A Dozen Snazzy Dresses and a Car

By
I Am Cuba
1964. 140 minutes. Cuba. Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. Watchdate: 12/29/2011

Holy God! Sweet Jumping Christmas! Perhaps it's my unfortunate ignorance of early Soviet filmmaking and my total lack of knowledge of Eisenstein and that school, but this movie moves in a way like nothing I've ever seen before. Purely based on its dynamism I wish to fill it with stars! The difference between photography and motion pictures is the motion. Though that seems self-evident, it takes a movie like this to really make the implications of that clear. Why does no one seem to use a camera like this anymore? I don't mean copying this style, but the mobility of the camera is just on another level here and I'm wondering why so few movies of recent times (at least that I've seen) ever achieve that kind of mobility and dynamism - or anything close to it… it's just in a different league. Even when the camera is still, the placement is so brilliant you'd never expect it and yet it gives such interesting views on the subjects. If this is cinematography, I wonder what all those other movies I've been watching have their DPs doing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Whore of Rhodes

By
Image
The abandoned front of Smokey Joe's Artemis Restaurant  Don't go to Faliraki. Ever. It is one of the worst towns I've ever been to in Greece or anywhere else. Faliraki is on the eastern coast of the Greek island of Rhodes. It is infested with the dreary remnants of the most outlandish kitsch and sleaze. On one block you will find the Tiger Tiger Strip Club, on the next Bedrock - a Flintstones themed 'family restaurant - and on the block after that, an abandoned amusement park of horrifying clown faces that looks like it comes straight out of a monster reincarnation of Coney Island. The town is studded with massive, overpriced resorts that aspire to luxury but could never achieve such a thing in the place they are located. Everyone looks like they are taking their last vacation ever before they have to pack it in and face the cruel justice of death. Faliraki: Where the Fun Never Stops Killing You You would never know you're in Greece. All sig
Read more

These Bland White Men Are Movie Stars For Some Reason

By
Image
Chris Evans Chris Evan is perfect for the role of Captain America because just like Captain America, Chris Evan is an utterly boring shell. He's a hollow white male mascot with nothing to say. Therefore he's a perfect avatar to represent diversity in Hollywood circa 2016. Sam Worthington Speaking of avatar, Sam Worthington starred in Avatar. The highest-grossing movie of all time. Everyone saw  Avatar , right? I will remind you, Avatar (apparently) starred Sam Worthington, at least if we're going to believe IMDb.com. How would you describe Sam Worthinton? Can you remember anything about him? Anything at all? Well, here's one thing I can say about Sam Worthinston. By virtue of his being a total non-entity, Sam Worthington is the only actor capable of making Giovanni Ribisi believable as a dynamic, menacing villain. Giovanni Ribisi. From Friends . Aaron Taylor-Johnson The new Godzilla movie was going to be great until Bryan Cranston died 15 minutes
Read more

Somebody is Waiting in the Hallway

By
Image
Stop Making Sense 1984. 88 minutes. USA. Directed by Jonathan Demme. Watchdate: 1/26/2011 This is a movie about a giant suit that makes everyone happy and terrified. It's a giant suit that magnifies what is perhaps the craziest sense of rhythm in the Western World (whatever "the Western World" means nowadays). This movie is about sweat and white light and running and everything else people did in the 80s like wearing giant suits to make themselves seem bigger and more important than they actually were. It's great, it should be required viewing. PS - David Byrne looks startlingly like Cillian Murphy in this movie.
Read more