is temporarily encased in is deep, yet he’s forgiven by The Zone which is shown through the flight of an eagle. The moral and philosophical questions rise to a climax as they find the room. Is it right to have such power? Power ironically mirrored in the police state the character inhabits and also of Russia from Tarkovsky’s time. The scientist intends to blow up The Zone while the writer fights with the stalker, arguing that he’s addicted to knowing and sharing in The Zone’s power itself. Perhaps it was this strong political message that made the film such a success but there’s no doubt that the Russian government were also taking note with Tarkovsky eventually to leave the Soviet Union for good a few years later.
Stalker is available as a single release from Artificial Eye but the best way to experience Tarkovsky in general is to get their box set of all his films. The print is excellent and taking into account the other extras on the discs, it’s probably the best director based box set available on the whole DVD market.
Perhaps it’s the modern glut of cash films that makes this intelligent piece of art so refreshing but there’s simply more to it than that. Tarkovsky is a director with an agenda more in line with Nietzsche and Kant than Hitchcock and Renoir. This philosophical edge is something explored in the works of Bergman, yet here in Tarkovsky’s small number of films we have 8 meditations on life that seem as indispensable asThe Birth of Tragedy. This not only seems revolutionary and beautiful but also sadly finite and almost impossible to conceive in a multiplex age
Adam Scovell
Another still from my stop motion for Virgin Media shorts.
256 out of 970 done. Head wants to explode…
Oh and as for the gaps and edges it won’t matter as it’ll be constantly moving. :)
Adam
Here’s a still from my latest short that I’m entering into the Virgin Media Short film competition. I’m editing it frame by frame and have roughly 950 to go to make the first 30 seconds or so of the film. Here’s just one.
Will link up to the finished film when it’s uploaded onto their website (will be roughly a months time!)
Adam
One of the more subtle directors to come out of the French New Wave pool, Robert Bresson is a director more concerned with issues and ideas than the visual experimentation that obsessed Godard or Truffaut. His 1959 film, Pickpocket, also shies away from the overtly political side of Alan Resnais and instead adopts an approach of social comment, which instantly seems refreshing.
Pickpocket follows the Crime and Punishment inspired Michael, who resorts to thievery after life gets on top of him. Through obsession with slight of hand and the buzz of the steal becoming addictive, Michael becomes part of a gang who engage in mass pick pocketing in the Paris Metro system.
Bresson uses a cast of relative unknowns allowing the story breathing space to let its discourse on right and wrong flow freely without being hindered by celebrity. Martin Lasalle gives a startling debut performance as the awkward but believable Michael whose hunched shoulders and philosophical reasoning for stealing make him an unforgettable character. The rest of the cast are just as underplayed with many of them being debut performances too, at least in film.
Showing the thefts in particular almost as magic tricks lends the criminals a sense of respect from the viewer at the sheer audacity the thieves exhibit. The practice montages could easily represent a magician’s practice routine, yet it’s only the desperation of the characters that forces them to make the moral choice to use their skills in negative ways. Michael becomes addicted to stealing yet at the same time, it’s impossible to imagine the character resorting to theft without the obvious, engulfing poverty he’s surrounded by. It gives the character power over others, something he’s clearly not used to having skipped in and out of jobs where he no doubt was treated like an insect.
The narrative eventually rewards our character for his misgivings though, having been caught and sent to jail. Yet it is here where he realises that the empty nothing of his life that lead him to steal could easily be filled by the love of Jeanne, a woman present throughout the film yet ignored through an addiction almost manifesting itself as kleptomania.
The Artificial Eye release has a wealth of extras, all held on a second disc. This includes an interview with Bresson himself, interviews with the cast, an academic discussion of the film and a performance by Kassagi, the magician playing one of thieves and supervisor on the film’s slight of hand. The print is also excellent.
Overall Pickpocket is still relevant over forty years on. The parallels with the 2011 riots are startling with poverty given as the main excuse for the looting yet Pickpocket does more than simply excuse the actions. It questions the motivations behind them, breaks them down and begs the perpetrators to realise there’s more to life than illegal material gain. It’s just a shame that the factors effecting the people of 1950s Paris have barely evolved and are ever present, raw, unashamed and blind in the minds the modern rioters; all modern day, hyper reality fuelled equivalents of Michael only in tracksuits rather than shirt and tie.
Adam Scovell
America in the early 1970′s seems like a magical, foreign land these days. A country where the youth were dispossessed with the establishment, anger at Vietnam was raging, Kennedy, Malcolm X and King had all been killed mere years before and the Nixon spin machine was in full swing.
