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Showing posts with the label ennui

Time Slays Clocks (Kinoscope)

 "Boredom is, of course, an inability to pass the time, a cruel sense of stagnation, the minute hand chipping away each hour so slowly. Days, like so many of Tsai other films, is about the ebb and flow of time, consciousness, about two people whose lives briefly converge like separate rivulets meeting at the river, before parting ways again. Tsai luxuriates in minutiae, in stasis, exhuming meaning from the mundane, the still, quiet moments in the chaos of modern life. The one constant source of movement in his films is time, which ambles on, unconcerned, undeterred." Greg Swik; Time Slays Clocks: Tsai Ming Liang's "Days" (Kinoscope; 13 Aug 2021)

How Perfect Days Made Loneliness Important Again (Prime Cinephile)

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  How Perfect Days Made Loneliness Important Again (YouTube) 5'16" (Prime Cinephile) 25 Nov 2025 "Perfect Days is a film that feels simple on the surface, but emotionally deep once you sit with it.  In this video, we take a closer look at how Wim Wenders uses slow cinema to tell a quiet and meaningful story about routine, purpose and being present in life. We’ll explore Hirayama’s character, his daily rituals and how the film reveals who he is without heavy dialogue or dramatic events. We’ll also look at the cinematography, pacing, sound design and the emotional meaning behind the ending. "

The Collapse of Time in Cinema (deep kino)

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From Tarkovsky to TikTok: The Collapse of Time in Cinema (YouTube) 52'25" (deep kino) 23 March 2026 "This podcast episode explores the philosophical tension between slow cinema and the modern attention economy. The hosts contrast the "sculpted time" of directors like Tarkovsky and Ozu, who used long durations to foster deep human reflection, with the rapid-fire editing of Marvel films and TikTok. They argue that constant digital stimulation has recalibrated our nervous systems, making the patience required for contemplative art feel like a physical struggle. However, the dialogue emphasizes that intentionality matters more than speed, defending both the "gift" of time in arthouse classics and the "energy" of well-crafted fast media. Ultimately, the podcast presents attentive viewing as a modern discipline that must be actively practiced to keep cinematic traditions alive."

Dry Leaf (Spéculations) podcast FRANÇAIS

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SPÉCULATIONS : DRY LEAF (Alexandre Koberidze) (YouTube) 53'12" (SPÉCULATIONS) 23 juillet 2026 "A l'occasion de la sortie en salles le 8 juillet de Dry Leaf, dernière réalisation du géorgien Alexandre Koberidze (que l'on avait pu découvrir avec Sous le ciel de Koutaïssi en 2021), Matthias, Théodora, Charles et Aubry reviennent sur cette sortie pas comme les autres. Filmé à l'aide d'un Sony Ericsson W595, le film impose l'étrangeté de son image pixelisée basse-définition autant que sa ritournelle contemplative sur plus de trois heures durant, suivant la recherche décousue d'un père. Intriguant, déroutant, ce dispositif singulier aux antipodes des courses à la technologie menées par Hollywood ne serait-il pas pour nous un moyen de déconstruire notre regard, de réinterroger et peut-être de retrouver, qui sait, un autre rapport au monde. Intervenant.es : Matthias Chouquer Théodora Olivi Charles Mérienne Aubry Piffault" * * * Et aussi un article ch...

Sátántangó's Clock (Kinoscope)

Latest addition to the Library page at Unspoken Cinema: "If we need to ascribe it a meaning, it might just be the following. It’s a story I heard Tarr tell in 2011, in Wrocław. I’ve quoted it before, but if you can’t repeat yourself when talking about Tarr, the great master of essence through attrition, then maybe we didn’t absorb anything from him: “A man wakes up at 4:00 AM, dresses, goes out into the darkness to the location of shooting at 6:00 AM. It’s dark, fucking cold, the wind is blowing. It’s raining, and an actor appears, with a hangover too, and with one thousand problems. An actress comes. Her baby was crying all night. A production manager appears. And says what was said at the meteorological institute, the weather forecast. And a man is standing there waiting for the light to go slightly up so one button can be pressed so the scene can be recorded. And if I did not believe you were all going to see it then for what fucking reason would I be doing all this? I am not ...

