“ It seems to me that the purpose of art is to prepare the human soul for the perception of good. The soul opens up under the influence of an artistic image, and it is for this reason that we say it helps us to communicate—but it is communication in the highest sense of the word. I could not imagine a work of art that would prompt a person to do something bad…Perhaps you have noticed that the more pointless people’s tears during a film, the more profound the reason for these tears. I am not talking about sentimentality, but about how art can reach to the depths of the human soul and leave man defenseless against good.”
--- Andrei Tarkovsky
from Against interpretation: an interview with Andrei Tarkovsky / Spring 1981
Fallen Angels aka Do lok tin si (1995) | dir. Kar-Wai Wong | Hong Kong
Michelle Reis
Hansel and Gretel (2007) | dir. Pil-sung Yim | South Korea
Shim Eun-Kyung & Jin Ji-Hee
Of Freaks and Men (1998) | dir. Alexei Balabanov
Cinematography by Sergey Astakhov
"Of Freaks and Men" is both a dark gem and a perplexing marketing conundrum. Pic will get fest kudos, but it's too much ribald fun for "serious"art film lovers and too offbeat in its birth-of-Russian-porno subject matter and stylized cinematography to catch any significant arthouse B.O. Its outside chance of success rests upon savvy exploitation of its undeniable qualities and quirky period parlor hijinx.
References for this picture, shot almost entirely in a tinted-sepia re-creation of period daguerreotypes, are tough to find, but one could look to David Lynch’s penchant for dwarves and Canadian cult auteur Guy Maddin’s oddball musings. Pic also bears strong stylistic resemblance to Steven Soderbergh’s ill-fated B&W “Kafka.” But “Freaks” contrasts strongly with all of the above in its fidelity to its sympathetic characters and the central premise that sex is the sinister undoing of both the innocent and the evil...
Thought-provoking, funny, disturbing and utterly involving, “Freaks” marks a terrific follow-up to Balabanov’s award-winning ’97 Russian box office hit, “Brother.” Cinematographer Sergei Astakhov’s carefully modulated and composed sepia-tone images are both disconcerting and hypnotically mood-enhancing. While the distancing effect may be counterproductive to the drama, it does lend an aura of the faded, forlorn days when the combination of sex and photography was new.
The Virgin Suicides (1999) | dir. Sofia Coppola | USA
Cinematography by Edward Lachman
As I was moving ahead occasionally I saw brief glimpses of beauty (2000), dir. Jonas Mekas
I’m attracted to the extreme light and the extreme dark. I’m interested in the human condition and what makes people tick. I’m interested in the things people try to hide.
Johnny Depp (via wordsnquotes)
Amélie | dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet | 2001
DoP: Bruno Delbonnel
There is no answer. It’s okay. But even if it wasn’t okay, what am I supposed to do?
Raymond Carver, Cathedral (via quotespile)
And later when we got into the car, he took a turn down a street that I was pretty sure was a dead end. ‘Where are we going?’ I asked. ‘I don’t know,’ he said ‘just driving.’ ‘But this road doesn’t go anywhere,’ I told him. ‘That doesn’t matter.’ ‘What does?’ I asked, after a little while. ‘Just that we’re on it, dude.’
Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero (via quotespile)
Clue (1985) dir. Jonathan Lynn