My dear friends. My home was destroyed in the earthquake, in Zagreb, Croatia. I woke up yesterday at 6:23, my whole room and myself were shaking and swinging (the house was purposefully built that way in case of the earthquake), just like the guy who is in an "electric chair" (he is in the car … Continue reading Annihilation (Zagreb, Croatia; March 23d, 2020)
The concept of “obscenity” is tested when we dare to look at something that we desire to see but have forbidden ourselves to look at. When we feel that everything has been revealed, “obscenity” disappears and there is a certain liberation. When that which one had wanted to see isn’t sufficiently revealed, however, the … Continue reading In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976) “Transgressing the Taboo”
“What I am trying to do when I use symbols is to awaken in your unconscious some reaction. I am very conscious of what I am using because symbols can be very dangerous. When we use normal language we can defend ourselves because our society is a linguistic society, a semantic society. But when you … Continue reading In Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Words “The Danger of Symbolism in Imagery”
The camera is focused on a highway, its yellow stripes are passing by rapidly, and Bowie’s song I'm Deranged is playing; a highly suggestive introduction into the film. In the opening shot, we see a man smoking a cigarette, by carefully following the narrative throughout the film, we can recollect that he is in … Continue reading Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997) “This Is How I Remember It”
At the beginning of the film, we see a paintress conversing with her students, and in the background, there is a picture they brought, but they should not. The painting portrays a grayish landscape, and a woman with her dress on fire, slowly walking towards it centre, so it seems. The majority of the painting … Continue reading Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019) “Eurydice’s Gaze“
This list deals with two Asian emperors who lost their empire in the course of their lives, the Chinese Emperor Puyi and the Japanese Emperor Hirohito, and two totalitarian leades Hitler and Stalin. The first lost his totalitarian empire before he died, while the second died of natural causes and his legacy was swiftly replaced, … Continue reading 5 Films Portraying the Fall of 20th-century Empires and Dictatorships
Two types of films: those that employ the resources of the theater (actors, direction etc...) and use the camera in order to reproduce; those that employ the resources of cinematography and use the camera to create. Robert Bresson, Notes on the Cinematographer Robert Bresson, a French director who gave us many masterpieces, Au Hasard Balthazar, … Continue reading In Robert Bresson’s Words “Life as a Stage and Life as a Dream”
