The Story of Film Episode 13 – New Boundaries: World Cinema in Africa, Asia & Latin America

1990-1998: The Last Days of Celluloid – Before the Coming of Digital.

• The Apple (1998) dir. Samira Makhmalbaf – Based on a true story, utilizes a handheld camera. What’s remarkable is that the actors play themselves.
• A Moment of Innocence (1996) dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf – Made in the attacker’s point of view. Directed by two people for different scenes. Police officer utilizes a panning shot. Utilizes doubling back. Utilizes closeups, and haunting music. A work of autobiography.
• Where Is the Friend’s Home? (1987) dir. Abbas Kiarostami – Filmed like a football coach. Kept the camera on the sidelines. A film about childhood and friendship. However, when they were filming it, an earthquake shook, and the child was presumed dead (?). After that, they decided to make a film about that.
• And Life Goes On (1991) dir. Abbas Kiarostami – In a scene, utilized a static camera, and naturalistic dialogue.
• Through the Olive Trees (1994) dir. Abbas Kiarostami – Recreated a scene, about the feelings of an actor’s feelings during the film. Same actors, but the camera is further back. About how cameras could change lives.
• Days of Being Wild (1990) dir. Wong Kar-wai – Shows the melancholia of real life. Shows the beauty of sadness.
• In the Mood for Love (2000) dir. Wong Kar-wai – Sums up the nighttime celluloid vision of Wong’s team. One of the most striking personas in world cinema.
• Irma Vep (1996) dir. Olivier Assayas – Scribbled on the celluloid.
• A City of Sadness (1989) dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien – Utilized film to stare intensely at Taiwanese society. Utilizes long, static shots, they last for 40 seconds each. A long shot holds a certain type of tension. Hou shoots from the same camera angle.
• Tokyo Story (1953) (introduced in Episode 3) dir. Yasujirō Ozu – Frames within frames. No camera moves. Inspired Hou.
• Vive L’Amour (1994) dir. Tsai Ming-liang – About the loneliness of life in modern cities. Camera remains static, opposite of fantasy cinema. Had a crying scene that lasted 7 minutes long.
• Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) dir. Shinya Tsukamoto – Utilizes shaky cam, handheld cam. Captures fear, and disorientation.
• Videodrome (1983) (introduced in Episode 12) dir. David Cronenberg – Inspired the “Cyberpunk” genre.
• Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992) dir. Shinya Tsukamoto – Utilized 43 seconds of single frame biology rapidly changing. Similar to that of “La Roue”
• La Roue (1923) (introduced in Episode 3) dir. Abel Gance – Inspired “Tetsuo II”
• Ringu (1998) dir. Hideo Nakata – Most influential horror movie of it’s time. Imagery is colored navy blue. Industrial noise. An object of fear. Shows how something on the screen could be real. Utilizes distortion for horror effect. Real sound doubling back over it. Distinctly Asian. Main horror lead was a woman.
• The Exorcist (1973) (introduced in Episode 11) dir. William Friedkin – Inspired Hideo with it’s domestic setting. It’s sudden violence.
• Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi – Eerily calm, ghost with long black hair.
• Audition (1999) (introduced in Episode 4) dir. Takashi Miike – Also took place in a floating world. Echoes of “Ugetsu”. Utilizes stillness as a counter to violence.
• Breaking the Waves (1996) dir. Lars von Trier – Broke many of the dogma rules. Followed with handheld shots. Actors were free to move anywhere. Was fine with out of vision shots. Shows a static shot of heaven, with bells. Christian ending.
• Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999) dir. Tom Fontana – Lots of time cuts, no continuity.
• Dogville (2003) dir. Lars von Trier (introduced in Episode 2) – Almost no background. Extremely innovative. No sets, buildings, or props. Minimalist. Follows the suffering of a woman. Metaphor being that of leashing someone like a dog. Breaks the editing rules.
• La Haine (1995) dir. Mathieu Kassovitz – Shot in contrasty black/white. Characters were blank. Camera was still. Shows several points of view. Utilizes zooming shots, and craning. Utilizes old style filming techniques. Filmed a scene like in deep space. Utilized a shot of mirroring, but instead of an actual mirror, its 2 sets, so the camera doesn’t reflect.
• Do the Right Thing (1989) (introduced in Episode 12) dir. Spike Lee – Precise framing, and light color. The street itself is style.
• Humanité (1999) dir. Bruno Dumont – Shot in color, camera hardly moves, almost no craning. Film itself gives a cold stare. Shows a shot of framing far back. Almost no dialogue is said. Gives questions with just frames.
• Rosetta (1999) dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne – Disenfranchised life in contemporary Europe. Filmed with a handheld camera. Always moving forward. Camera was almost always over the shoulder.
• Touki Bouki (1973) dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty – Shows old and new Africa within the same image. About hope, teenage hopes.
• Beau travail (1999) dir. Claire Denis – A woman photographing men, instead of the other way around. More interested in the choreography than the aggression. Filmed minimally. Without testosterone. Shows a dance sequence in the end. Shows the last days of disco. Shows an activity one would do with other people, alone.
• Late Spring (1949) dir. Yasujirō Ozu – Shows an activity one would do with other people, alone.
• Crows (1994) dir. Dorota Kędzierzawska – Utilized old fashioned, square styled framing.
• Wednesday (1997) dir. Victor Kossakovsky – Shows that just photographing human beings is one of film’s greatest ideas. Photographed naturally, documentary styled.
• 24 Realities a Second (2004) dir. Nina Kusturica and Eva Testor – Shows violence within work.
• Code Unknown (2000) (a.k.a. Code inconnu) (introduced in Episode 5) dir. Michael Haneke – First shot is 11 minutes, without a cut. Shows a scene of unsettling life within modern life. Even the shots don’t touch.
• Funny Games (1997) dir. Michael Haneke – Shows violence in a different way. Has the actors wink at the camera, at the audience. Unsettling. Has a groundbreaking scene. Has a shot where one hits a rewind button, but the scene itself rewinds, not the T.V.
• Persona (1966) (introduced in Episode 7) dir. Ingmar Bergman – As shocking as the rewinding scene, where the film melts.