The documentary impulse was integral to the evolution of film and a key element was the application of the new technology to the 19th Century impulse to explore and “conquer” far-off exotic places and cultures.
Vengeance Is Mine (1979). Shohei Imamura’s chilling fact-based film about a serial killer, now on Criterion Blu-ray, is shot through with anger and satirical jabs at post-war Japanese society.
In part three of my response to the Sight & Sound list of “greatest documentaries”, I finally get around to comparing my own choices with those in the magazine, finding some points of overlap and others of disagreement.
Although the idea of creating lists of the “best” is always problematic, the attempt often provides the impetus to think about and reevaluate our own likes, dislikes and judgements. The recent Sight & Sound list of “the greatest documentaries of all time” affords an opportunity to think about what actually qualifies as documentary and to talk about personal favourites.
Although the idea of creating lists of the “best” is always problematic, the attempt often provides the impetus to think about and reevaluate our own likes, dislikes and judgements. The recent Sight & Sound list of “the greatest documentaries of all time” affords an opportunity to think about what actually qualifies as documentary and to talk about personal favourites.
Since we’ve been able to invent stories, we’ve had fantasies about creating artificial versions of ourselves, but in “playing god” we often end up faced with unruly creatures or machines which rebel against us or even worse become our masters.
With Scanners, his occasionally gory telepath thriller, David Cronenberg made a significant move from low-budget horror towards the mainstream.
Any attempt at making a list of movie best-ofs opens a door for endless arguments because ultimately all value judgments are subjective, as is immediately apparent in CineFix’s attempt to define the 10 best editing moments in film history.
Andrei Konchalovsky’s Runaway Train, although an American production, has a distinctly Russian tone in its mix of action and existential allegory.
Arrow have released an excellent edition of Donald Cammell’s little-seen White of the Eye, a marital drama disguised as a serial killer movie, along with an excellent selection of extras that throw light on the troubled director’s career.