Raymond, by repeatedly interrupting Robert and asking him to leave and return before continuing the conversation (or to speak once while standing and once while sitting), is somehow designing the mise-en-scène. It’s as if he’s also conveying something about the director's visual style and logic to the audience. It seems that, at the same time, he is revealing something about the director's perspective and approach. Continue Reading

The scene where the school officials bow to Minato's mother, showing no reaction to her distress other than expressing regret, encapsulates the overall message of Monster. In this moment, Kore-eda positions the camera to allow the audience to look down on these officials, highlighting the absurdity of this well-known aspect of Japanese behavior. Continue Reading

It appears that Lanthimos used his recent fairy tale as a vehicle to reflect on the arduous journey women have undertaken to secure their rights. However, can this reaction be considered inherently feminist as as many critics have suggested? I have my doubts. While the narrative, similar to Pinocchio, revolves around themes of maturity, it diverges from Pinocchio in that the protagonist does not emerge as a wise and informed individual after completing her journey. Continue Reading

Last year, as I watched the documentary Lynch/Oz, each idea presented regarding the influence of The Wizard of Oz on Lynch's works resonated deeply with me. I found myself marveling at the creative and unconventional mind behind Lynch's works. Even when confronted with a lighthearted and whimsical piece, his ability to extract profound and strange effects is truly remarkable. Continue Reading

I do not remember the last time which character in which movie got on my nerves as much as the prosecutor in Anatomy of a Fall think his comments were annoying to me because I had almost assumed Sandra was innocent until the middle of the movie. Perhaps the reason for this initial antipathy- which eventually turned into admiration and respect - was that the prosecutor analyzed the aspects of the "scene" that I had carelessly passed by, with sharper eyes and with more sensitive eyes. Continue Reading

Feminist critics may raise concerns regarding the title 'Tchaikovsky's Wife,' emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the main character's individual identity and name within the context of the film. However, the film persuasively conveys Serebrennikov's deliberate choice of a compelling and attention-grabbing title. After watching it, I kept thinking about the figure of the mad lovers of the cinema one by one, and I found myself pondering which character's narrative was infused with such egregious elements as selfishness, self-deception, and ultimate destruction? Continue Reading

The setting appears initially reminiscent of Eric Rohmer's world, with its vacation spot by the beach, a forest-bordered residence, and the intricate dynamics between friends and couples. However, the encroaching fire, blazing at a distance from the coastal scene, gradually disrupts the serene balance of this familiar universe. It becomes evident that the flames are not merely external to the characters' environment but rather ignite from within the narrative of Leon, emerging from the depths of his wounded psyche. Continue Reading

In a famous scene from Tarkovsky's Mirror, after making sure that there was no mistake in proofreading of the newspaper, the mother relaxes under the shower to wash away the toxic thoughts that have disturbed her mind during the past hours. Her look and facial expressions show both peace and disturbance together. She laughs and cries at the same time; Laughter because the danger is no longer exists, and crying because she knows that illusions are still standing and disasters are lurking. Continue Reading

When The Big Feast premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, its disgusting actions (the most extreme example: the exploding of toilet and feces splashing on Marcello's head) made Ingrid Bergman, who was a member of the jury, vomit in the cinema hall. There was no better atmosphere outside the hall and the frustrated audiences greeted the rebel Italian director with insults. Continue Reading

Even if we put aside the qualitative aspects and our criterion is quantity and that's it, thirty-seven years is a brief time for what Fassbinder learned and presented. From the age of twenty-one, he worked non-stop, so that when he died, the number of his feature films was more than the years he lived! As if he knew that he had little time, he kept jumping to different fields and grasping whatever aroused his endless passion. Continue Reading

After making love with Holly in the wood and before returning to town, Kit picks up a piece of rock as a souvenir. Later, when his path goes on as an aimless journey through twisting roads and constantly running away from the law, he buries some of his and Holly's photos and belongings in the desert: Maybe in the next thousand years someone will dig here and find these. Continue Reading

"It was passionate and painful." This statement that Helene - the character of the show "Disappeared" - hears from her beloved on the stage, can be considered a prophetic description of the two actors relationship. There is almost no sentence in the show that does not have relation to two of them regarding their moods and feelings. Continue Reading

A lonely old woman is in the heart of a harsh and barren militaristic atmosphere, among young people far from home, beauty and femininity, who do not show much sign of brutality in their faces and behavior, but all of them are armed and constantly clean their weapons (and away from personal hygiene and cleaning), ready at any moment to carry out "the mission"; Missions with clear traces on the ruins of Chechnya. Continue Reading

In a scene from Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, Barton Keyes tries to convince his boss in the insurance company that Mr. Dietrichson's idea of committing suicide is questionable and that they should carefully take into account all the aspects before paying life insurance to his wife - Phyllis. What causes the doubt of the persistent insurance agent is the suicide statistics. In the statistical documents that he reads, there is not even one example of a report that someone committed suicide by jumping from the back of the train. Continue Reading

To be or not to be? Apparently, this has always been the question. The issue of absence and presence is a path that every narrative goes through in the most abstract state. Disturbed balance is regained, what was lost is finally found and what was gone - in a way - returns. It is as if the narrator is left in the "absence" and his narrative is a response to longing for "presence" and the "initial unity". Continue Reading

Which title can describe Mike Leigh better? Realist or formalist? If the basis is Secrets & Lies, All or Nothing or Vera Drake, we probably Will not find a more realist than him, but in that case, what should we do with a peculiar experience like Naked with that hellish and distorted portrait of England, or the extreme stylism of Career Girls? Continue Reading

