Unspoken Cinema

See also at Unspoken Cinema: Lav DIAZ Runtimes (2026 updates) Comparative Duration in WISEMAN's oeuvre  (2023) Comparative Duration in Lav DIAZ's oeuvre  (2019) Comparative Duration in WANG Bing's oeuvre  (2019) Lav DIAZ on Long Takes  (2008) Average Shot Length in CCC

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] ...

The first and only issue of the UNSPOKEN Journal ( EDIT 2010: moved here ; EDIT 2011: now offline) is finally completed, you can read it online, and print it out at the website. Thanks a lot to our guest editor Yvette Biró who directed this special issue dedicated to Tarr Béla, and to all our contributors who kindly replied to our request : Robert Davis, Matthew Flanagan, Edward Howard, Ian Johnston, András Bálint Kovács, Pacze Moj, who developed their interpretation of what is Contemplative Cinema in Tarr's films. And our apologize for the submissions that couldn't make the final line up for various complicated reasons. Table of content Béla TARR : Timeless Time , Yvette Biró Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky in Conversation with András Bálint Kovács The Dieppe Switchman , András Bálint Kovács Confined Space , Yvette Biró Seeking Order in Disorder : Béla Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies , Ian Johnston Piercing the hermetic skin of Sátántangó , Robert Davis “The Style...

Le Moindre Geste (1971/Fernand Deligny) Review of the first shots of the film by cinematographer Caroline Champetier, on France Culture (3-4-2009). Take a look at what could look like another way to talk about cinema without plotline. My tentative translation : The story of Le Moindre Geste is a novel, a genuine mad story. Never a film had been more improbable. Made against all logic from end to end during 8 years. From 1962 to 1970, only 2 years of shooting. And in 1969, a young cinematographer, Jean-Pierre Daniel decided to edit the dailies. Meanwhile around Fernand Deligny, a group begins this shooting in 16mm Black&White, aspect ratio 1:1.33. As a method of observation of a young autist : Yves Guignard. For a camera : diamond in the rough. For a sound engineer : incandescent embers. The film opens with a slate : "Yves is Yves in the film. Annie is Annie. Her father is her father. Her mother is the mother of Richard. Marie-Rose is Marie-Rose. The Cevennes mountains are t...

3 Godfathers (John Ford, 1948) Freedom (Sharunas Bartas, 2000) Birdsong (Albert Serra, 2008) --- Inspired by this . (Hat tip to Vinyl is Heavy for the concept.)