Unspoken Cinema

This is only a selection of a few films surveyed in the database of Average Shot Length compiled at Cinemetrics (strict model in red, and other broad contemplative films in blue). So these data don't give a conclusive picture of the whole trend yet. Though with 50 entries, it begins to give interesting results. One film was off the chart : Five (Kiarostami) with an ASL of 14 minutes 45 seconds! 15 seconds is considered a slow movie within the mainstream commercial editing. The usual ASL tends to be around 2 or 4 seconds these days. Some very contemplative films can go below this mark, at 7 or 8 seconds, while maintaining throughout a narrative deprived of wordy scenes. Though most of them are easily 10 times slower than the typical mainstream narrative editing rhythm. Chronologically, from Jeanne Dielman (almost the start of this CCC trend as I define it) till 2009. There is no pattern emerging at this point (from this limited sample), no clear evolution to be noted that would sho...

Raya MARTIN (born 1984, The Philippines) = 25 yold in 2009 9 films / 6 screenplays (1st film: 2005/latest film: 2009) INSPIRED BY : Lav Diaz? C.C.C. films ( strict model in red ) : Coming Soon (?); Independencia (2009)v; Possible Lovers (2008)v; Next Attraction (2008)v; Now Showing (2008)v; Manila (2008)v; Autohystoria (2007)v; A Short Film About the Indio Nacional (2005)v; No pongso do tedted no mondo: Ang isla sa dulo ng mundo (2005)v INFLUENCE ON : ? Quick scroll : BIBLIOGRAPHY | BOOK | ONLINE ARTICLES | INTERVIEW | WEBSITES | DOCUMENTARY Independencia (2009) IMDb Un Certain Regard - Cannes 2009 " Independencia Shooting Day 8 (A Film By Raya Martin) " By: Alexis Tioseco ( Concentrated Nonsense , 18 Dec 2008) Cannes Festival info ( Photos ) Independencia By: Howard Feinstein ( Screen Daily , 18 May 2009) Links By: David Hudson ( IFC The Daily , 19 May 2009) The Saga of a Guerilla in The Philippines By: Daniel Kasman ( The Auteurs , 20 May 2009) " ...

A few helpful word definitions : UNSPOKEN (French = non-dit ) un- (prefix, contrary to) + spoken (concerning speech, especially opposed to written) expressed without speech; especially because words would be inappropriate or inadequate ; not made explicit; not formally articulated or stated ; implicit or understood; tacit . TACIT (French = tacite ) understood or implied without being stated ; indicated by necessary connotation though not expressed directly ; expressed or carried on without words or speech ; implied or indicated (as by an act or by silence) but not actually expressed ; done or made in silence; implied, but not expressed ; silent. Not derived from formal principles of reasoning; based on induction rather than deduction . IMPLICIT (French = implicite) From French or from Latin implicitus, past participle of implico (“to infold, involve, entangle”) Implied indirectly, without being directly expressed. Capable of being understood from something else though unexpressed ...

A follow-up to this post . Gleanings from print material on Lav Diaz: As with Filipino society itself, the gap between rich (big films) and poor (small films) is noticeable and growing. In 1998, “Mother” Lily Monteverde, matriarch of Regal Films, set up the ultra-low-budget division Good Harvest to produce films on pito-pito (“quickie”) 10-day schedules and shoestring budgets of around P2.5 million (around $65,000) each, compared with the average Filipino feature cost of P12 million. Ostensibly genre pictures, but embracing a peculiarly Filipino mix of the lurid, political and religious, this initiative has produced some of the most promising mainstream films since the Seventies. Good Harvest has launched the careers of young filmmakers like Jeffrey Jeturian, whose hit, Fetch a Pail of Water ( Pila Balde ) has Brocka’s social conscience and a touch of humour, and Rico Illarde, with his American-style horror action in El Kapitan , and made a star out of the well-endowed “bold” actress...

Lav Diaz (born 30 Dec 1958, The Philippines) 12 films / 9 screenplays (first film:1998/last:2009) INSPIRED BY : Andrei Tarkovsky; Lino Brocka; Ishmael Bernal; Mike de Leon; Peque Gallaga? CCC FILMS : Melancholia (2008); Death in the Land of Encantos (2007); Heremias (2006); Evolution of a Filipino Family (2005) INFLUENCE ON : Raya Martin? Quick scroll : BIBLIOGRAPHY | BOOK | ONLINE ARTICLES | INTERVIEW | TEXTS | WEBSITES Butterflies have no memories (2009, Jeonju Digital Project, "Visitors", b&w digital video, 40 mins / "director's cut": 59 mins) “ Springtime in Jeonju: The 10th Jeonju International Film Festival ” by Chris Fujiwara, Undercurrent 5, 2009. (add link here) Melancholia (2008, b&w HD video, 480 mins) IMDb " Mourning and Melancholia " by Jason Anderson, Artforum (blog), March 2009. " Melancholia " [review] by Adam Nayman, Eye Weekly , March 2009. " Melancholia " [programme notes] ...