2,470 research outputs found
Brakhage and the Birth of Silence
Full text linkDiscussions of “silent cinema” have generally focused on films made during the silent era (1894–1929). Even after the spread of synchronized sound, however, several experimental filmmakers created films without soundtracks, purely visual experiences that challenged cinema’s status as a multisensory medium. This article gives close attention to Stan Brakhage’s 1959 film Window Water Baby Moving as a way of outlining some of the effects of cinematic silence, such as aesthetic ambiguity and a heightened awareness of cinema’s visual rhythms.This article is published as Remes, Justin. "Brakhage and the Birth of Silence." JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 58, no. 2 (2019): 71-90. DOI: 10.1353/cj.2019.0003. Posted with permission.</p
Synthetic Cinema: The 21st-Century Movie Machine
No full textIn a 2019 interview with Empire magazine, Martin Scorsese started a cultural firestorm when he shared his thoughts on Marvel movies: "I don't see them. I tried, you know? But that's not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well-made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being."This article is published as Remes,Justin, Synthetic Cinema: The 21st Century Movie Machine by Wheeler Winston Dixon (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2019), Millennium Film Journal 71/72, 52–53. https://millenniumfilmjournal.com/product/mfj-71-72/ . Posted with permission
The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of: A Conversation with Peter Tscherkassky.
No full textMan Ray once said, "My dream would be not to need a camera at all and to work directly on film using chemical processes." In the 20th century, a number of avant-gardists--like Joseph Cornell, Bruce Conner, and Naomi Uman -- made Man Rays dream a reality by creating cameraless films. These artists often made films not by shooting original footage, but by modifying and manipulating pre-existing footage. In fact, Uman literally used "chemical processes" to transform found footage: to create removed (1999), for example, she applied nail polish and bleach to an old pornographic film.This article is published as Remes, Justin, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of: A Conversation with Peter Tscherkassky,” Millennium Film Journal 77, 79–83. https://millenniumfilmjournal.com/product/mfj-77-rifts/ . Posted with permission
Ten Skies
No full textClouds play a key role in a number of experimental film and video works, such as Peter Gidal's Clouds (1969), Yoko Ono's Apotheosis (1970), and Cory Arcangel's Super Mario Clouds (2002). One of the most compelling works in this tradition is James Benning's Ten Skies (2004), a film that comprises ten static shots of the sky, each of which is ten minutes in length. When a friend of mine learned that Erika Balsom would be writing a monograph on Ten Skies, he was intrigued, asking, "How is she going to write an entire book about such a simple film?" But is Ten Skies as simple as its synopsis would suggest? Not according to Balsom. As she puts it, "There are films that present themselves as complex objects but which are in fact quite simple... And then there are films - rarer altogether - that appear simple but harbor tremendous complexity." Yes, the premise of Benning's film is simple (ten skies, ten minutes each), but this structure masks a deeper complexity: asynchronous sound-image relationships, intertextual references to other works in Benning's oeuvre, intimations of environmental catastrophe.This article is published as Remes, Justin, Ten Skies by Erika Balsom (Victoria, Australia; Fireflies Press, 2021). Millennium Film Journal 75, 36–37. https://millenniumfilmjournal.com/product/mfj-75-boundaries/. Posted with permission
Animated Holes: An Interview with Naomi Uman
No full text“Oh, Walter! Tell me what you see.” – A sexually-charged woman, Naomi Uman’s removed (1999)
I’m watching a German porno from the 1970s. Well, not quite. I’m watching a German porno that’s been dubbed into English, which explains why the characters’ mouths are not synchronized with their salacious dialogue (“My God, she’s got a fantastic ass!”). The film is a German porno, once removed.This article is published as Remes, J., Animated Holes: An Interview with Naomi Uman. Millennium Film Journal, 2017, 66; 68-72. Posted with permission. </p
Boundless Ontologies: Michael Snow, Wittgenstein, and the Textual Film