This heady mix produced a new wave of hard hitting social drama from America’s independent film companies, launching the careers of Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper to name but a few. Easy Rider had set the precedence for the road movie in 1968 but in 1971 a film outside the tight nit social pack was beating them at their own game and made a film so poignant, it represents the time of youth better than any documentary.
Two-Lane Blacktop is the story of two young men whose lives revolve around road racing a customised ’55 Chevrolet. Nothing else is present in their lives, nothing else matters, just the tarmac, the purring of the engine and avoiding real life. This chimes perfectly with the youth of the day whose disillusionment with society was at an all time high. The two men drive around the long, empty roads of America’s back yard, seeking races with other drivers and continuing on the road to no where. Even when a girl decides to take a ride with them without asking, they barely notice her presence. Their only love lies with the car, which is the only topic of conversation. James Taylor plays the distanced and precise driver who only races at the right time. His character seems like a continuation of Taylor’s real life persona yet he only becomes active at the thought of a potential race.
The car itself is brought wonderfully to life and acts as another character in the film. Though it’s shell is an old battered car, its customized engine means it’s a machine that can keep up with the best. This leads to some wonderful underestimating on the competing racer’s part and also a powerful metaphor for what the establishment really thought of America’s lost youth.
A fourth character appears in the form of Warren Oates, an older man said to be out on business but in reality is just as socially lost as the youths. The majority of the film is taken up with an across the state race between him and the Chevy, yet the journey heightens the similarities between the two and ultimately leaves them closer as a group even if in the end they’re geographically miles apart. Oates’ character has a different story for every hitchhiker he picks up. No one particularly cares until the final person wanting a lift, who’s all ears, showing a change in apathy of the nation. The film ends with Taylor in one final race. He surveys his surroundings and then the howl of engine screams out as the film literally burns into nothing. We never know the outcome of the race but the death of the American dream is present in true Hunter S. Thompson style for all to mourn.
The Universal release has no extras but a decent print of the film. If you’re lucky enough to own a Blu-Ray player then the Masters of Cinema release is chocked full of goodies but if you’re just after the film, the only choice in Region 2 is this release (Region 1 has an excellent Criterion edition).
Two-Lane Blacktop represents a time when American filmmaking was at a new time high. The establishment would gain its foothold again in the 1980′s but for now, the road was long and endless, the engine was roaring and the destination was unknown. Feel the fear. Feel the loathing.
Adam Scovell
Before the Second World War, mythology was in a healthy and respectable state of affairs. With Jewish mysticism in particular dominating the beliefs and influences of many fields, it was only a matter of time before it found its way into film. The fantasy elements and myths in particular seem a perfect mould for the cinematic medium, yet it seems to have been resisted in more serious lines of work. Psychology in particular was paranoid beyond belief with Freud in particular adamant on getting Carl Jung involved so his theories would carry more weight and not be tarnished by the potential of ironically being just another piece of mysticism.
Der Golem doesn’t take this approach though and instead embraces everything from astrology to magic in its attempt to portray the message of rebellion and its fallouts. The emperor of a community in Prague orders the expulsion of the Jews from a Ghetto in his city. Rabbi Low who predicted doom from a reading of the stars creates a Demon out of clay to fight for the Jewish community. All is settled when the Golem saves the life of the emperor and things at first seem normal. It is only when the Rabbi’s assistant uses the Golem for his own personal battles (the fight for a woman) that the Golem turns to wrong and steals the woman himself before setting the Rabbi’s house on fire.
Taking this at face value, the film has a relatively simple narrative and is extremely entertaining. However reading into some of the more audacious actions of the characters uncovers a wealth of potential readings on both Germany in the 1920′s and the dark future of the country itself. Some discourse has been raised about the potential anti-Semitism of the film, with some suggesting that showing Jewish people to believe in what is in essence magic, to be offensive. However this reading is invalidated by the fact that the film is set in the 16th century; a time when even in Britain there were Witch hunts and the worry of black magic was a genuine concern.
The creation of the Golem itself can almost be seen as the creation of a political ideology. With this being a film about the oppression of a Jewish community, it’s ironic that it ties into fascist connotations with certain future governments acting like they were the initial savoir of Germany before it brought the country to its knees through totalitarianism. When the Golem is used for selfish and unjustified actions against the innocent it turns and creates havoc for the creators suggesting that the highly personal ideology of the creator meant that the idea was always to turn to evil in the end and the prediction that it would destroy all the creator had worked for beforehand was pretty easy to second guess.
