Examining modernity and the individual psyche by exploring cinema in the essayistic form
The White Ribbon is, as it is proclaimed at the beginning of the film: “A German’s Children Story”. It is narrated by the School Teacher who is now in his late years, and has presumably survived two World Wars. He says “I don’t know if the story I am about to tell you is entirely … Continue reading Everlasting Iniquities of the Fathers: Haneke’s “The White Ribbon”
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 tale in an extraordinary way...
Editor’s Note: Since the film is in the cinemas at the moment while I am writing this article, I will not reveal any details about the film's plot, and I will certainly not write a value judgment of the film. Whether the film is enjoyable or not in the final verdict is a matter of … Continue reading The Advent of “Joker” – A Pathological Struggle for Recognition
In the final lines of the chapter “The spectacle of the scaffold”, in his book Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault writes about a great shift in the portrayal of criminals in fiction, which took place in the 19th century: “We are far removed indeed from those accounts of the life and misdeeds of the criminal … Continue reading Confessions of Britain’s Most Violent Criminal – Refn’s “Bronson”
I believe Ingmar Bergman, Vittorio De Sica, and Federico Fellini are the only three filmmakers in the world who are not just artistic opportunists. By this I mean they don’t just sit and wait for a good story to come along and then make it. They have a point of view which is expressed over … Continue reading In Stanley Kubrick’s Words: 3 Most Consistent and Original Contemporary Directors
When Nietzsche’s philosophy is taken into account, the phrase “test of will” cannot be found in the original texts of the philosopher, but it appears in the interpretations. To be more specific, in the interpretation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel No Country for Old Men, put on the silver screen by the legendary Coen Brothers. Chigurh, … Continue reading 5 Films To Be Watched As A Nietzschean Test of Will
„Crowds being only capable of thinking in images are only to be impressed by images. It is only images that terrify or attract them and become motives of action. For this reason theatrical representations[1], in which the image is shown in its most clearly visible shape, always have an enormous influence on crowds. Bread and … Continue reading In Gustave Le Bon’s Words: Cinema and Crowd Psychology