The Disappearing World of Tsai Ming Liang (Letterboxd)

"What I’m striving toward, though, is to present a vision of human connection despite that. In The Hole, you can see that final image of the hands reaching out, of one person lifting another up. I will include that visual image in a film, such as in No No Sleep, with two people on the mattress, almost as if that type of human connection can only happen in a dream, in a fantasy—in a film. I want to present those kinds of human connections against the backdrop of urbanization in all its loneliness, alienation and solitude." Isaac Feldberg; Vanishing Points: Tsai Ming-liang on movie theaters, loneliness and the disappearing world; interview for Letterboxd ; 16 July 2026

The Sealed Soil (Sepideh Amiri)

Latest addition to the Library page at Unspoken Cinema: "Society typically dictates the duration and manner in which we attend to objects, people, or events. In other words, the length and type of our attention are regulated by unwritten rules of behavior, forming a part of the social order. When someone focuses on something longer than usual, particularly something socially or aesthetically marginalized, it can challenge established social orders. When attention is prolonged beyond customary social norms, the usual controls over how we observe and perceive can be temporarily suspended, disrupting habitual modes of perception. Slow cinema filmmakers slow down the rhythm of the film and extend shots to encourage this sustained attention. Through slowness, they not only slow the narrative but also challenge social norms and how we typically engage with what we see." Amiri, Sepideh;  Marvā Nabīlī’s The Sealed Soil as Slow Cinema . In Cinema Iranica . Encyclopaedia Iranica Foun...

Les hautes solitudes (Philippe GARREL)

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  Les hautes solitudes (Philippe Garrel) | Film complet | ARTE Cinema (YouTube) 1h19'37" (ARTE Cinema) 1st July 2026 "Un film disponible jusqu'au 30/09/2026 "L'idée, c'était de faire des chutes d'un film qui n'existerait pas avec une star, Jean Seberg. Alors, j'ai conçu Les Hautes Solitudes comme quelque chose de très brut sur son visage" (Phillipe Garrel) Un visage hébété de femme, entre veille et sommeil (celui de la chanteuse Nico, alors compagne de Philippe Garrel) se laisse contempler quelques minutes, puis disparaît. Dans la pénombre d'un appartement, Laurent Terzieff, cheveux en bataille, accueille et étreint une jeune femme (Tina Aumont), comme lui d'une beauté et d'une jeunesse saisissantes. Dans une chambre (du même appartement, d'un autre ?), en plein jour, Jean Seberg, vêtue d'une sage chemise de nuit, semble lutter contre les vestiges d'un rêve angoissant. En contraste étrange avec l'intimité très ...

My review of Abdul Rahman's 8th Street

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The old man (Venkatesan) 8th Street (2026/Abdul RAHMAN/India) 1h Film review by Benoit Rouilly for Unspoken Cinema (containing spoilers voluntarily). A clean, well directed piece by Abdul Rahman, who in just one contemplative hour and three cryptic chapters, evokes the devious outlines of five mysterious stories within four opaque characters… Some stories will remain unresolved as others stand open-ended. Everything takes place, practically in real time around 2am, in a single night-bar, named “8th Street”. A lovely place, with marble pedestal tables, wooden chairs and comfy booths. There are rounded corners to the door-frames like on a boat. Coffee bean wooden patterns form a see through ceiling. And a neo-classical sepia painting on the back wall, representing customers at coffee tables, completes the atmosphere. The protagonist enters the bar last, a clean, well lighted place, and penetrates by the front door this “huis-clos” (=a single action takes place in a single space behind c...

