I would say that cinema can’t change anything, that it can bring no answers. But cinema is here with us, it’s here with us in the way poetry is, and many other kinds of art.
—Rithy Panh
Had the chance to talk with Rithy Panh this morning about his new film Everything Will Be OK. As with The Missing Picture, this utilizes clay figurines, though Panh's aiming for something more universal and large-scale here. He constructs a dystopian world in…
Even in beautiful moments of my life I’m aware that they’re going to pass soon. It’s a sadness, and in a way I wish I didn’t have this affliction—I’m certainly not unique in having it. But in a way, it’s the way life is. You have to accept that everything is impermanent, and it’s difficult to grapple with.
I seem to have this strong need in my life to have stability but also uncertainty and chaos, which comes from my…
Struck most by the image of the flag waving around, as I wasn’t entirely sure what I was seeing at first. Once it became clear, this specific instance of perspective-shifting felt like a necessary phenomenological experience that pointed to the broader message at hand, wherein the thoughtless destruction of bodies can only be stopped by a reconsideration of what a body actually is. The depiction of Lahire’s body with dangerous elements written on them is too literal for my tastes,…
Classic Beavers in its directional swipes, evocative nondiegetic sound, seductive re/unfocusing, and simple methods of reframing images. The key to Beavers’ work is that it’s so obviously curiosity-driven, causing secondhand excitement for the playful experiments he engages in. That childlike dedication and joy is felt in the candied rainbow colors that wash over much of the film’s images. In its final sequence, Beavers moves from all his formal exercises into a meta moment of filmmaking, as we’re in his room—reels…
In the film’s emotional climax, a young influencer starts crying and confesses, “Being a beatboxer, it was so hard for me to be accepted.”
Loved this movie when I first watched it but the 4K restoration is bad. Even worse is that everyone in Chicago loves to incessantly laugh at every single Lynch film, absolutely killing the atmosphere. Literally who are you people.
