397. Mulholland Dr.
Puzzling audiences ever since it premiered at Cannes in 2001, David Lynch’s dark masterpiece seems to address the abuse of women in the film industry.
Tag Archives: Surrealism
348. The Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
Of the four adaptations of Octave Mirbeau’s controversial novel, Luis Buñuel’s version is by far the most faithful… and radical.
296. Un Chien Andalou
This film lasts seventeen minutes, features mutilation, insects and dismemberment. Yet it is one of the most influential ever made.
284. Belle de Jour
Long thought to be a satire on bourgeoise marriage, Luis Buñuel’s masterpiece is really a study of the traumas suffered by a sexual assault victim.
252. Freeze-Frame
Once considered avant-garde, freeze-frame is now common place in every genre. Here are some of landmark and innovative uses of the technique.
235. Persona
In a career that spanned over sixty years, forty films and a dozen masterpieces, Persona is the most unusual film in Ingmar Bergman’s canon.
223. Pan’s Labyrinth
Guillermo del Toro says he is “in love with monsters.” In Pan’s Labyrinth, set in the Spanish Civil War, he uses them to navigate history and the world.
196. Blue Velvet
David Lynch’s shocking and mesmerising look at suburbia’s underbelly also showed he could turn popular music into a nightmare.
180. The Elephant Man
To call David Lynch a surrealist is to misses the point. This masterpiece proved he is one of cinema’s great humanists.
151. Drive
Nicolas Winding Refn’s film focuses on Ryan Gosling’s nameless getaway driver. But its best scene involves a vehicle of an entirely different kind.
122. Under The Skin
It took Jonathan Glazer over ten years to bring Under the Skin to the screen, but with that long gestation he might just have delivered the film of the decade.
97. The English Patient
Lyrical language and elliptical plotting can work in a novel, but not necessarily in cinema. Does The English Patient succeed?
Inception
This video-essay on Christopher Nolan’s Inception examines the themes of time and memory which serve as twin anchors to the film’s plot. These elements are also central to surrealism and the way it depicts dreams.
56. Surrealism in Cinema
Originally, surrealism set out to shock. But it has become such a normal element in cinema, has it lost its original power?
The Silence of the Lambs
This video-essay on Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs examines the phenomenon of looking and shows how central it is to the horror genre.
20. Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemary’s Baby was controversial before it was made. Inspired by a real-life Satanist, a sinister aura has hung around it ever since its release in 1968.
