You Might Never Find Your Way Back: Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman
There are other odd, improbable, tenuous connections, as if Hangsaman had a secret way of speaking to (or through) other artifacts beyond its time. ...more
Nicholas Rombes
Django Take #3: (Re)chained
Villains
Django is not a movie with “villains.” Instead, the movie itself is villainous.
Emily, Eyes Shut
Emily understands already that looking through the microscope has changed her, reaffirmed what she always felt: that the visible world is not as it appears... To look inward, at the smallest of things—this is what novels do. And now microscopes. ...more
The Supreme Court School of PoMo Theory
On June 27, 2011 the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a California law that would have banned the sale or rental of violent video games to minors
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Total War: A Film Reminiscence
In those days, the only way to see David Lynch’s early, short films was to start or join a film club, pool resources, and rent them from some place like Facets in Chicago.
Some Notes on Paranormal Activity 3 as a Structural Film
Earlier this year, I made a case for Paranormal Activity 2 as an avant-garde film,
Donnie Darko and the Tyranny of the Franks
Perhaps the most enduring movies are those that tempt us into deep interpretation even as they resist all efforts to impose meaning on them.
10/40/70 #37: Marnie
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Marnie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1964):
Lucy’s Profound Restoration: The Trailer for Sleeping Beauty
The trailer for Sleeping Beauty (directed by Julia Leigh, 2011) clocking in at just over one minute and 30 seconds,
Running Around Being Clones of Ourselves: The Random Topic Interview with Megan Boyle
On the evening of July 27 I interviewed Megan Boyle over gchat. Rather than prepare questions or focus on a specific topic, we used Wikipedia’s “random article” link to go to pages to generate content for our conversation.
Note: This is the final installment of a three-part series. Here are parts Spooky Action at a Distance: David Lynch, Split Edit Realism, and Other Mysteries
There is a moment in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990) that cuts from Lula’s (Laura Dern’s) feet stomping in excitement on a bed to those same feet stomping in dance mode in a bar to the sound of the song “Slaughterhouse” by Rombes in the Spotlight
Nicholas Rombes’ piece, “Julia Kristeva’s Face,” was given a shout-out on Columbia University Press’ blog, with an excerpt that will surely make you want to read it, if you haven’t already. And thank you to Columbia University Press!
...moreJulia Kristeva’s Face
In the winter of 1989 I had finished my first semester of graduate studies in English at Penn State University and received, in my campus mailbox, the comments from my professors for the “Introduction to Graduate Studies” class.
There Is a Head Rolling Over the Platform: The Strange Case of George Lippard’s The Quaker City
On July 12, 1849, a man appeared at the offices, in Philadelphia, of the Quaker City, a newspaper. He was despondent and wearing only one shoe, and was seeking the editor and writer George Lippard. When he found him he said.
The Dark Mystery of Emily Dickinson’s “Master” Letters
One of the enduring mysteries of American literature is a series of three letters drafted by Emily Dickinson to someone she called “Master.”
Nicholas Rombes’s Art Film Roundup #6
Beyond the Black Rainbow (Panos Cosmatos, 2011) has the feel of a slow march through a black swamp. There is a majesty and a tar-pit trap power in the wordless matching of moving images and music.
I am obliged to wonder what are the “penalties—very heavy penalties” mentioned in this trailer for Sleeping Beauty (Julia Leigh, 2011).
...more10/40/70 #36: I Shot Andy Warhol
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine I Shot Andy Warhol, directed by Mary Harron (1996):
Nicholas Rombes’s Art Film Roundup #5
Not usually a fan of these mash-ups, but this one—the great museum sequence from Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill (1980) set to Brian Eno’s song “Third Uncle”—works just fine. Oh Angie! (The music kicks in at around 40 seconds.):
...more10/40/70 #34: Alien
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Alien, directed by Ridley Scott (1979):
Nicholas Rombes’ Art Film Roundup
In at least two of his novels, Thomas Pynchon mentions a Porky Pig cartoon from the 1930s.
Here is the reference from The Crying of Lot 49 (1965), as Oedipa Maas listens to an old man named Thoth, whose grandfather was an Indian killer: “Did you ever see the one about Porky Pig and the anarchist?” he asks her.
...moreNicholas Rombes’ Art Film Roundup
Before the fiasco of the “rock musical” Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Julie Taymor worked in smaller savageries, especially Titus (1999), her adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus.
The movie was a bit of an easy target. It was released after Richard III (1995) with Ian McKellan, and Romeo + Juliet (1996) directed by Baz Luhrmann, both of which scrambled time and place and tone in ways that seemed to reflect the shallow, ahistorical excesses of postmodernism.
...more10/40/70 #30: Machine Gun McCain
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Machine Gun McCain, directed by Giuliano Montaldo (1969):
10/40/70 #29: Duel in the Sun
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Duel in the Sun, directed by King Vidor (1946):
10/40/70 #27: Shadow of a Doubt
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Shadow of a Doubt, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1943):
10/40/70 #25: The Hitch-Hiker
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine The Hitch-Hiker, directed by Ida Lupino (1953):
10/40/70 #23: Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974, directed by Jullian Jerold.
10/40/70 #22: The Ghost Writer
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine The Ghost Writer, directed by Roman Polanski.
10/40/70 #20: The Battle of Algiers
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine The Battle of Algiers, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo.