As rhythmic meditations on urban spaces that shied away from character and narrative, city films of the 1920s and 1930s blended modernism, documentary, everyday life, and abstraction. The filmmakers took their cameras into the streets, capturing architecture, people, and industrial tempos, and then they pieced together their footage using graphic and thematic modes of organization. (more…)
Starting this September, every month A Place for Film will bring you a selection of films from our group of regular bloggers. Even though these films aren’t currently being screened at the IU Cinema, this series will reflect the varied programming that can be found at the Cinema, as well as demonstrating the eclectic tastes of the bloggers. Each contributor has picked one film that they saw this month that they couldn’t wait to share with others. Keep reading to find out what discoveries these cinephiles have made, as well as some of the old friends they’ve revisited.
“I’m twelve. But I’ve been twelve for a long time.”
— Eli in Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In (2008)
Loneliness has always figured into our curious sympathies for vampires. The vampire is separated from others by their animal nature, their bloodlust, their sensitivity to the sun, always driven into the shadows. They carry with them a resultant need to be invited, welcomed in; they must ask permission to cross the threshold of a home. An impulse to seduce their victims pervades the mythos; they may hypnotize their prey or lure them with sexuality. A wretched viciousness attends to the monster’s need for survival, but a woundedness is maybe the defining feature of the vampire. (more…)
Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky is known for his enigmatic films. Though his filmography is brief — in part due to political constraints in the former Soviet Union — he left an indelible mark on the art of cinema. (more…)
I have a certain love for the sci-fi Western “genre,” from Back to the Future III (1990) to Joss Whedon’s Firefly (2002-2003) and Serenity (2005), as well as HBO’s remake of Michael Crichton’s Westworld (2016 – ). I call it a “genre” because many people might call it a hybrid, and not a full-blown genre like either science fiction or the Western. However, some scholars might argue that no genre is, or ever has been, pure. Wherever you might land in that debate, one thing is certain: the sci-fi Western has had a surprisingly long history, even if it has resulted in only a few films or shows every so often. No, it’s not a “genre” that often sees much success, but it must mean something that we keep seeing it pop up. (more…)
Guest post by Elisa Räsänen.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Finland as an independent country. The centennial year is celebrated in various events both in Finland and around the world. Many events are also taking place in the U.S. Institutes and groups have been organizing public talks, film festivals and celebrations starting from last January. Perhaps one of the most interesting projects in the U.S. is the Traveling Sauna that is driving across the whole country, starting on its way in Texas in February. From Texas the sauna traveled to the West Coast, then to the Midwest where it will continue its journey to the East Coast and finally to Washington D.C. in the beginning of December, just in time for Finland’s 100th Independence Day.
Indiana University Cinema is commemorating Finland’s centennial year by showing the movie Äideistä parhain (Mother of Mine, 2005) by Finnish director Klaus Härö, as part of IU Cinema’s Creative Collaborations program. The purpose of the screening is to make Finland and its two official languages known on the IUB campus and to offer students and the general public of Bloomington a human perspective on Finland’s history. (more…)