Tag: film analysis website

Film

Journal De France – Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougret.

There’s an unspoken relationship between a nation and its artists that rarely gets exposed during the artists’ lifetime.  While history can be conceived as a linear time-line of events, resulting from various scenarios of cause and effect, it is not until after the death of an artist that it becomes clear how their work can be seen as a reflection of various cultural milestones and … Continue reading Journal De France – Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougret.

Unknown's avataradamscovellLeave a comment
Film

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) – Occult Sexuality

Strange undercurrents of sexuality pervade the films of Stanley Kubrick. Though not always present explicitly, the raw presence of dark desire and physical wanting seems scattered throughout his work. From Dr Strangelove‘s ideas of selective breeding based on the “sexual characteristics that will have to be of a highly stimulating nature” to The Shining‘s most surreal haunting of a man receiving oral sex from another … Continue reading Eyes Wide Shut (1999) – Occult Sexuality

Unknown's avataradamscovell5 Comments
Film

Nietzsche and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

At this moment in time, I’m currently between two relatively heavy audio-visual essays.  The first (which is now finished and will be going online in segments from the end of the month) is about Andrei Tarkovsky’s film, The Sacrifice (1986) and how it has parallel aims with that of the Russian composer Scriabin and his unfinished work, Mysterium.  The second is looking at Stanley Kubrick’s … Continue reading Nietzsche and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Unknown's avataradamscovell7 Comments
Film, Film Music and Sound

Analysis of Sound and Music in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) – Part 2 (An Audiovisual Foreshadowing)

Part 1. Emphasis on Visual Cues in Scott Murphy’s “An Audiovisual Foreshadowing in Psycho“. “We can grasp in effect something which, already in nature, appropriates the gaze to the function to which it may be put in the symbolic relation in man.” – Jacques Lacan (1977, p.105). Scott Murphy’s “An Audiovisual Foreshadowing in Psycho” is already an interesting proposition in the context of its original … Continue reading Analysis of Sound and Music in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) – Part 2 (An Audiovisual Foreshadowing)

Unknown's avataradamscovell3 Comments
Film

Tenebrae – Dario Argento (1982) – Arrow DVD SteelBook.

The excessive nature of the 1980s made it a perfect realm for an equally excessive horror cinema. While simplifying the decade to its trivial sound bites of bright, electronic yuppyism may be too all encompassing as a genuine historical analysis, this summation of criteria is perfect when discussing the decade’s cinema.  Cinema is so often the most uncomfortable reflective tool on society and yet this … Continue reading Tenebrae – Dario Argento (1982) – Arrow DVD SteelBook.

Unknown's avataradamscovellLeave a comment
Film, Film Music and Sound

Analysis of Sound and Music in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) – Part 1

Sound and Music in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and its Different Readings. Introduction. “If Psycho had been intended as a serious picture, it would have been shown as a clinical case with no mystery or suspense.  The material would have been used as the documentation of the case history.  We’ve already mentioned that total plausibility and authenticity merely add up to a documentary.” – Alfred Hitchcock … Continue reading Analysis of Sound and Music in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) – Part 1

Unknown's avataradamscovell4 Comments
Film

Computer Chess (2013) – Andrew Bujalski.

There is nothing that gives the illusion of the infinite as a tangible concept quite like the game of chess.  Conquering the game has driven several mad and its geeky nature belies the fact that its 64 squares hides a chasm of never ending options and possibilities.  This rather philosophical interpretation of the game is the backdrop for Andrew Bujalski’s subtle comedy, Computer Chess (2013), … Continue reading Computer Chess (2013) – Andrew Bujalski.

Unknown's avataradamscovell1 Comment
Film

The Seventh Continent (Michael Haneke) and the Freudian Death Drive – Part 1.

Introduction Michael Haneke’s debut feature set the tone for the majority of his interests that would be explored over the next few decades.  The Seventh Continent (1989), though part of the Glaciation Trilogy, stands on its own for questioning a very specific and brutal form of philosophy; that of Freud’s Death Drive principles.  Though Haneke would address philosophical issues in a lot of his films (this … Continue reading The Seventh Continent (Michael Haneke) and the Freudian Death Drive – Part 1.

Unknown's avataradamscovell1 Comment
Film

Graveyard of the VHS.

It occurred one Saturday afternoon that my own deep and personal mourning for the innocent VHS had found a new low. When describing VHS to people who appear to be gradually younger and younger, it mimics those conversations witnessed with parents, explaining to their I-pod bound offspring what the big black thing is that’s playing a crackly, slightly warped version of Shine on You Crazy … Continue reading Graveyard of the VHS.

Unknown's avataradamscovellLeave a comment
Film

The Masque of the Red Death, Roger Corman (Part 3) – The Freudian Dream.

Part 1. Part 2. The Freudian Dream Corman’s Poe films have become famous for their dream sequences.  The source literature revels in the possibilities of nightmares taking over the psyche so they seem an apt distraction for a medium that already adores the possibilities of dreams.  The Masque of the Red Death perhaps contains Corman’s most effective and disturbing sequence; one of the few to … Continue reading The Masque of the Red Death, Roger Corman (Part 3) – The Freudian Dream.

Unknown's avataradamscovell1 Comment