Gris (Contemplative Video Game)

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  GRIS Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 FULL GAME [1080p HD PC] - No Commentary (YouTube) 2h14'50" (MKIceAndFire) 15 Dec 2018 * * * The Beauty Of Gris (YouTube) 2'35" (TheBeautyOf) 26 Sept 2021 Voir aussi sur Wikipedia : Gris (jeu vidéo) See also at Unspoken Cinema :  A Slow Year (conceptual videogame)

Valley Time (a film review of Ian Darling's The Valley, 2026)

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“Valley Time” is a peculiar pace of life. Such life is nonchalant, carefree, and at times delightfully indifferent. Adopted by the residents of the village of Kangaroo Valley (shy of 900 souls) strung along the meandering Kangaroo river, nestled amongst rocky sandstone cliffs. This secluded settlement sits a mere two-hour drive south of Sydney, in Australia. Throughout this silent landscape, distances stretch vast until the next neighbour. Community is bound not by proximity, but by a shared introspective state of mind. Such space is unique to the mountainous and isolated terrains. Such pace is unique to the insulated people living far apart yearning for each other.  The documentary The Valley (2026) crafts a multifaceted, deeply evocative portrait of this remote enclave over the course of 3 hours. It shifts from one dairy farmer/painter to a gardener cultivating vegetables to a baker kneading dough to lonesome locals running errands… and so on, and so forth. A seamless human tape...

Reframing Slow Cinema: On the Spectatorial Pleasures of Passivity (Jakob Boer)

Latest addition to the Library page at Unspoken Cinema:  "To conclude, I have highlighted that cinematic slowness does not exclusively entail the kind of challenging, laborious mode of deep attention that critics and popular imagination have predominantly associated with slow cinema. By contrast, participants have foregrounded a pleasurable, effortless form of attention akin to a trance-like flow. Letting go enables a degree of freedom to look, think, and feel. However, viewers do also actively pay attention and attune to the film in a mode of deep viewing. So, cinematic slowness provokes a variety or spectrum of responses. [..] Consequently, this enhanced understanding of forms of attentional engagement complicates and nuances an overly simplified understanding of spectatorship in terms of the binary opposition between attention and distraction, between activity and passivity, and fast and slow. A substantial part of the body of film theory from the second half of the previous c...

Cadrer le mouvement de la vie (Laila Pakalnina)

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Laïla Pakalnina – Entretien #1 – Cadrer le mouvement de la vie - Les entretiens Balises (YouTube) 13'04" (Bibliothèque Publique d'Information) 16 février 2026 "Dans un entretien filmé accordé à Balises, Laïla Pakalnina (Lettonie/Latvia) explique que, selon elle, les plans fixes sont animés par des mouvements propres à la composition dans le cadre, au rythme donné par le montage et à la vie elle-même, captée par la caméra.   Ses choix esthétiques répondent ainsi à une nécessité d’être à l’écoute et à l'affût de ce qui advient dans un environnement donné, près d’une cascade ( Chute d’eau , 2016), sous un pont ( Le Premier pont , 2020), dans une usine de fabrication de cuillères en plastique ( La Cuillère , 2019) ou à un arrêt de bus ( Terminus , 2024)."  Cet entretien a été enregistré au Centre Pompidou le 10 janvier 2026, en partenariat avec l'université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Mindanao Festival of Slow Cinema (April 2026)

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  "a celebration of the art and philosophy of slow cinema" https://www.facebook.com/mindanaoslow/

Discursions in Time: Slow and Poetic Cinema(s) — A Guided Film Club

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Photo: Evolution of a filipino Family (2004/Lav DIAZ) "In this guided film club, we will explore the world of slow cinema(s) from the Lumière brothers through the early 2020s. We will hold each other accountable as we finally work through mammoth runtimes on films like Lav Diaz’s Evolution of a Filipino Family (10 hours and 43 minutes). We will learn together and from each other about diverse cinema traditions and filmmakers. And we will even debate whether or not there even is even an identifiable movement or aesthetic that we can accurately call “slow cinema.”  Each meeting will have recommended (not required) short readings, optional viewings, and required viewings. All films will be reasonably accessible to view from home at free or low costs. Each group meeting will be scheduled for 90 minutes over Google Meet."  Discursions in Time: Slow and Poetic Cinema(s) — A Guided Film Club (There Were No Gods Left) Program (March 8th - May 31st 2026) Meeting 1: Short(s) Introdu...

