Unspoken Cinema

FILM REVIEWS The Man With No Name (2009) WANG Bing A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces (2021) by Shengze ZHU - 3 continents INTERVIEWS Interview with Chie HAYAKAWA on her debut feature : Plan 75 (2022) JEANNE DIELMAN Jeanne Dielman tops Sight&Sound 2022 Canon A Jeanne Dielman Contempilation Why Jeanne Dielman is Best Film of All Time? VIDEO ESSAYS Dead Time - Exploring Slow Cinema (Nich PK) Cow/Slow Cinema: Feminism, Time, and Labour (Cáit Murphy) Repetition of Archetypes in Slow Cinema (Can Baran) Tsai Ming Liang's Days: Isolation on Film (The Cinematheque) Slow Cinema VOL.1&2 (Sensa Cine) ESPAÑOL VIDEO CLIPS Wang Bing à Rennes 2022   State of Chinese Independent Cinema (WANG Bing) Tsai Ming Liang and the Cinema of Slowness LIBRARY New Theses at the Library New Articles at the Library New Books at the Library SOMMAIRE Sommaire 2022 OTHERS Please participate in a Contemplative Cinema spectatorship study (Jakob Boer) Werckmeister Homage (2)   Retrospective TSAI Ming ...

This genuinely outstanding event is both gratifying and unexpected : finally a contemplative film makes the top10 of a worldwide poll , not only that, but is crowned at the number one spot.  Is it because the director, Chantal Akerman, is a woman ? Is it because she passed away recently ? Is it because she's Belgian ? Is it because her masterpiece is more widely available to be seen and watched by many ? Is it because of the additional voters bringing new blood ? Is it because they fired up the vote to bring diversity in a dusty, old-regime canon ? Who knows ? Maybe it's just the greatest film ever made in film history... so far. The prime achievement here is that a majority of voters actually watched it (albeit on a smaller screen unfortunately I assume), AND, the second achievement, is that they didn't dislike it... They didn't walk out on it, they didn't feel bored, they didn't feel like eating brocoli (see The Dan Kois Syndrome ), they didn't feel left o...

TSAI Ming-Liang and the Cinema of Slowness (ENGLISH Lecture) 1H  ARI ASIA TRENDS (Singapore) 19 june 2013 Lim Song Hwee & Pheng Cheah Asia Research Institute, NUS (Singapore) Synopsis : How can we qualify slowness in cinema, and what is the relationship between a cinema of slowness and a wider socio-cultural "slow movement"? With a body of films that share a propensity towards slowness emerging in many parts of the world over the past two decades, this lecture explores the concept of cinematic slowness and addresses this fascinating phenomenon through the films of the Malaysian-born, Taiwan-based director Tsai Ming-liang. Through detailed analysis of aspects of stillness and silence in cinema, the talk will delineate the strategies by which slowness in film can be constructed and make a passionate case for a slow cinema that calls for a renewed attention to the image and to the experience of time in film. In an age of unrelenting acceleration of pace both in film and in ...

Expanded to 20 spots, since my last Top10 Canon in 2012 , because the population of CCC has grown "exponentially", reaching over 350 films (as registered in my CCC Recommendations )... here is an updated Contemporary Contemplative Cinema Canon, based on my viewing experience and my own criteria, featuring its greatest aesthetic achievements to date :  My Top20 CCC Canon  (2022 Updated) Sátántangó  (1994/TARR Béla Tarr/Hungary) Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles  (1975/Chantal AKERMAN/Belgium) Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks  (2003/WANG Bing/China) The Turin Horse   (2011/TARR Béla/Hungary) Le Moindre Geste  (1971/DELIGNY/MANENTI/FR) I Don't Want to Sleep Alone  (2006/TSAI/Taiwan)  Los Muertos  (2004/ALONSO/Argentina)  Leviathan  (2012/CASTAING-TAYLOR, PARAVEL/FR-USA-UK) DOC Blissfully Yours   (2002/WEERASETHAKUL/Thailand) An Elephant Sitting Still  (2018/HU Bo...

