Only the Cinema

The Conversations #30: 3D

2012-01-27T13:15:00.000-05:00

The latest conversation between me and Jason Bellamy is now live at The House Next Door. This conversation is a bit of a different approach for us, as this time we focus on the phenomenon of 3D film, discussing the technology and aesthetics of this popular and controversial format. We concentrate especially on two recent 3D movies by popular directors — Martin Scorsese's Hugo and Steven

The Domain of the Moment/Duplicity III/Murder Psalm

2012-01-26T00:33:00.000-05:00

Stan Brakhage was always acutely aware of time in his work, even if only to disrupt it through layering and superimposition, the tools by which Brakhage frequently undercut the passage of time. Time works strangely in Brakhage's work: his editing is often fast, even frantic, and an image can last barely a second or two before being replaced with another, so the films seem to move very quickly,

How Green Was My Valley

2012-01-23T06:30:00.137-05:00

John Ford's How Green Was My Valley is a gorgeous, achingly sad movie, a moving evocation of "the way things were" and the process by which the inexorable progress of industry and modernity slowly, steadily erodes the old ways, breaking apart the stability of family and shattering tradition. The film is steeped in the director's love of innocence and simple virtue, his rosy perspective on the