Author: Mark Stephan
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Rainespots: Takeshi Kitano
Carefully composed and meditative long takes interspersed with quick flashes of aggression which take you by surprise, Kitano’s work often utilizes violence in a spiritual or comedic way. On closer inspection they offer even more existential insight, sometimes as an expression of inner anguish and pain. “I personally do not find much difference between violence… Read more
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Rainespots: Bille August
Filmmaker Spotlight When most people think of Danish cinema, the controversial work of Lars von Trier usually comes to mind. August on the other hand has been making quietly powerful and personal cinema for years. Influenced by the early realist films of Fellini (La Strada) and Ken Loach (Family Life), his works often concentrate on… Read more
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Windows to the Dream World
Critics and bloggers have looked at Inception in many different ways. Comparisons are made to the moviemaking process, video games, psychology and the nature of consciousness. We’ll survey a few highlights and offer our take on it as well. Moviemaking “The idea of a team of people having to construct a narrative, much the way… Read more
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An Open Safe: Inception’s Visual Iconography
“…a visual icon is probably the most resonant example of how you imbue experience, memory and emotion into an object” —Christopher Nolan Nolan makes some very interesting iconic choices in Inception. Let’s explore a few: Elevators Who knew an elevator could be so cinematic? We first see it used as a device through which Cobb… Read more
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Architects for Soldiers
“The only job that was ever of interest to me other than filmmaking is architecture.” —Christopher Nolan Read more