Slow Cinema VOL. 1 - CINE A QUAMARROPA  (Sensa Cine) 1h06min ESPAÑOL (YouTube) 15 Jul 2022 Duodécima entrega de Cine A Quemarropa. En esta ocasión nos adentramos en el 'slow cinema', una no tan nueva corriente cinematográfica, que hace frente al consumismo masivo de vídeos que existe en la actualidad. En este VOL. 1 recorremos algunas de sus características básicas surgidas en el cine de directores como Antonioni, Bresson, Ozu y Kiarostami.  'SLOW CINEMA VOL. 1'  Realización y Edición: Verónica Melguizo  Guión y Presentación: Alejandro G. Calvo *    *    * Slow Cinema VOL. 2 - CINE A QUAMARROPA (Sensa Cine) 1h40min ESPAÑOL (YouTube) 21 Dec 2022 Decimotercera entrega de Cine A Quemarropa. Cerramos el año con la segunda entrega del 'Slow Cinema', una no tan nueva corriente cinematográfica, que hace frente al consumismo masivo de vídeos que existe en la actualidad. En este VOL. 2 nos adentramos en cómo se traducen las enseñanzas de los directores cl...

 Tsai Ming Liang's Days - Isolation on Film (The Cinematheque)  28 dec 2021 ( YouTube ) 5'48" See also at Unspoken Cinema : CCC Videographic Criticism

  Latest additions to the Unspoken Cinema  Library page   CCC BOOKS Nothing Happens: Chantal Akerman's Hyperrealist Everyday  ; 1996         Ivones Margulies / USA Complex Staging: The Hidden Dimensions of Roy Andersson's Aesthetics ; 2014           Julian Hanich / [ PDF ] in Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism Czas w kinie: Doświadczenie temporalne w Slow Cinema  ; 2019         Marta Stańczyk / POLAND Slow Cinema: a memória e o fascínio pelo tempo no documentário contemporâneo  ; 2021         Mariana Sibele Fernandes / PORTUGAL Sine ni Lav Diaz A Long Take on the Filipino Auteur  ; 2021           Coll. / UK [ here ] Slow Places in Béla Tarr's Films : The intersection of Geography, Ecology and Slow Cinema  ; 2021           Clara Orban / USA Durational Cinema,...

  Latest additions to the Unspoken Cinema  Library page   CCC ARTICLES Body Beautiful: Making the Figure of Women in Film, Contemplation on the Iranian New-Wave Cinema of the Past Decade           Sholeh Shahrokhi ; 2009 / USA Filming a miracle: Ordet, Silent Light and the spirit of Contemplative Cinema          Rick Wagner ; 2015 Take your time : Towards a Theory of Contemplative Spectatorship in Cinema         Jakob Boer ; 2016  Watching Paint Dry. An Investigation into Film Style and Time Experience in Viewing Slow Cinema         Jakob Boer ; 2016 Slow cinema and contemplative politics: radical documentary in the twenty-first century           Sarah Hamblin ; Sept 2019 / USA Ética do Slow Cinema: Lentidão e hesitação no cinema contemporâneo           Eduardo Brandão Pinto ; 2021 / Portugal Bore...

 Latest additions to the Unspoken Cinema  Library page   CCC Theses Le corps épuisé : étude du cinéma de Tsai Ming-liang           Benjamin Rifflard ; 2014 / France         on TSAI Ming Liang Closed Faces, Open Spaces           Jakob Boer, 2015           on Sharunas Bartas I don't know what the people do all day : A viagem e a paisagem no Slow Cinema           André Francisco, 2020 / PORTUGAL Un athéisme spirituel : Temps et danse dans le cinéma de Béla Tarr           Etienne Goudreau-Lajeunesse, juin 2020 / CANADA Please leave a comment if you want to recommend other CCC Theses...

Prof. Dr. Francisca Cho : "This issue will consider the ways in which film can function in the manner of traditional Buddhist ritual practices. [..] the aim of this issue is to examine how cinema itself functions as Buddhist religious practice. Such investigation can focus on the process of filmmaking, the experience of watching films, and/or the phenomenology of cinema in its liminal status between reality and illusion. [..] The aim of this issue is to pay more attention to the cinematic aspects of selected films in parallel to Buddhist ritual experiences and Buddhist understandings of the imaginary nature of lived experience." Practicing Buddhism through Film (2018) In this issue : Crafting Cinema in the Buddhist Contemplative Gaze  (by Edward A. Burger)  PDF In this essay, I discuss the evolution of my approach to creating Buddhist contemplative cinema. [..] I continue with a discussion of Buddhist art and the distinctive multidimensional quality of the cinema-viewing exp...

