![]() ![]() I thought not only of spaces and things but of atmospheres: the claustrophobic dingy sepia of Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), the libidinous synthetic orange of Querelle (1982), the on-edge lilacs and uncanny birdsong of Despair (1980). I thought of the stifling domestic interiors in Eight Hours Don’t Make A Day (1972), Why Does Herr K Run Amok? (1970) or Fear of Fear (1975) with their laminate sideboards, cut glass ashtrays and bulging sofas. Thresholds, picture frames, vases, shag pile carpets, houseplants, lamps. I thought about objects and textures there were not only thousands of mirrors but hundreds of door frames and windows. I thought of composing a compendium of interiors: the vast stage-like hotel reception overlooking the ocean in which much of the action of Beware of A Holy Whore (1971) plays out, the glam Baroque flocked wallpapered apartment in Fox and his Friends (1975), the watery metallic turquoise of the bar in the sci-fi miniseries World on a Wire (1973). My memory retained stills, set pieces or tableaux rather than plots, characters or themes. When I thought back on Fassbinder’s films, most of which I’d watched over a decade ago, a series of scenes flashed through my mind. Fassbinder famously filmed fast and died young, leaving behind a huge oeuvre of over forty films and three TV series, as well as directing plays and acting in films directed by other people. While the concept of time may be linked to a linear entity to some, the reality of the movie suspends this notion, and changes between the idea of fixed, recorded moments and the fluidity of time, for example, in our memory.Before I began reading Ian Penman’s Fassbinder A Thousand Mirrors, I wondered how I might have gone about writing about Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s many films myself. Upon finding an antique watch hidden underneath the snow, the young woman we meet in the beginning becomes fascinated with the item, and seems to even abandon her camera at one point. This is truly an important statement, as the short abandons notions of linear storytelling in favor of a more “episodic” or “fragmented” approach, which at times even repeats certain scenes, albeit with additional information about the characters or their relationship. These events are framed by a young woman (Arisa Koike) who is on a visit in Japan and seems enamored with the snowy landscapes of the Japanese mountains, and takes various pictures.Īccording to Yeo, “Last Fragments of Winter” should be regarded as a “cinematic poem”. ![]() Back in his apartment, we find the mother ( Tan Ley Teng) sending their teenage son ( Foo Kang Chen) on an errant to buy some groceries for his father's dinner. While the father ( Berg Lee) attends a Buddhist funeral, reminiscing the life of the deceased person and his relationship to her, who appears to him as a ghost. Inspired by a short story called “The Moon” by writer Mieko Kanai, the story revolves around a family and their individual experiences, all of which are somewhat linked to an encounter with the devastating force which is time. While most certainly not every director follows these principles as highlighting the entertainment aspects of the medium is much more profitable, there are those who have managed to test and to some degree even expand Tarkovsky's observations, for example Edmund Yeo in his 2011 short feature “ Last Fragments of Winter”. Given this ability, we as the audience are able to re-live and contemplate on the moment, resulting in the possibility of film changing our way of thinking and our lives. Film, similar to photography, is capable of capturing a certain moment in time, but can also reproduce it as much as the viewer likes. While the Brothers Lumiere already emphasized this point with their first films showing the arrivals of trains at local stations, perhaps no one else has explained the relationship of time and cinema better than Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky in his masterful essay “Sculpting in Time”. ![]() One of the greatest aspects of cinema, making it distinct from other media, is the fact it can capture time. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |