Articles
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My 2018 in films
In terms of cinematic experiences 2018 has been an amazing year. Although I have a couple of titles among this year’s finest already added to my all-time favourites, 2018 will be remembered as the time when my cinephilia expanded in incredible and inspiring ways like never before. The key game-changer has been Letterboxd.
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The present is the past is the future
Funny how volatile judgement is. I remember enjoying Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One while reading it, and then time has almost entirely overturned my appreciation for it. I was still dealing with the rise of my negative opinion about Cline’s work the first time I saw Steven Spielberg’s adaptation this year, hence no surprises my bias ruined my enjoyment. Upon watching Ready Player One again last Sunday, a totally different film unfolded on the screen. I refused to oblige the bias, and sat in ecstatic amusement while Spielberg built a world of wonders in front of me.
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Hu Bo and the country that sits still
Cinema is a mixed bag of aesthetics, a complex blend of visual art, technology, sound design, and theatre. It encourages an infinite set of ideas and ideals, whether hidden or in plain sight. It doesn’t matter if there is a powerful company or an independent artist behind a film. Moral and ethic values, political dynamics and concerns are all always at play.
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Ferrara and the Straubs
Recently I found myself deeply immersed in Abel Ferrara’s and Straub-Huillet’s cinema thanks to Neil Bahadur’s writings. While Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet are new artists in my radar, Ferrara is not a new entry. He is kind of an old friend I had lost track of, and approaching it now after many years felt like discovering a different man.
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Rollerland
Much as any cinephile out there, I have my ugly share of preconceptions. I try to hide them most of the times, but describing my approach to cinema as immaculate would be flat-out lying. For instance, it takes a good number of trustworthy reviews to get me to watch a Sundance Film Festival winner. Possibly worse, it’s nearly impossible to convince me to sit and enjoy the latest hyped TV series.