In Syndromes and a Century, Apichatpong Weerasethakul revisits the bifurcated structure of his earlier feature films, Blissfully Yours and Tropical Malady as well as the fragmented, dissociative visual and aural images of his experimental short, The Relentless Fury of the Pounding Waves to create a languid, lyrical, organic, and contemplative exposition on the malleability and […]
A novelist named Eugene Fitzpatrick (Sam Neill) recounts in dispassionate voiceover that in 1999, an Indian nuclear-powered satellite had fallen from its designated Earth orbit, setting the spacecraft on a steadfast, but indeterminate trajectory towards an inevitable impact with the planet. Areas that were identified as potential impact sites experienced mass exodus, causing people to […]
Wim Wender’s deliberately paced, hauntingly realized contemporary masterpiece, Wings of Desire is, all at once: a political allegory for the reunification of Germany, an existential parable on a soul’s search for connection, a metaphor for the conflict between, what Friedrich Nietzsche defines as, the Appolinian intellect and the Dionysian passion, a euphemism for creation. A […]
In wartime Europe, two haggard army deserters attempt to navigate in the darkness through a disorienting forest after escaping from a military train bound for Stalingrad only to witness a mass civilian execution by German soldiers in an open field. Retreating into the woods, Francesco (Piero Di Iorio) expresses anger and regret over his acquiescence […]
On the idyllic countryside of Italy in the 1930s, a humble and mild mannered peasant named Tonino (Giancarlo Giannini) witnesses the brutal execution of his eccentric but affable elder relative, Michael Sgaravento, for undisclosed political agitation by the carabinieri. Entrusted earlier by Sgaravento to hide a mysterious suitcase on his behalf, Tonino decides to uphold […]
Experimental filmmaker Peter Kubelka reinforces the idea that film is a tactile artistic medium that, like all forms of art, not only requires hands-on, physical construction and manipulation by the artist, but also serves as a tangible archive (or archaeological artifact) for communicating and articulating a constantly evolving cultural legacy within a specific timeframe of […]