There are many notable similarities between Alfred Hitchcock’s two films Strangers on a Train (1951) and Rope (1948). For example, Hitchcock scholars and film critics have written repeatedly about the doubling of the male relationships — particularly since Farley Granger appears in both films — and the implication that Brandon and Phillip (Rope), Bruno and even Guy… Read more »
Andy Warhol’s films are infamous for extremely long takes, static shots, and excessive lengths. Though not all his movies fit that mold perfectly, films like Empire (1965) are formative for how audiences and critics have conceived his cinematic works. In this video essay, I look at Warhol’s relationship to time, suggesting that his cultivation of boredom… Read more »
In 1963, aspiring Japanese animator Kihachiro Kawamoto traveled from Japan to Prague to study stop motion animation under Czech animator Jiří Trnka’s direction. According to an interview for Midnight Eye, the young Kawamoto sent Trnka a letter “and waited for over 6 months” for the reply and an invitation to come to Prague to learn… Read more »
Robert Bresson is a filmmaker apart. Or, so his friend Jean Cocteau once quipped about him, and this remark has summed up the general critical response to Bresson’s filmography for decades. His work is inscrutable, seemingly without other film referents. And a mythology has built up around him – not completely without merit. However, over… Read more »
When Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993) was released, critics and audiences heaped praise on it for its “realistic” depiction of its star subjects: dinosaurs. Janet Maslin of The New York Times characterized them as “Amazingly graceful and convincing, they set a sky-high new standard for computer generated special effects.” Likewise, Kenneth Turan of The Los… Read more »
The Trouble with Angels (1966) was the last film that Ida Lupino directed, coming at the tail end of her long period as a television director. In many ways, it represents a sharp departure from the socially conscious noirs that she’s best known for, and yet for fans of the film, it feels like an… Read more »