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Why The Best Movies Are Boring? (Sawyer Gouw Ranzetta)

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Goodbye, Dragon Inn and the Power of Slow Cinema (Sawyer Gouw Ranzetta) 29 March 2024 "[..] The shot lingers for longer than you would expect, a staple of Tsai’s style and what one might expect from a film described as slow cinema, an international movement comprised of work from the likes of Michelangelo Antonioni, Andrei Tarkovsky, Chantal Akerman, Béla Tarr, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul that deal in long takes, wide angles, and fixed shots. Despite paying homage to such a theatrical piece of cinema as Dragon Inn, Goodbye, Dragon Inn’s characters are muted, and its camera is static. Rather than try to recreate the magic of the wuxia film, effectively bridging the gap between past and present, Goodbye, Dragon Inn is obsessed with the chasm between then and now and uses duration as a tool to both attract and alienate viewers. [..] There is a false assumption that if you are an enlightened viewer, slow cinema is riveting which I hope to demystify. Slow cinema is
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On "Slow Cinema" (Bella Okuya)

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On “Slow Cinema” Does this contemporary movement represent a gentle resistance to the values of contemporary society—or a surrender to elitist aesthetics?  (December 18, 2023) by Bella Okuya "[..] Consider, for example, Manakamana by Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez. It’s a highly regarded documentary, released in 2013, set in a cable car that carries diverse groups of pilgrims to visit Manakamana, a Hindu temple located atop a hill in Nepal. A camera in one of the cars records the reaction in real time of real people as they ascend to the temple. Some people talk, some sit in silence and admire the scenery, and others eat ice cream. This focus on the details of the everyday behaviours of people, and their reactions to this journey, offer us insight into the meaning of the temple for different visitors. Hindu pilgrims talk about myths, while tourists react to the sublime surroundings. [..] [..] Some contributors to the recent anthology Slow Cinema point out that most slow films, ev
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Dahomey (Mati Diop) X Les Statues meurent aussi (Marker/Resnais)

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De Les Statues Meurent aussi (1953) à Dahomey (2024) À soixante-dix ans d'intervalle, deux documentaires interrogent les rapports entre la France et la culture africaine à travers le prisme de la colonisation. Cette analyse compare Les Statues meurent aussi  (1953) de Chris Marker et Alain Resnais, et Dahomey (2024) de Mati Diop, ce dernier s'inscrivant explicitement dans la lignée du premier, qualifié par Diop de "manifeste politique en même temps qu'un film d'art." Nous verrons comment ces deux essais filmiques se rapprochent et comment ils diffèrent, appartenant à deux générations différentes de l'histoire du cinéma. À la fin du XIXe siècle (1892), l'empire colonial français accumule près de 7000 objets provenant d'Afrique (et d'Océanie aussi) dans ses musées métropolitains, fruits de pillages masqués sous l'apparence de "cadeaux" dans un contexte de domination coloniale. Si  Les Statues meurent aussi  émerge dans une périod
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Jeanne Dielman & the art of Slow Cinema (BBC)

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"Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones take the scenic route through slow cinema - a genre of film that might challenge your attention span, but is almost guaranteed to change the way you watch. There is one particular film that’s inspired this week’s show, Chantal Akerman’s 3-and-a-half hour, slow moving masterpiece from 1975 - Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080, Brussels In December 2022, Jeanne Dielman topped Sight and Sound magazine’s Greatest Film of All Time poll. That caused quite a fuss because, for the last few decades, the poll has been dominated by Citizen Kane and Vertigo. Ellen speaks with critic Wendy Ide and film academic Dr Tiago de Luca to get deeper into the genre of slow cinema and explore this sea change in critics' tastes. One reason for Jeanne Dielman’s new found popularity is down to access. A film that was once almost impossible to see is now enjoying sell out runs in art house cinemas. In an extended interview, Mark talks with writer and filmmaker Adam
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L'expérience atmosphérique au cinéma (Hamonic)

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"[..] Sokourov, en revanche, est un cinéaste qui semble privilégier une approche bien plus interventionniste sur ses propres images, au point, parfois, d’altérer visiblement notre perception de ce qui est représenté : la réalité filmique se plie au gré des manipulations plastiques. Nous l’avons entrevu avec le premier plan de Voix spirituelles, et cette approche est d’autant plus prégnante dans ses films de fiction — excluant ses essais et films expérimentaux dans lesquels la forme prend le pas sur ce qui est représenté. Sokourov appartiendrait alors aux « cinéastes qui croient en l’image », selon l’expression qu’emploie Bazin, mais plus encore, aux cinéastes qui fabriquent leur propre réalité filmique. [..]" "[..] Mais l’exacerbation des formes stylistiques ne respecte pas à la lettre la prescription bazinienne : le réalisme du « Slow Cinema » ne se conforme pas tant à la réalité objective qu’il ne la façonne, emploie le plan-séquence et la grande profondeur de champ po
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