love how voyeuristic early spn is filmed. shots partly obstructed by doorways, plants, crowds, furniture, shelves. filmed from high and low and angles, creeping in on characters from a distance. shot like someones hiding behind the trees or on the staircase with the characters only visible through the railing. watching in on someone through half open doors and windows
Polaroids by Andrei Tarkovsky from the book Instant Light
"Tarkovsky often reflected on the way that time flies and this is precisely what he wanted: to stop it, even with these quick Polaroid shots. The melancholy of seeing things for the last time is the highly mysterious and poetic essence that these images leave with us. It is as though Andrei wanted to transmit his own enjoyment quickly to others. And they feel like a fond farewell." - Tonino Guerra
“We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.” ― Louise Gluck
Photo: from Andrei Tarkovskys "The Mirror" (1975)
Does it ever drive you mad that enjoying romantic movies is often considered more embarrassing than enjoying porn
"cillian my partner in crime for 20 years"
So a friend recently bought this to my attention:
This is of course, Across the Stars, Anakin and Padme's theme composed by John Williams for the Star Wars prequels.
This is Bronwyn and Arondir's theme from Rings of Power.
Listen from 17 seconds, then tell me if you noticed what I noticed.... if I am right I cannot believe the audacity of McCreary.
I always find myself liking this sort of overlap between cinematic tools, including music, not vice versa. You can definitely hear notes from Across the Stars here, but it is more than that. Bear McCreary is famous for writing the (absolutely mesmerising, in my opinion) soundtrack for Outlander. And there is also some similarity with the music from the Scottish seasons. In the beginning there is a theme (the violin, I think?) that is so reminiscent of Claire and Jaime’s theme.
And I don’t think that it’s bad that he did this. First of all, because I agree with Tarantino. Paraphrasing, he steals something from ‘every single movie ever made’ and that’s what he likes about his work. ‘Great artists steal, they don’t do homages’. I’m not sure about the generalisation but in the end the beauty of cinema, to me personally, comes from this constant recreation of themes and scenes; one is inspired by the other, the other was inspired by someone else. Some new director ‘steals’ from Tarantino, who ‘stole’ from Kurosawa, and so on. But the new project is new, it’s still original, because additionally to the stolen scenes there is a personal viewpoint. So Bear McCreary creating a soundtrack that is reminiscent of one of the greatest love soundtracks ever written, and yet adding his own style to it, is a great reference to me, not disrespect to the viewers or John Williams, or anybody else.
Secondly, I directed a short film this year, and I had a very clear set of references for it. There were specific songs I wanted to use, because they fit the scenes perfectly. But I couldn’t, because those songs were obviously copyrighted. So I contacted a composer and asked him to write me something as reminiscent as possible to the original songs. I’m not comparing myself to McCreary here, it’s just I understand this inspiration that he could have gotten, perhaps. The feeling that part of Across the Stars would fit perfectly, so he rewrote it. And created a beautiful soundtrack at that.
This is coming from someone who hasn’t even seen Rings of Power, because I do not like the style or the ideas, or just the way Tolkien’s world is remade in the show. But I really love McCreary’s work, both here and in other shows.
Does it ever drive you crazy - the inexplicable and utterly suffocating consumption of media through a romantic-only lens? Even, even if the romance is a large part of said piece of media, even if it is one of the main storyline tools, the way that most viewers only discuss stories through romance and romance only is pretty sad and disappointing. “Who should she pick, this guy or the other guy?” “Who was a better wife for this man, his first one or the second one?” Like whooo cares. Who cares when there is a whole other storyline there about an endless cycle of violence and forgiveness between two brothers? Who cares when there is a narrative about the traumatic and destructive nature of feudalism and patriarchy and incest? I get it, I do enjoy the romance! I’m a sucker for good romance! But when a whole show is dialled down to soap opera drama because the men are hot or the sexual tension between two characters is good it makes me rage and vibrate out of my body a bit. Maybe it’s because I love cinema so much. It’s so unjust to the creation when it’s whole narrative that is complex and interesting and ambiguous is ignored in favour of the romantic parts only. It also has something to do, at least in my mind, with the commercialisation of film, with the way people try to “bring it to life”… buzzfeed quizzes and the “shop these 10 tops that Your Favourite Character wears” and “how to work out like Your Favourite Character”. Maybe I’m a hater but when a character is diluted to the tops that they wear and the diet that the actor follows that means that you’re either not concentrating on the important parts or the character sucks. And like… yeah, I’ve been inspired by certain films to buy clothes or accessories, nothing bad about that. But when all you can think about is how to look like your favourite character and how hot her love interest is when thinking about a piece of media, that’s… Generally annoying to me. If that makes me annoying, so be it.
The banshees of inisherin is about emptiness.
Boredom, futility, despair. The priest even asks about it.
Nothing happens. Absolutely nothing. They are so alone on that island, detached from the entire world. Even war doesn’t reach them. They don’t have any experiences, any impressions, any hopes or strivings or dreams.
Colum is terrified of it. The futility of his life, the fact that he will die without leaving any trace on this earth scares him more than he can comprehend. But even in the present moment it is impossible to live with.
