8 years ago
Second Criterion (10 posts found)
The Second Criterion: ‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s depiction of the trial of Joan of Arc delves into themes of faith, conviction and persecution. While rooted in historical events, the film’s style heightens and elevates the psychological suffering, the religious ideas and the positions o...
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The Second Criterion: ‘Three Colors: White’
One of the highest ideas of a free society is equality. Krzysztof Kieslowski’s second entry in the thematic Three Colors trilogy delves into this concept, turning this virtue on its head. While I would be skeptical to call this film autobiographical (I think C...
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The Second Criterion: ‘Wise Blood’
“No man with a good car needs to be justified!” Hazel Motes (Brad Dourif) spits his new gospel of a world that never fell and a man that never needs to be saved in the thick of America’s Bible belt. For those unfamiliar with the theological vernacular, Wise Bl...
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The Second Criterion: ‘Taste of Cherry’
In the hands of a director who wanted to use the medium of film to lecture to his or her audience, Taste of Cherry would be a film that answered the question of why life is worth living. Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami gives his audience space. He tries not ...
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The Second Criterion: ‘Yojimbo’
While set in Japan, Yojimbo is a Western. It carries many of the tropes of the America genre, but with some noticeable differences. Although the change in geographical location, culture and time certainly add texture to the film, it’s not what makes Yojimbo di...
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The Second Criterion: ‘M’
M is a challenging film. It presents its audience with a man who commits the most heinous act imaginable: the killing (as well as implied molesting) of young girls. The police and the people seek to bring this man to justice. But first they must find the man. ...
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The Second Criterion: ‘The Seventh Seal’
Everybody dies. The great mystery, the question people ask, is what happens after death. How you answer it (or, in many cases, ignore it) might be the most defining trait of how you see and think about the world. It certainly is for the characters of The Seven...
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The Second Criterion: ‘Days of Heaven’
In any Terrence Malick film, themes are essential to understanding his film. While his later work are overt about their ideas -- The Tree of Life presents the entire thesis of the film in voiceover -- Days of Heaven is the film I’ve always found his most diffi...
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The Second Criterion: ‘Paris, Texas’
In Paris, Texas, Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) is defined by the pain of the past. In the opening shot, the desolation of the desert surrounds him as his weary eyes gaze ahead. It’s clear he's in deep pain, but as the film evolves, we discover that Travis has al...
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The Second Criterion: ‘Black Narcissus’
While ideas of culture and religion are important to Black Narcissus, the more I watch the film, the more I see these ideas as a means for the film to explore the tension between discipline and desire. The cultural conflict between the West and the East, the c...
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