Full text linkWhile most fi lms use moving images as their primary currency, there are several experimental fi lms—such as Michael Snow’s So Is This (1982)—that instead traffi c in the written word. This article argues that such experiments problematize rigid conceptions of fi lm’s ontology and instead foreground the usefulness of a Wittgensteinian approach to cinema. Unlike a book in your hand, a fi lm keeps on going whether you like it or not. For it has an existence of its own. A microcosm larger than life, its boundaries are boundless. —James Broughton1 The fi lm of tomorrow will be lettrist and composed of subtitles. If at its conception cinema was by virtue of its images an attack on reading, the day will come when the cinema will be a mere form of reading. —Isidore IsouThis article is published as Remes,J., (2015) “Boundless Ontologies: Michael Snow, Wittgenstein, and the Textual Film,” Cinema Journal 54.3, 69–87. Posted with permission. </p
American Gods: fanboys and superheroes in the twentieth century
No full textThis paper details the development of comic book fan culture through the twentieth century. It examines the growing cultural relevance of comic book material and explores the narrative and thematic links between Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" and 1980s conceptions of masculinity and heroism.M.A.Includes bibliographical referencesby Justin Man
Lizzo “Truth Hurts” Co-Author Allegations
Full text linkFamous recording artist, Lizzo, filed a preemptive lawsuit on October 23rd, 2019 to disprove allegations that Justin and Jeramiah Raisen and Justin “Yves” Rothman deserve author credit for her song, “Truth Hurts.”Lizzo is seeking a declaratory judgment that the alleged authors have no interest in the copyright or right to share profits. The Raisens and Rothman claim that the lyric “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch”, which originated from a popular internet meme, was a part of an unreleased demo, which Lizzo recorded at the Raisen’s studio, and on the final track. Lizzo claims that Rothman believes that she will pay him to stop making accusations against her, simply because he was present at a writing session for the demo track.
This post was originally published on the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal website on November 11, 2019. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above
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Lizzo “Truth Hurts” Co-Author Allegations
No full textFamous recording artist, Lizzo, filed a preemptive lawsuit on October 23rd, 2019 to disprove allegations that Justin and Jeramiah Raisen and Justin “Yves” Rothman deserve author credit for her song, “Truth Hurts.”Lizzo is seeking a declaratory judgment that the alleged authors have no interest in the copyright or right to share profits. The Raisens and Rothman claim that the lyric “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch”, which originated from a popular internet meme, was a part of an unreleased demo, which Lizzo recorded at the Raisen’s studio, and on the final track. Lizzo claims that Rothman believes that she will pay him to stop making accusations against her, simply because he was present at a writing session for the demo track.
This post was originally published on the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal website on November 11, 2019. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above
The Sacrificial Economy of Luis Bunuel
Full text linkIn a 1959 interview with Jean de Baroncelli, the great Surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel famously declared, “I’m an atheist still, thank God” (qtd. in Kyrou 120). In fact, as anyone who has seen Buñuel’s films can attest, he is more than simply an atheist; he is also an antitheist. That is, not only does he lack faith in God, he actively opposes such faith, frequently using scathing satire and blasphemy to challenge religious hegemony. Still, in spite of Buñuel’s anticlericalism and atheism, it would be difficult to find a director more obsessed with God. Religious topoi are ubiquitous in Buñuel’s filmography, and this includes a particularly prevalent (albeit undertheorized) topos of sacrifice. I want to argue that Buñuel’s sacrificial economy reveals a great deal about his complex relationship to religion. I also want to suggest that Buñuel’s appropriation of this religious theme is philosophically rich, anticipating Jacques Derrida’s theorizations of sacrifice in The Gift of Death (Donner la mort).This book chapter is published as Remes, J., The Sacrificial Economy of Luis Bunuel in Faith and spirituality in masters of world cinema Volume II / edited by Kenneth R. Morefield. 2011. Chapter One; 1-10. Posted with the permission of Cambridge Scholars Publishing.</p
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