Favorite films

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Recent reviews

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  Il buco 2021

  ★★★★ Watched by Lawrence Garcia 05 May 2022

  On the one hand, this presents a linear sequence of events, a retroactive chronicle where it is possible to form clear, motivated linkages between shots, especially changes in scale and perspective. On the other hand, the compositional rigour and up-front pictorial values gives each frame a kind of absolute quality, a feeling that the image exists, appropriately, outside a linear progression of historical time. In some cases, this has to do with shot choice and duration: A cut into a…

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  We're All Going to the World's Fair 2021

  ★★★½ Rewatched by Lawrence Garcia 07 Mar 2022

  For MUBI, an essay on Jane Schoenbrun's debut feature, in which I try to get at what makes this so distinctive. Belatedly realizing though that I could have—should have?—titled this piece "Both Sides Now."

  Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair opens with a teenage girl (Anna Cobb) sitting at her bedroom desk, snacking absentmindedly on a packet of string cheese. Eventually she sits up, looks straight into the camera, and says, “Hey guys, Casey here. Today I’m…

Popular reviews

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  Primer 2004

  ★★★★½ Rewatched by Lawrence Garcia 11 Sep 2014 3

  Man, do you wanna watch Primer? I haven't seen it since later this afternoon.

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  Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019

  ★★½ Added by Lawrence Garcia 14

  For a film that’s predicated on gradual seduction and about looking/painting as a conduit for or expression of love, this opts for some rather unproductive presentations of time. The sense of daily ritual is poorly evoked: scenes are given just enough narrative information so we get a sense of the plot, but there’s no feel for duration, or a sense of deepening interplay between the characters beyond what is required to signal such developments. The fireside scene should be a…