The first image he told me about was of three children on a road in Iceland, in 1965.

On my imaginary shelf of favorites Sans Soleil had always sat slightly out of view, clandestinely lingering in the shadows behind the other cinematic behemoths that had crafted the loftiest statures in my mind. It sat in an indeterminable repose as I time and time again avoided re-watching it, every time hesitating, wondering if this was truly the film I once had thought it to be. Being intimidated by my own inner-circle is just the kind of business I'm in, and baby, business is a-boomin'. Now, after a multitude of revisits, looking back on my imaginary shelf there are still those that…

When it comes to movies these days I really am spoiled by so little want. I mean, it's just so easy to get hold of most things, even if one has to resort to torrent sites like karagarga or other more obscure avenues. Rewatching Sans Soleil reminded me of when I would make almost daily trips to the library in downtown San Francisco and bring home anything on DVD or VHS that looked interesting or that I'd heard about from friends on livejournal or whatever, often browsing a selection of the same old titles, yet anxious to see if perhaps anything new had been returned and not already picked out by another in the constantly ravenous swarm of movie fiends.…

Like any decently-educated cinephile, I was saddened at the passing of filmmaker Chris Marker in 2012. Having only seen La jetee by that time, I grieved based on how insanely original I found that film to be, and it further inspired me to seek out his other work to pay tribute. Well, as all of us cinephiles who vow to watch a canonical filmmaker's filmography can most likely sympathize, things in my life got in the way and that idea was derailed, replaced by other distractions or duties.

It wasn't until I purchased the discounted Criterion Blu-ray containing Marker's two greatest works that my goal was reinstated. I watched La jetee again, loving it even more, and then I moved…

Since I was incredibly young, images have always meant a lot to me. My family were never artistic, my dad was a welder and my mum worked in retail, however I came to terms very quickly with the fact that I loved movies. Of course, I didn’t yet think about what these images truly meant, I was three or four years old, yet something leapt out of the screen at me consistently. I stuck with the most mainstream of cinema throughout the majority of my childhood, but there were a few times that I unintentionally stumbled across some other films. 

I’d love to be able to relay a beautiful, romantic story of how I fell in love with cinema, something…

The Ultimate Challenge - Film #1
Added to: People-being-People List
Added to: .mpr.ss..n.sm .n F.lm

If I were to describe Chris Markers Sans Soleil I'd be at loss for words. This film is an essay, sure, but one that doesn't just display it's subject but embraces it to the fullest with a poetic integrity that's almost unheard of in the documentary field. Works that come closest to this, would be the equally challenging Qatsi-trilogy but even that comparison has some loose ends. Marker has taken footage that could as well be a simple holiday-video but excelled it by placing it into a peculiar docufiction environment with the help of a near melancholic voice-over.

As the sweet french voice reads the…

샌도르의 기억은 두 가지 방식으로 기억된다. 직접 촬영한 영상과 여인에게 보낸 편지가 그것이다. 그는 기록물의 가치를 인정한다. 필름이나 사진, 테이프에 기록된 이미지들이 기억의 대용품이자 곧 기억이며 이런 것들이 없이는 기억이 구성되거나 지속될 수도 없다고 한다. 영화의 시작, 『태양 없이』는 샌도르의 기억들로 구성된 다큐멘터리 같다. 보여지는 영상이 현실 세계의 수집된 부분이라면, 들려오는 편지는 그 선정의 변이다. 그러나 이 영화가 일반적인 다큐멘터리의 역할을 하는 데서 그치는 것은 아니다. 『태양 없이』에서 내용의 송신자는 감독인 크리스 마르케가 아니라 극중의 '샌도르'다. 그리고 그의 편지가 관객에게 도달하기 이전에 한 여인이 앞서 읽어버린다. 감독은 샌도르를 자신의 대리인으로 세우고, 관객은 이름 모를 여인의 목소리를 통해서야만 샌도르의 메시지를 받아들일 수 있다. 이 영화는 '감독 - (샌도르 - 메시지 - 여인) - 관객'의 이중 구조로 이루어진 것이다. 가상의 송신자와 가상의…