In my eyes, Pedro Costa is one of the most exciting, interesting, and important directors currently working. This is due to his principles as a storyteller and filmmaker, to which he adheres resolutely, making him a unique voice in cinematic history. Because of this I'm going to start off this review by explaining my fascination with his work in basic and broad terms.
An organic approach to stories. The stories Costa works with stem from lived experience, while not being…
Had to catch this as part of the ongoing Straub-Huillet retrospective on mubi. I tend to forget the experience of seeing a film by the duo, so each time I return I am overwhelmed by their work and by how efficient it is, it's really quite unlike watching films made by anyone else. There is, of course, the specific film and what it contains within itself. But more than that, it's the continuation of the highly distinctive style, perhaps the…
The best thing about Besson’s cinema du look is how uncompromisingly impractical it is. It almost feels like the conception is, “if it is practical, it is boring”. From the very essence of the narrative to little details like preparing an entire fancy dinner table within the training facility, wine and candlesticks, only to prank Nikita before actually going to an even fancier dinner outside the facility. Bob orders champagne and no food, and tells Nikita it’s yet another prank…
Thirtieth film from the cult film challenge
Lester’s nautical thriller disembarks promptly into discomfort and imminent doom but never without a sense of casual play and bold personality. At times contributing at the expense of undermining the tension, more often it just tends to bring the characters on screen closer to the viewer in a welcome and archetypically British way. Of course neither of these are quite so pronounced as in films like The Knack or A Hard Day’s Night, but…
Finally feeling somewhat on the same page as Antonioni, and that happens in a film where communication is it's most subversive element, the one that discloses the least about what is actually going on in the film. And there is clearly a disconnect between the director/writer and his characters here. While delving into fascinating psychoanalysis, the distance remains and much like Luigi Pirandello, Antonioni lets his characters roam free without doubting the primal forces that directs the film. As though…
First off thanks to Connor and Marcus for promptly guiding me to this immediately following my review of L'avventura and never has a recommendation felt so appropriate. Of course I loved it, as Antonioni's scenes become more layered in complexity, though the lifeless black-and-white has its charm, so does his narrative. And it is important to remember this complexity going in to this film, as interpretations often tend to err on the simplistic side. Still we explore the realm of…
