Part 10 Over time, we become strangers to ourselves in Polaroids. We take them, not to create memories, but to help retain them. Sometimes this is unnecessary. At other times, it is essential if we want to remember moments in our lives. This is an idea realised perfectly in Christopher Nolan’s debut feature, Memento (2000). It is a film that essentially sits on the cusp … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 11)
Part 6 Time and again, cinema seems drawn to Polaroid photography, often in unusual and tangential ways. Antonioni’s film, even if ultimately about 35mm photography, is not the only one to explore the strangely tangible qualities of space within photography (or the things contained within a photograph beyond the image). When looking at Polaroids, we perceive them spatially. By that I mean we have the … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 7)
Part 5 In the Park I often find myself asking a question. ‘What film would I live in if I could?’ It is a question that belies my own rather childish need to escape reality. But, if I could live in a piece of film, it would probably be Michelangelo Antonioni’s celebrated swinging cult classic, Blowup (1966). It is more than a little questionable as … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 6)
Part 1 Histories Polaroids are shackled to nostalgia. Its aesthetic perfectly embodies the past tense, especially in the cold light of today’s digital world. The presence captured, however, makes even the oldest photos whisper of the living moment as it happened. As an object, they are driven by this contradiction. Being so close to our lives charges these images with supernatural static. But, more importantly, … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 2)
New Releases Happy End – Michael Haneke Faces Places – Agnès Varda The Antigone – Tacita Dean Let The Sunshine In – Claire Denis You Were Never Really Here – Lynne Ramsay I don’t get to the cinema much these days, being both skint and constantly nervous of Dolby Surround Sound which sadly gives rise to anxiety attacks. However, these are the best films I’ve … Continue reading 2018 Review
Like last year, I have tried to keep up with enough new releases to eventually have something say at the end of the year. And exactly like last year, I have virtually failed to see ten new releases that I’ve actually enjoyed. I quietly accepted once again that, with some notable exceptions, new digital films are not especially for me and require a huge crossover … Continue reading 2017 Review
I’ve been going to Soho for a number of years now. For various reasons it has always appealed; it’s filled with character, its cinema and bookshops are still staggeringly good, and it has without question the best pubs in London. Now living in London, it seems that my previous visits from the north had spaced out my perception of an increasing disintegration of the area … Continue reading Short Film: The Economy of the Dead
“Witness, for instance, the establishment of settled ‘alternative’ or ‘independent’ cultural zones, which endlessly repeat older gestures of rebellion and contestation as if for the first time.” – Mark Fisher The Longplayer walk ghosts a route to be taken on the 21st of June for a day long walked festival of arts in celebration of Jem Finer’s work. Information on the Longplayer event, featuring an … Continue reading Wanders: Longplayer (New Cross to Trinity Buoy Wharf)
Celluloid Wicker Man 