  State of Cinema (WANG Bing)  21 december 2022 - Bozar (Brussels) Sabzian Vidéo ( YouTube ) 30'58" [Mandarin-English] English Transcript / Retranscription Française  / Chinese / Dutch  (Sabzian)

TSAI Ming-Liang, infatigable arpenteur du cinéma Rétrospective complète de sa filmographie + Exposition  "Une quète" 25 novembre - 2 janvier 2022 Brochure PDF Entretien avec Tsai Ming Liang (4min) Serie Walker Films complète (dont dernier épisode toruné au centre Pompidou) Masterclasse The Skywalk is Gone (2002) de la trilogie What Time is it There? / The Skywalk is Gone / The Wayward Cloud , est visible en ligne en English/Français sur la plateforme de streaming de  La Cinémathèque (jusqu'au 31 janvier 2023) Related :  Pedestrian Dharma: Slowness and Seeing in Tsai Ming-Liang’s Walker (2018/Teng Kuan Ng) Tsai Ming Liang's Days - Isolation on Film (The Cinematheque) Marcher avec Tsai Ming-Liang (Plan Large) 3 Dec 2022 (Broadcast France Culture) 58' 

Since Jeanne Dielman tops Sight&Sound 2022 Canon  here is a selection of links on this contemplative masterpiece, first at Unspoken Cinema, then elsewhere : UNSPOKEN CINEMA Jeanne Dielman (Courant)  2011 Teaching Jeanne Dielman (The Cine-files)  2017 Jeanne Dielman (review)  2009 Semiotics of the Kitchen (Rosler)  2010 Fabrique du temps  2011 ELSEWHERE  Fondation Chantal Akerman   The greatest film of all time: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Laura Mulvey/BFI/1 Dec 2022) The Revelatory Tedium of the New "Greatest Film of All Time" (Jessica Winter/The New Yorker/5 Dec 2022) Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (The New York Times) Jeanne Dielman: ‘greatest film of all time’ is a masterpiece of slow cinema that richly details life’s quiet intricacies (Alison Smith/The Conversation/5 Dec 2022) Video essays on Vimeo   EN FRANCAIS Pourquoi “Jeanne Dielman” de Chantal Akerman est-il le plus grand film de...

  Avatar 2: The Way of Water (2022/James Cameron/USA) Werckmeister Harmonies (2000/Tarr/Hungary) Related on Unspoken Cinema : Werckmeister Homage  (The Simpsons)

Repetition of Archetypes in Slow Cinema from Can Baran on Vimeo . (5 January 2022) 5' In this video essay reflections, repetitions, and references of archetypes in the movies of Andrei Tarkovsky, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and Bela Tarr is presented. This video essay was made for Bilkent University COMD - 321 Analysis of Moving Image, and it is only for educational purposes. Made for nonprofit. Movies: Andrei Rublev(1966) by Andrei Tarkovsky Ivan’s Childhood(1962) by Andrei Tarkovsky Once Upon A Time In Anatolia(2011) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan Turin Horse(2011) by Bela Tarr The Wild Pear Tree(2018) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan Winter Sleep(2014) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan   See also at Unspoken Cinema : CCC Videographic Criticism

Cow/Slow Cinema: Feminism, Time, and Labour from Cáit Murphy on Vimeo . (6 oct 2022) 6'06" Video essay about Andrea Arnold's documentary COW (2021) and its representation of time, feminism, motherhood, and labour under capitalism. An important addition to slow cinema films like Akerman's Jeanne Dielman and Bresson's Au hazard Balthazar (1966), COW also continues Arnold's social realist style and emphasis on the corporeal and "creaturely" as analysed by Amber Jacobs (2016). COW is now showing on MUBI. This video is for critical, fair-use purposes only. Song featured: "Milk" by Garbage in COW trailer.   See also at Unspoken Cinema : CCC Videographic Criticism

 Dead Time - Exploring Slow Cinema (Nich PK) video essay ( YouTube ) 19'14"  27 August 2022 See also at Unspoken Cinema : CCC Videographic Criticism

Every 10 years, Sight&Sound polls and publishes the canon for the greatest films of all time. Last time in 2012 , Jeanne Dielman was #36 (ex aequo along with Satantango ), this time around , it's NUMBER 1 of the list (#4 on the director's poll ). What an achievement for one of the first Contemplative Cinema films. And Satantango is #78 in 2022, Tropical Malady is #95, both at #62 on the director's list. Related on Unspoken Cinema :  A Jeanne Dielman Contempilation