Very interesting blog-a-thon going on at Unspoken Cinema on the subject of 'contemplative cinema,' i.e., films by people like Bela Tarr, Tarkovsky, Sokurov and the Schrader 'Transcendalists,' that use the slenderest of narrative threads upon which to hang long takes, slow camera movement and a lot of landscape. And if that sounds like I'm belittling them, I'm not. Indeed, these are some of my favorite filmmakers and film tropes of the last 25 years or so. I find this style enormously satisfying. Indeed, the list of films that is available elsewhere on their site includes several movies that made my ten-best lists. I'm mildly surprised that they seem to have omitted the Dardenne brothers from their purview. Surely films as heavily influenced by Bresson as L'Enfant and Le Fils merit discussion in this context. I mean, consider how much of Le Fils consists of shots of the back of Olivier Gourmet's neck.
Joking aside, it's a fruitful discussion and one that I hope will continue to spread across the 'Net.
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