People need experiences and communication to live through things happening inside. You process grief and joy and terror through things happening. It’s very hard work to process them yourself. And there is absolutely nothing happening on Inisherin, nothing for any of them to live through. So they create occasions, otherwise they might as well go mad.
Colum cuts his fingers off because then he can’t play anymore that way. Not leaving a trace on this earth isn’t his fault now, how can you play the violin without five fingers? He doesn’t stop Podric from burning the house down.
And after it all happens? After he’s lost half his fingers, after his home is lost to the fire, after his friend’s donkey chokes on, again, his own fingers, after a boy is found dead in the lake, after all of that he starts talking to Podric again. Because he’s lived through the terror of the futility of life. He is free of its weight on him, and he used Podric to do it.
So the banshees of inisherin is about emptiness. Not having anything to go through. Not having anything to fight against or for, to love, to hate, to destroy, to enjoy. There is a reason why one of the worst sentences that can be brought out is solitary confinement.
“Let people enjoy things” yes, sure, but also let’s not ignore the fucking absurdity and plain, well, plainness of modern marvel/star wars sequels/dc, etc. Sure if you enjoy it, it’s your interests, but it’s important to acknowledge that those movies they fucking cookie cut every year aren’t for you. They are for money. They are Hollywood, American propaganda. They are dead cows that the studios milk for more dollars because people will come and watch. And as long as it works, those corporations won’t loosen their grip. It’s unprofitable to make new, fresh, original pictures because so far the identical sequels are just fine at money making. Why were the seventies so explosive in the matter of new, unexplored films and ideas? Because the mega corporations were on the edge of bankruptcy, all the giants: 20th century fox, mgm, universal, etc. They needed new people, new ideas, new stuff, and they got Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, classic horror films, Back to the Future and the rest. Until people stop buying the bullshit that Marvel and Disney keep producing, the companies will remain stable and content. And as long as they are so, no chance will be given to new filmmakers, fresh, risky, unusual, deep, emotional ideas.
The interesting thing about this entire in-fandom debate is the fact that all the people who do it, all the people who take sides and try to prove characters’ goodness or badness are actually falling into the “trap” set up by the writers. Like, idk if they realise that or not, but it’s true. I prefer analysing films/shows as a whole, without condemning certain characters, because I understand the way scriptwriting works, because I write scripts. Like, these people are all tools in our (screenwriters’) hands. They are ways of conveying a certain message, a way some behaviour affects other people, sometimes including them, etc. So it’s the job of the writer to make them “evil”/“good”. That’s the whole point. This person MUST be problematic, because guess what? For there to be a story there MUST be a problem. And almost always the problem is inside the character. So I’m not trying to police how people consume media, if some of them enjoy hating it’s totally fine (it’s actually amazing because that means that the show created a convincing problem), but I will never be able to complain about problematic characters unironically again. Because that is the point.
Andor is so lotr-like. It’s so sincere, so unafraid to seem cheesy or cliche (and the moment this fear is dropped the thing can really become passionate and truthful, and by no means cliche or cheesy!) In a world where every meaningful thing said is constantly “spiced up” (diminished) by absurd, needless humour, in a world where seriousness, love, honour, betrayal is so often ridiculed by the efforts to make it idk customisable? Unchallenging? Easy to watch? Andor is another gem. Because “that’s just love. Nothing you can do about it.” Because “I love him more than anything he could do wrong”. Because “I have made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts.” Because “Id rather die trying to take them down than die trying to give them what they want”. It’s so unapologetically real, so filled with raw, sincere emotions, imo it’s things like that that we can call art. I mean, art could be anything, but Art is recognised instantly by the heart. That’s the thing that forces you to really look around and question yourself, your surroundings, your ethics, your emotions. The thing that reminds you “hey, you have a heart. You get to feel things whether you’d like it or not. And in the real world there won’t be anything to keep you comfortable and idle on your couch. Look, the real world is like this; full of love, full of hope, full of grief, full of cruelty, full of happiness, full of sacrifice, full of regret, full of beauty.” And you sit and think “yes, I do have a heart. And even if I throw it away (which is impossible) I will still be left with a gaping hole for where it used to be. You’re right, living is like this; it’s not what eleven sequels with hip music and characters interrupted right before they express profound emotion want you to believe. There is hope and love and suffering and holes you will never fill and holes you’ll fill with light.”
Actually cinema isn’t dead it perseveres despite disney, marvel, mega corporations and insane unnecessary cgi
So not normal about this
Some of my favourite shots from this episode
Some people do not understand that the point of characters is to be complex. They should be selfish! They should be power-hungry! They should be self-righteous! They should sacrifice themselves for others! They should lie to themselves! They should experience mental breakdowns when they realise that! They should be gentle! They should be loving! They should be hateful! They should be forgiving! They should be generous! They should be lonely! They should contradict themselves! Because that is what we all are. And without that you will be watching a moral lecture instead of a piece of art. The moment a character stops being complex, the moment there is no dichotomy in him, he stops being a character worth watching. You stop being interested in him.
The interesting thing I learnt about horror is that it is always coming from within. Horror is always a response, and whatever terrible, scary things you see in it are a reaction. Horror is internal, the house haunts itself, the thing your are terrified of came from the past, you are reliving it again and again. Horror is a promise, an echo.
