Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and the invention of the modern movie

When you consider that the 1948 cult-classic was one of the master director’s lesser known and less heralded works, his achievement in cinema – which I would suggest amounts to nothing less than the invention of modern cinema, from its plot and characters to how it is filmed and edited  – is all the more… Continue reading Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and the invention of the modern movie

The Killing and the early genius of Stanley Kubrick

Roger Ebert asked, “It’s tempting to search here for themes and a style he would return to in his later masterpieces, but...Seeing it without his credit, would you guess it was by Kubrick?”  On the surface, the answer is self-evidently no, but to a more critical eye, we can see the early signs of an… Continue reading The Killing and the early genius of Stanley Kubrick

Fellini’s 8½ and whether or not reality matters in either art or life itself

Much like music, a great film can exist purely on an emotional level, as a stream of loosely related and structured consciousness that teases us with symbolism, impenetrable to a complete analysis, and yet filled with meaning all the same. Federico Fellini’s 1963 surrealistic fantasy about a film director struggling with his love life and… Continue reading Fellini’s 8½ and whether or not reality matters in either art or life itself