I love slow cinema. I love it because it's exactly what you describe: a bodily experience. It's also spatial. I love it because it gives me an opportunity to fixate on meaningless minutiae in a totally relaxed setting. I achieved a similar feeling from this video--beautifully written and presented, absorbing and relaxing - Tom xx
I focused more on time than space because I find time to be the common denominator with all of the directors I mentioned, but there’s definitely a lot to be said about the use of long takes and/or wide shots in relation to spatiality! I may touch on this in a future video.
"A movie itself is a journey. It drives us towards different dramatic points. Along the way to the points are fillers that function like mini-destinations. The more seamless a filmmaker fills the path and makes the audience forget about time, the closer he or she is to the ‘art’ of filmmaking. At the core, the costumer, the make-up artist, the boom man, the lighting team, the editor, the musician, and so on, all work hard to propel the audience to the destinations." - Apichatpong Weerasethakul Thanks for essay!
Video davvero ben scritto e montato. Il cinema lento è l'essenza del cinema per me. Unico neo: la tua voce è molto sussiegosa e l'accento terribilmente snervante! Ovviamente non sono nessuno per criticare, ma prendila come una percezione soggettiva volta alla costruttività. Libero di realizzare i tuoi saggi come preferisci, naturalmente! Se l'effetto era voluto, mi taccio. Iscritto, spero di vedere altro!
Here from Letterboxd. This must be the long awaited video you were talking about. Like how you read every director's name in their native accent so breezily. I would've bitten my tongue, if I tried pronouncing Weerasethakul lol. Never really thought about "Why is slow cinema?". That was most interesting part here, because I always approached it just as director intended. Quality work brother👏
I followed your Letterboxd for a while but I didn't know you have a UA-cam channel. Great job, Frank! Tbh I found this video randomly and I recognized it's yours based on the thumbnail.
Nice video. I would add select movies by Michael Haneke and Paul Schrader to your list. I've found something of value in every movie I've seen made in this style. There was a very long take during Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell depicting a group drinking and eating in a tented market/eatery area. Cigarette smoke drifted into this static frame, and I realized soon after that I was holding my breath so that I wouldn't inhale any smoke, a smell and taste I find repellent. Simply put---every edit is a suspension of disbelief and slow cinema movies can feel very real and immersive and immediate for having fewer cuts and showing long, uninterrupted realities. During the best movies and sequences, the mundane often takes on significance and window for inspection and introspection rather than a narrative is presented to the viewer.
Love this essay and have it in 'bookmarks' to get back to. Thanks a lot for putting it in, this is my guide to slow cinema and I go back to it to recap some things and to look for movies/directors to watch :)
Just found out your channel and im in love with the content 😭💖im also a cinema student and your repertoire surely is going to help me a lot!! Thanks for the work!!
Hi! There's a list of over 100 Slow Cinema films that I linked in the descriptions. As for introductory ones, that's really hard to say, it all depends on your tastes - However, I do recommed you start with directors whose films have a shorter runtime! Tsai Ming-liang is often between 90 minutes and 2 hours, as is Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Béla Tarr and Lav Diaz are some of the harder to get into, since their films are several hours long.
I love slow cinema. I love it because it's exactly what you describe: a bodily experience. It's also spatial. I love it because it gives me an opportunity to fixate on meaningless minutiae in a totally relaxed setting. I achieved a similar feeling from this video--beautifully written and presented, absorbing and relaxing - Tom xx
I focused more on time than space because I find time to be the common denominator with all of the directors I mentioned, but there’s definitely a lot to be said about the use of long takes and/or wide shots in relation to spatiality! I may touch on this in a future video.
"A movie itself is a journey. It drives us towards different dramatic points. Along the way to the points are fillers that function like mini-destinations. The more seamless a filmmaker fills the path and makes the audience forget about time, the closer he or she is to the ‘art’ of filmmaking. At the core, the costumer, the make-up artist, the boom man, the lighting team, the editor, the musician, and so on, all work hard to propel the audience to the destinations." - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Thanks for essay!
Video davvero ben scritto e montato. Il cinema lento è l'essenza del cinema per me. Unico neo: la tua voce è molto sussiegosa e l'accento terribilmente snervante! Ovviamente non sono nessuno per criticare, ma prendila come una percezione soggettiva volta alla costruttività. Libero di realizzare i tuoi saggi come preferisci, naturalmente! Se l'effetto era voluto, mi taccio. Iscritto, spero di vedere altro!
Here from Letterboxd. This must be the long awaited video you were talking about.
Like how you read every director's name in their native accent so breezily. I would've bitten my tongue, if I tried pronouncing Weerasethakul lol. Never really thought about "Why is slow cinema?". That was most interesting part here, because I always approached it just as director intended. Quality work brother👏
This was a very good essay, I added some of the directors films you mentioned, slow cinema if that’s the name or not is truly digital art
I followed your Letterboxd for a while but I didn't know you have a UA-cam channel. Great job, Frank!
Tbh I found this video randomly and I recognized it's yours based on the thumbnail.
Nice video. I would add select movies by Michael Haneke and Paul Schrader to your list.
I've found something of value in every movie I've seen made in this style. There was a very long take during Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell depicting a group drinking and eating in a tented market/eatery area. Cigarette smoke drifted into this static frame, and I realized soon after that I was holding my breath so that I wouldn't inhale any smoke, a smell and taste I find repellent.
Simply put---every edit is a suspension of disbelief and slow cinema movies can feel very real and immersive and immediate for having fewer cuts and showing long, uninterrupted realities. During the best movies and sequences, the mundane often takes on significance and window for inspection and introspection rather than a narrative is presented to the viewer.
Love this essay and have it in 'bookmarks' to get back to. Thanks a lot for putting it in, this is my guide to slow cinema and I go back to it to recap some things and to look for movies/directors to watch :)
Just found out your channel and im in love with the content 😭💖im also a cinema student and your repertoire surely is going to help me a lot!! Thanks for the work!!
Love this, very well made, wouldn’t mind seeing more 😆
Great and informative content, thanks for sharing all this film knowledge! I'll sure check out your other content, keep it going
Amazing work Francesco!!
Great video ! Love your essay in the style of Mark Cousins The Story of Film: An Odyssey : )
Love this. Please make more.
loved that you picked Days as your thumbnail. lol
Gorgeous. Thank you
Loved your video.
Great video, thank you!
beautifully explained! thank you so much~
Thank you
This is a wonderful video essay and thanks for including a woman director Chantel i subscribed
Hey, could you perhaps provide a small list of films which could serve as a nice introduction to slow cinema?
Hi! There's a list of over 100 Slow Cinema films that I linked in the descriptions. As for introductory ones, that's really hard to say, it all depends on your tastes - However, I do recommed you start with directors whose films have a shorter runtime! Tsai Ming-liang is often between 90 minutes and 2 hours, as is Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Béla Tarr and Lav Diaz are some of the harder to get into, since their films are several hours long.
When I hear slow cinema I see Lee Kang-sheng’s face.