Andrei Rublev and his companions notice a single-tree while leaving for Moscow: "Every day I passed by this tree, but it had not caught my attention until now. However, when you know you won't see it again, the situation is different." And the cinema of Tarkovsky ends with the view of a single-tree that will never be forgotten, because it could have been destroyed by the outbreak of a nuclear war. Continue Reading

I am not sure how I will remember The Assistant later. With desks and people behind them? Or with the anxious face of a girl who has not yet been able to sit behind her desk and settle into a routine? I think that the theme of the film is not so important as the relation of these two images, and the issue of Kitty Green - first of all - is depicting of an "environment" in which someone, unlike the others, has not been metamorphosed yet. Continue Reading

Jonathan Rosenbaum has an intriguing memory of working with Jacques Tati. One day he goes to meet Tati at the restaurant located downstairs from Tati`s office, but no matter how long he waits, Tati doesn’t show up. Rosenbaum waits for a while, then he goes to Tati's office and returns to the restaurant desperately and finds out that Tati has been sitting behind a table watching him all this time! Continue Reading

The geography depicted by Maggie Gyllenhaal is familiar to me. I think Bergman Island must be such a place. This geography allows me to imagine, for example, that Leda is the same Monika who, two decades after that "summer", is washed-out and depressed in her middle age. Or she’s that Charlotte, who after that painful and irritating meeting with her daughters, has come to be alone and review (or perhaps bury) her past and compose another sonata Continue Reading

Compartment No. 6 takes place almost during the same period as Petrov's Flu. Laura's camera and Walkman and the reference to Titanic shows that not more than a decade has passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The chaotic and dizzying atmosphere of Petrov's Flu, as if there is no space for meaning-making and story-telling, seems like the situation of a land that has not yet recovered from the tremors of a terrible explosion, has not found itself, and is in turmoil. Continue Reading

I wasn't too surprised when I felt Macbeth is resonating halfway through the film. From Cronos and Blade II to Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, blood has been the main motif and subject of Del Toro's cinema. It could be guessed that sooner or later he would reach a "tragedy of blood" somewhere. Continue Reading

The structure of Titane is built on two parts. Both main characters have two halves. With the titanium in her head, Alexia has turned into a human-machine, related to metal, elusive of physical contact. Although Vincent has a godlike appearance in the eyes of the congregation under his command, inside he is a worn-out and suffering man. Continue Reading

The central character of Bruno Dumont's latest film (France) is a famous and seemingly successful woman, trapped in a situation that, although it has a dreamy and seductive quality from a distance, is actually bringing her down (perhaps comparable to Diana's situation in Pablo Larraín's Spencer). It is not known whether her depressing solitude is the cause of her turning to the noisy world of media and fame or its effect. Continue Reading

In a scene that is a turning point in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity after Walter Neff and Phyllis subtly carry out their sinister plan (killing Phyllis' husband and then staging it so that everything seem "accident"), they quickly get into a car to leave the place. Neff starts the engine, but it doesn’t work. Distracted and confused, he tries again, and after a while, the car moves, so that the two can temporarily escape. Continue Reading

Soheila's interest in radio seems strange and out of fashion to Masoud. According to Masoud, radio has passed its era and is something that old men like. Soheila is more offended by this taunt than she should be. Why? Does the mention of old age remind her of her age and wasted opportunities? At first glance, maybe, but with more introspection, more complicated reasons will be revealed. Continue Reading

Which situation is real and which one is fake? Are the man and woman in Certified Copy really husband and wife or are they just playfully adopting themselves to the position attributed to them? Any answer to this question is like walking on a narrow strip that may lead to slip and fall at any moment with just a flip. Continue Reading

What can be understood from the sorrow and sadness of the mysterious character of A Gentle Woman? "Need" is probably the first word that comes to mind. She keeps coming to the man's store to pawn something and get some money. From the note she wants to advertise, it is clear that she is looking for work; A small and insignificant job, just to get by. Continue Reading

Katharina, a young and divorced worker who makes a living by doing household chores for a wealthy couple, meets a man (Ludwig) by accident one night at a party and falls in love with him at first sight. Katharina, who previously worked many night shifts at weddings and parties to restore her humble life, suddenly finds herself in the center of a dreamy feast, holding the hands of someone who seems to have been waiting for him all her life. Continue Reading

How do we remember China? Probably with an entity whose rhythm depends on the careful observation of things; With an inspiring nature that with various tones, its landscapes and height of peaks and twisting clouds should be painted; With pagodas and temples and luxurious palaces, golden bricks, gabled roofs and numerous decorations; Continue Reading

The perspective of a single tree; beside it a figure seems to have been left inanimate, and a rope is hanging on the branches, which dances with the tune of the wind. Among the pictures with which The Wild Pear Tree is remembered, this one can be clearly taken from Kiarostami, and Ceylan from the very first steps, when he recreated behind the scenes of the Kasaba in the village of Clouds of May, he was clearly carrying impression form trilogy of koker. Continue Reading

Hekmati (Parviz Fanizadeh) is standing in front of Mr. Rahim (Manuchehr Farid) in a quiet night: the former has glasses, and the latter holds a cleaver in his hand. Hekmati is a literature teacher, a cultural representative. Mr. Rahim is a butcher, motivated by slaughter. These two men are rivals; both in love with the same woman. We feel closer to the teacher because we have been with him throughout the film. Continue Reading

In most biographical works, specifically those that deal with a contemporary icon, right or wrong, comparisons are made between the original and substitute, which seldom work in favor of the films. Usually, the closer the character is to us in terms of time and the bolder his relationship with the camera, the harder it is to deal with and accept. Continue Reading