Jane Campion: A Girl’s Own Story (short film)
"Jane Campion has been a dominant force in world cinema for nearly two decades. Shot delicately in black-and-white, A Girl's Own Story is an early short film that traces the stories of three suburban teenage girls (Pam, Gloria and Stella) in 1960's Australia. It deals with the difficulties of burgeoning sexuality, incest, friendship and family against the backdrop of Beatlemania and an era that valued the isolating notions of purity and wholesomeness over honesty and acceptance."
(Anton de Lonno 11 July 2010, Senses of Cinema)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Wild Strawberries: expressionistic and Freudian dream sequences
"There are other Expressionist and certainly Freudian dream sequences in the picture, almost always with the old man appearing in them as his present self. And some of these, largely because so many have badly copied, now look a little self-conscious- arty even. But the film's ability to engage the emotions makes it notable for more than just technique.
One of the prime reasons is what can only be described as the transcendent performance of Victor Sjostrom as Professor Borg. Sjostrom was the great Swedish silent-era director, who died aged 80, not long after the film was completed and whose The Phantom Carriage had so influenced Bergman. It was he who made the final scene one of the most serene of all Bergman's endings. 'Sjostrom's face shone', said the director. 'It emanated light - a reflection of a different reality, hitherto absent. His whole appearance was soft and gentle, his glance joyful and tender. It was like a miracle'.
Later, Bergman admitted that the character of Borg was an attempt to justify himself to his own parents, but that Sjostrom had taken his text, made it his own and invested it with Sjostrom's often painful experiences. It is still, however, chiefly concerned with forgiveness between parents and children and the lost possibilities of youth."
(Derek Malcolm, 10 June 1999)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
What Dreams May Come: imagining a painted world through vfx
"Ward's 'What Dreams May Come,' starring Robin Williams was nominated for production design in addition to winning an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. The film, tells an epic love story of soul mates separated by death. The story would inspire Ward to envision the afterlife as a painted world, incorporating state-of-the-art, adapted, and entirely new visual effects technologies in an original, fully articulated, filmic view of imagined realms that may await us after death."
(Saville Productions)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari / The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is the first modern Horror Film and it influence a number of contemporary productions."
Robert Wiene (1920). "Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari / The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari".
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