What’s different in this interpretation to what the film actually shows is how it ends its presentation of the creature. The film sympathises with it and he ends his existence of his own accord. This is where the reading falls down as it’s clear the future German government did not go down lightly. However the film covers an issue that would come to define German history and in many ways be a relationship that would shape the future of the whole world.
With the visuals, we are presented with one of the earliest examples of pure gothica, mixing German expressionism with genuinely innovative location work. With films from the 1920′s and before, when early time is represented, it feels authentic and almost real with the film being ninety years old itself. This adds a treasure like feel to the film, as if it’s just been discovered in an ancient burial. Magic realism it may not be, but there are certainly hints here of magical acceptance and the visuals are quaint while boasting a dark streak simultaneously.
The Eureka release has only one extra of note, which is an audio essay by film historian R. Dixon Smith. The release though boasts a fantastic print and much-improved subtitles, which is an aspect often hampering releases of early German film.
Der Golem is an interestingly ironic piece of art. Almost predicting the potential future happenings of the country it was made in, history itself can almost be too distracting. However this shouldn’t sour what is an innovative and intelligent piece of early fantasy film that has aged far better than its modern day counterparts can ever hope to achieve.
Adam Scovell
The arts in post war Japan took a drastic turn in terms of ideals and beliefs after the defeat at the end of World War Two. With the downfall of the nation being so utterly brutal and the clearness of what the country itself had done being plain for its citizens to see, the arts turned humanist in the extreme. Yasujiro Ozu is the product of this movement and his films paved the way for a new golden age of Japanese cinema that lasted till way into the 1960s. Balancing the line between philosopher and mystic, Ozu characterises this humanistic approach perfectly and his films can act as both entertainment and intellectual discourse at the same time.
Late Autumn is aptly named with it being one his very last films. Made in 1960, it plays to all the usual themes addressed in the Ozu canon from family relationships to the respect of others and most importantly, the effect of time on the nature of these relationships. The Japanese term mono no aware (the sadness felt with time passing) is a big theme that consistently crops up in his work and Late Autumn is possibly the best example of this outside his undisputed classic; Tokyo Story.
The drama of Late Autumn is gentle but constant with the narrative focus being on three businessmen trying to find a husband for the daughter of the widow they were obsessed with when they were young. This match making may appear to be rather twee on paper but the handling of the story means we are saved from the usual romantic comedy affair a film would obsess over today. Instead what is presented is Japanese society in a microcosm, from the patriarchal nature of the gender relationships to the customs and polite rejections that define Japanese manners and traditions for a worldwide audience.
An argument as to whether what we see is authentic is invalid as it isn’t the main agenda of the film. The film seeks us to question the motivations behind the three businessmen and turns their actions from a simple, comedic faux pas into something that is more saddening for the widow played superbly by the graceful Setsuko Hara. With both age groups running parallel in their ambitions to match-make for both the daughter and the widow, we see the mono no aware perfectly, almost pre-empting the fate of the future relations Yoko Tsukasa’s character will have. This has the effect of making the viewer side with the increasingly agitated but eternally polite Hara who we can’t help but feel sympathy for, with the businessmen’s innocent blundering gradually building a wall in the relationship between mother and daughter.
Similar to Tokyo Story again, the final act of the piece looks into the inevitable separation between parent and child. However, it seems unnatural with the daughter’s leaving completely being businessmen’s fault and the widow is left on her own having rejected the affections of one business man who is a widow himself. Though the daughter effectively lives happily ever after, the film hints at the potential guilt she’ll carry with her for abandoning her mother and this makes the ending bitter sweet in the extreme even with the widow knowing that fate was inevitable.
Visually the film has that wonderful Ozu quality of focussing on the 3D aspect of rooms. With the cameras panned low we witness the ceilings and walls instead of just the floor adding that wonderful cubist like mise-en-scène to the Japanese buildings. It also allows for the characters to move freely and there is never a shot broken by the movement of a head or limb out of the 4 sides of the screen. Another aspect that adds to the film are the colours, which for a filmmaker whose work is predominantly in black and white, adds a fresh new reality to the shots. The clothes and work places look exciting and busy, adding movement to the static elements produced.
The B.F.I release is just one of the many in their Ozu collection range so is up to their usual high standard. Apart from giving the viewer both the Blu-Ray and the DVD in the release, there is a second film accompanying Late Autumn that makes this release a must have for fanatics. With so much of early Japanese cinema being destroyed in the war, anything early that survives is going to be an exciting venture. A Mother Should Be Loved is a silent film from Ozu’s early days and even with its first and last reels missing, it stands up wonderfully while addressing similar issues in Late Autumn. The restoration on both of these releases is also an astonishing feat and Late Autumn in particular looks better than it has ever done (even better than the region 1 Criterion). A small booklet discussing the film and its restoration is also included and is the icing on the cake in what is in essence a perfect release.
