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In Béla Tarr’s Words: Evolution in the Understanding of Art, Life and Cinema
“At the beginning of my career, I had a lot of social anger. I just wanted to tell you how fucked up the society is. This was the beginning. Afterwards, I began to understand that the problems were not only social; they are deeper. I thought they were only ontological and when I understood more…
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Reunions on Christmas Eve in Satoshi Kon’s “Tokyo Godfathers”
Satoshi Kon’s wonderful anime depicts the Christmas Eve of three homeless bums (self-proclaimed) who listen to a public sermon and watch a play celebrating the birth of Christ, so they can eat afterwards. One of them, Gin, says: “Joy to the world, food has come”. Soon, they find a baby in the trash, and the…
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Creation of the First Galactic Empire in “Star Wars”: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Before reading this essay, you can read the previous one: Creation of the First Galactic Empire in Star Wars: Episodes I & II. Auctoritas, non veritas facit legem [Authority, not truth creates the law] Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapter 24 Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker heroically rescue Chancellor Palpatine from Count Dooku’s pre-ordained “grip”; Dooku is…
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Creation of the First Galactic Empire in “Star Wars”: Episodes I & II
I will start to chronicle the events which resulted in the overthrow of the Galactic Republic by writing about Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. I will use Carl Schmitt’s writings on dictatorship, sovereignty and the state of exception, which are extremely fruitful for understanding such a multilayered fictional political persona as Chancellor…
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5 Japanese Movies Filmed in the Spirit of Junichirō Tanizaki’s Beautiful Essay “In Praise of Shadows”
In a 1951 letter to his editor, while explaining his Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien writes: “As far as all this has symbolical or allegorical significance, Light is such a primeval symbol in the nature of the Universe, that it can hardly be analysed. The Light of Valinor (derived from light before any fall) is the light…
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Silence (Martin Scorsese, 2016) “The Dark Night of the Soul”
Earlier this year, I wrote an article about this very film, “Last Breaths of Christendom in the Land of the Rising Son”, emphasizing the role of the Japanese state (Tokugawa Shogunate) and the Hobbesian reading which implies that the state proscribes the teachings and religions practiced by the populace; in this case the state religion…
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In Martin Scorsese’s Words: Cinema and Spirituality
When we talk about personal expression I’m often reminded of [Elia] Kazan’s film America America – the story of his uncle’s journey from Anitolia to America; the story of so many immigrants who came to this country from a very, very foreign land. I kind of identified with it and was very moved by it. Actually,…
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Freedom or Security? – MCU’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
Chris Evans, the actor who impersonated Captain America, said the following words regarding his character’s transition from the WWII era to the modern day: “It’s not so much about his shock with [technology]… It’s more about the societal differences. He’s gone from the ’40s to today; he comes from a world where people were a…
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5 Films Inspired By the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales (Red Riding Hood)
For the second part of the list dealing with the films based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, with a focus on the fairy tale Red Riding Hood, I chose a Japanese animated film “Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade” and a surrealist Czechoslovakian film “Valerie and Her Week of Wonders”, films which deal with this fairy…
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5 Films Inspired by the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales (Sleeping Beauty & Snow White)
Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales are now part of our collective imagination (I will not use Jung’s term “collective unconscious” since it is a bit problematic). Isabel dos Santos, the author of the article about Brothers Grimm “Reluctant Romantics”, writes: “Throughout the entire world, fairy tales have for generations played a significant part in children’s upbringing…
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Vigour of Film Lines 