Authors — Sarah Salovaara
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Watch: What Makes a Video Essay Great?
As our attention spans grow increasingly shorter in the age of information, there appears to be a growing audience for a form of film criticism beyond the written word. More precisely, for the video essay. Kevin B. Lee, the video essayist at Fandor, provides a nice inquiry into the state of the video essay today in his year-end recap, spotlighting the efforts of Tony Zhou and ::kogonada, while musing on what viewers respond to in their works: decisive analysis, politics, or the occasional cinephile fetishism. Further, Lee considers how even a narration-less supercut can adhere to its maker’s perspective based […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 29, 2014 -
Watch: Sean Price Williams’ Frantic Fran’s Jewish Stuff
Last week, Robert Greene posted a “virtually unseen” mid-length documentary, shot and edited by Sean Price Williams in 1998, entitled Frantic Fran’s Jewish Stuff. Three years before the cinematographer’s first official credit, and nine years before his quasi-breakthrough with Frownland, the 16mm film presages the close-ups and striking compositions that earned Williams some of the best notices of his career with this year’s Listen Up Philip. And it’s pretty entertaining, as well.
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 23, 2014 -
Short Film: Bernardo Britto’s Yearbook
Last week, Scott posted Dustin Guy Defa’s Person to Person, one of the first short films to be featured on The New Yorker‘s new shorts catalogue. Another 25 New Face, Bernardo Britto, has now joined the site with his Sundance Jury Prize-winning Yearbook. The animated film imagines a man who has been tasked with cataloguing the world’s history before an alien-sent missile destroys earth. It’s poignant, funny and quietly heartbreaking in equal measure.
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 22, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Here’s the first trailer for the Zellner Brothers’ wonderfully idiosyncratic Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter. The one minute snippet goes a little out of its way to not reveal the narrative catalyst, conjuring a vague aura of suspense, though the film itself is far from your average adventure drama. Breaking your heart with a nearly silent performance, Rinko Kikuchi stars as the titular character who fleas her banal Tokyo confines in search of snowbound, stateside treasure. Amplify will release the film on March 13.
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 19, 2014 -
2014: The Year in Movers, Shakers and Standout Scenes
Last year I skirted around the issue of a Top 10 list by highlighting my 10 favorite scenes of the year, my logic hovering somewhere above “What is an effective film, if not the sum of its parts?” This year, I’m not so sure that axiom stands. Whether or not you regard it as the masterpiece it may or may not be, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood has unimpeachably proved to be *the* film of 2014. I was fortunate it enough to see it in its best possible setting: front row at the Paramount Theater at SXSW, where a sizable chunk of the audience was hometown cast and crew. […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 18, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Peter Strickland’s The Duke of Burgundy
One of my would-be favorites of 2014 — it comes out next month — finally has a trailer. The Duke of Burgundy, Peter Strickland’s follow-up to the giallo homage Berberian Sound Studio, displays some of the best uses of repetition since Jacques Rivette. What begins as a fetishistic case of master and servant becomes increasingly murky as roles and hierarchy are blurred, then challenged. It’s a viewing experience that handily rewards the uninitiated so I won’t say much more, just that Sundance Selects will release it on January 23, and you’d do best to see it on a wide screen with surround sound.
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 17, 2014 -
Watch: Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore on Safe and Far From Heaven
Christmas cometh early now that the formerly out of print masterclass Safe is available from the Criterion Collection. To promote its release, director Todd Haynes sat down with star Julianne Moore to discuss the film’s forebears in female alienation (Red Desert, Jeanne Dielman, and DeLillo’s White Noise), as well as its unexpected Sirkian underpinnings. Moore also talks Safe‘s larger context, as a harbinger of the ’90s independent film boom, and how her first collaboration with Haynes ultimately defined the trajectory of her career.
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 16, 2014 -
Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups to Premiere at Berlinale 2015
Knight of Cups, one of the three (known) projects Terrence Malick currently has ruminating in the editing room, will world premiere in competition at the upcoming Berlinale. Starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman, the film assesses the excesses and temptations of a man in modern-day Los Angeles. It should be interesting to see Malick take what is his characteristically lyrical lens to a more middle of the road subject matter. The Competition section of the festival, which runs from February 5 to 15 for its 65th edition, will also feature Andrew Haigh’s anticipated Weekend follow-up, 45 Years, starring Charlotte Rampling. Previously announced titles […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 15, 2014 -
Watch: Jackie Chan’s Brand of Action Comedy
The latest edition of Tony Zhou’s “Every Frame a Painting” series takes a look at the king of action comedy, Jackie Chan. Consistently putting himself at a disadvantage like the silent film stars Keaton and Chaplin, or defamiliarizing the familiar as weaponry, Chan’s perfectionism and attention to detail have set him above the rest for decades running. In the video, Zhou also closely analyzes the difference in Chan’s Chinese and American work, particularly the director’s editing, which can compound or dismantle the effects of Chan’s stunt work.
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 12, 2014 -
Watch: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Use of Steadicam
On the almost eve of Inherent Vice‘s release, here is a Kevin B. Lee video essay from the archives that analyzes Paul Thomas Anderson’s varied use of steadicam. Whether it’s enhancing the subjectivity of his principal character’s experience in Sydney/Hard Eight, juggling multiple entries through the guise of spectacle in Boogie Nights, or exploring relationships through space in Punch Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood, Anderson continually pushes the camera technique to new applications.
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 10, 2014