Yasujiro Ozu’s work deserves far more mainstream praise than it often gets. It’s often reserved for the more highbrow film fan yet their themes and nuances should speak to people from all walks of life. The beauty and delicacy on show is awe-inspiring and Late Autumn is a film with a meditation on life that everyone should be able to take something from.
Adam Scovell
5) Ran – Akira Kurosawa
The best adaptation of King Lear ever made. Better than both the BBC’s and Laurence Olivier’s. If that doesn’t sell it then nothing will. Mixing Kurosawa’s and Shakespeare’s creative ideals is heaven and the action sequences in particular show a grace rarely seen in Western action sequences.
4) Manhunter – Michael Mann
It’s surprising how different this original Hannibal Lector film is to Silence of the Lambs but what’s more surprising is the difference in performance. Though there’ll always be a soft spot for Anthony Hopkins hammy take on the character, Brian Cox’s obsessive stalker is far more satisfying a scare. Its colours are also wonderfully eighties yet the pastels and sunsets work just as well for the story as the grim, grey world of the next film.
3) The Shining – Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick’s best film by a country mile. So much exegesis has been written about this film ranging from Cold War conspiracies and government digs, that it’s hard to think of new and fresh readings for the admittedly ambiguous narrative. However this is one of those films that is better than the analysis it’s often given and taking it as a simple piece of entertainment is how I find it best served.
2) Blade Runner – Ridley Scott
Here I’m cheating a tad and talking specifically about the final cut made a few years ago. However it’s still my favourite Science Fiction film (depending on the day) and Harrison Ford is never better. It’s messages about life and the importance of what makes it real are astonishingly philosophical and is the best adaptation of Philip K. Dick to date. Here’s hoping for a decent version of Valis to surface.
1) Videodrome – David Cronenberg
Of all the films made in the 1980s I think this one sums it up the era best. With the glut of video nasties making their way around the rental stalls, Videodrome’s attack on the consumption of violence is breathtaking. Containing more set pieces than whole back catalogues of films, it’s a monstrous piece of art that demands to be seen. Long live the new flesh!
It’s not often that I go for a first person “blog” style post these days but I feel it’s the best way to approach the films of the 1980s. Though my writing tends to be more focussed on the first sixty years of film, I still admire many films from the 1980s and beyond even if I rarely show it. So I thought I’d a personal count down of my ten favourite films from the era just prove I’m not a total classicist. Enjoy!
10) Distant Voices, Still Lives – Terence Davies.
Being from Merseyside, this film resonates well with this viewer showcasing many local ideals and traditions that seem warmly familiar. Davies takes a poetic look at the working class of Liverpool and produces not only a wonderfully autobiographical work but also a visually splendid piece of art.
9) Nostalghia – Andrei Tarkovsky
Tarkovsky’s two post Soviet Union films don’t get anywhere near enough credit as they deserve. Nostalghia is one of these having being filmed after he was kicked out, yet it still has the strong themes both visually and metaphorically that his work has come to be known for. Containing the juxtaposition between fire and water as well as religion and love it’s a staggering work and probably better than the rest of the films on this list on the right day. It also boasts the most beautiful ending of any film ever made with the slow tracking shot of the derelict cathedral in the show being awe inspiring.
8) Fanny and Alexander – Ingmar Bergman
This film is reminiscent of Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, yet adding that sense of mysticism to the narrative means we get a far more interesting and unnerving work than the aforementioned film. Bringing in clear literary influences from Tolstoy and other high art writers as well as fantasy and dream like happenings, Bergman creates a film that is both comfortable and questioning at the same time.
7) Blue Velvet – David Lynch
Lynch’s work appears to be the go to for people looking for deeper films in the 1980s yet this is the only film of his I ever really connect to bar Mulholland Drive. Its relationship with music has been subject of at least three of my essays now and its opening five minutes with the idyllic town leading to the mass of writhing insects hidden underneath is a perfect mirror image of American middle class society.
6) The Thing – John Carpenter
Deciding whether to include this or Cameron’s Aliens was tough. However Carpenter will always have the advantage as his story telling is far more intricate and unsettling. It needn’t be said that its effects are brilliant, as it seems that the film is constantly used as evidence as to why physical effects are better than CGI. The real reason why this film works though is the tension created and the fall out of the paranoia caused by the alien.
Part 2 coming soon!