Back to the Spectators Themselves (Jakob Boer)

Latest addition to the Library page at Unspoken Cinema: "This article advances a methodological proposal for integrating empirical phenomenology into film and media studies, focusing on the reception of slow cinema. The study investigates spectators’ lived experiences using micro-phenomenology (MP), a second-person interview method that elicits fine-grained descriptions of embodied, affective, and attentional dimensions of film viewing. [..] The study concludes that micro-phenomenology provides a rigorous means of generating thick descriptions of cinematic experience, with implications for theory formation, audience research, and future collaborations with cognitive neuroscience. Ultimately, the paper argues that empirical phenomenology enriches film reception studies by deepening our understanding of how films affect embodied viewers in time." Jakob Boer, Back to the Spectators Themselves. A Methodological Proposal for Adopting Empirical Phenomenology in Film and Media Stud...

Free DIY Unspoken Cinema Merch (Quattro Volte)

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  Tshirt vert < UNSPOKEN CINEMA > "Votre ennui, votre problème" (Le Quattro Volte/FRAMMARTINO) Image originale HD gratuite sur demande Green Tshirt < UNSPOKEN CINEMA > "Your Boredom, Your Problem" (Le Quattro Volte/FRAMMARTINO) Free HD original image upon request  

Slow Films and Life (Liminal Movie Project)

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  What Slow Films Teach Us About Life (YouTube) 4'17" (Liminal Movie Project) 26 Oct 2025 "In a world of speed and distraction, slow cinema dares to take its time, to let life unfurl at its natural rhythm. From Tarkovsky’s long takes to Chantal Akerman’s stasis, from Béla Tarr’s endless rain to Wong Kar-wai’s yearning pauses — these directors are asking us not to see time pass but to feel it unfold. This essay examines how slow cinema transforms silence into emotion, stasis into animation, boredom into revelation. This outburst isn’t about story — it’s about presence. About the bits between the bits that give life its cinematic quality. If you’ve ever been told that “nothing happens” in a movie, this video is for you."

Free DIY Unspoken Cinema Merch (Perfect Days)

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  Tshirt beige < UNSPOKEN CINEMA > "Contempler n'est pas s'ennuyer" (Perfect Days/Wim WENDERS) Image originale HD gratuite sur demande Beige Tshirt < UNSPOKEN CINEMA > "To Contemplate Is Not To Get Bored" (Perfect Days/Wim WENDERS) Free HD original image upon request

Perdre son temps (France Culture)

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  France Culture : (Les tyrannies de l'urgence ; La philosophie à l'épreuve du temps) Prendre son temps, est-ce le perdre ? Podcast radio 58' (6 novembre 2025) "Et si la sieste était autre chose qu'une pause au service de la performance ? Et si la flânerie, attitude travaillée par de nombreux écrivains, était une vraie résistance contre les tyrannies modernes de l'urgence ? Avec :  Sébastien Spitzer, ecrivain, essayiste Catherine Nesci, professeure de littérature comparée et d'études françaises à l'université de Californie à Santa Barbara Jean Tain, agrégé et docteur en philosophie de l'École Normale Supérieure de Paris Il paraît que faire la sieste nous fait le plus grand bien, même si certains disent se réveiller dans un état peu agréable. Et puis, certains n’y arrivent tout simplement pas. Mais il est d’autres figures de résistance aux injonctions de vitesse que notre société nous envoie. D’autres contre-pieds à la tyrannie de l’urgence." ...