Spectatorship, Duration, and Nostalgia (Josh Martin)

Latest addition to the Library page at Unspoken Cinema:

"In popular and scholarly discourse on twenty-first century international film, slow cinema has emerged as an area of vibrant discussion. Among cinephiles and film critics, slow cinema grew in prominence as a topic in the early 2000s, and it has since become a source of rigorous debate in academic circles as well. With slow cinema now a central discussion in film culture, numerous authors have attempted to specifically define the parameters of this mode. Tiago de Luca describes slow cinema as a group of films “characterized by measured pace, minimalist mise-en-scène, opaque and laconic narratives, and an adherence to the long take as a self-reflexive stylistic device”. De Luca’s conceptualization of slow cinema is one of many, but it sufficiently captures the scope of the stylistic features typically attributed to slow cinema. To provide my own brief definition as a guide for this project, I will understand and interpret slow cinema as an international mode that transcends authorial and generic boundaries through the de-prioritization of teleological narrative, the depiction of quotidian activities, the presence of atmospheric settings, and the spectator’s experience of extended cinematic duration, in which the feeling of slowness is essential to the film’s mood and affect."

Josh Martin; Encountering the Worlds of Slow Cinema: Spectatorship, Duration, and Nostalgia (2020)