Articles
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The vast relativity of trauma
As anyone approaching their twenties ravaged by hormones and victim of outbursts of devastating infatuations, I did some crazy things. Acting foolish just to fit in, neglecting family reunions to feel like a rebel, weekly looking for the right clothes to show off my new personality with. The usual. I don’t regret being that kid, but one thing I do regret is doing something the full extent of which would hit me much later in my life.
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The experience of watching
I am never aware of the amount of hours I dedicate to a director I am in love with, although the actual number would probably scare me, leading me to think about the time spent in front of a screen. Like in any love relationship, the first days are frenetic. Everything seems to be happening right outside of one’s reach, the mind wrapped into dreams and thoughts that are now slowly withdrawing to leave enough room for new dreams and thoughts. Time makes no sense and it takes days, weeks even for the fog that the mind is happily struggling through to clear away.
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Fifty shades of criticism
Often when I read about films I bookmark the great writings I find. I like to re-read my favourite film criticism just to see how it is done by real critics. Sometimes here on this blog I single out pieces I consider beautiful, but what I am not in the habit of doing is pointing my finger at the bad ones.
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A machine in the ghost
When cinema decided to make full use of the digital power at its disposal, I was among the sceptics eager to jump at the screen whenever they noticed an apparent lack of faith in more analogical means. Ironically enough, more than twenty years later some of my favourite films are one-hundred percent digital.
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Comrades, it’s a love story
I feel old and boring whenever I talk or write about Hong Kong cinema, which is weird because I wasn’t there at the beginning. I was too young back when Italian film nerds were exchanging obscure VHS tapes feeling like underground warriors. My eyes were still set on Hollywood and little else from Europe, so it wasn’t until a decent internet connection arrived that the gates finally opened.