In English

VIDEO-ESSAY. Deformative criticism is a playful approach to film analysis that creates a new aesthetic object from the film being analysed. In 'No Voiding Time’, Alan O’Leary divides Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice into its individual component shots on four screens and treats the sound for musicality rather than sense. The result is an absurdist artefact that celebrates an already perplexing film.

IN ENGLISH. Chris Marker’s La jetée (1962) has intrigued many critics, who have for the most part focused on the narrative and the form of the film. Instead of pursuing this angle, Sébastien Doubinsky explores how La jetéequestions the notions of memory, history and power through an artificial construction that goes against the conventional definition of a moving picture.

FEATURE. Desire takes many forms on the silver screen - but how does the erotic manifest itself in a system of strict censorship? Amanda Curdt-Christiansen proposes an alternative appraisal of cinematic depictions of sex in mainland China and Hong Kong, with an appreciation for ongoing tensions beneath the gaze of the ever dominant Party.

IN ENGLISH. What makes some bad films “so-bad-they’re-good”? In our latest article, Marc Hye-Knudsen and Mathias Clasen shed light on the paradoxical appeal of bad films by bringing contemporary humor research and cognitive film theory to bear on Tommy Wiseau’s cult classic The Room, often heralded as “the best worst movie ever made.”

IN ENGLISH. For more than 40 years, John Williams's Star Wars main title music has remained one of our most popular pieces of symphonic film music. This is the story of its very first recording, used in the film and on the soundtrack album. Subjected to reconception, deconstruction, suppression and restoration, this the most celebrated recording has led a surprisingly eventful commercial career.

IN ENGLISH. In the fierce competition of the streaming giants, original content is a key battleground. However, labels may be deceptive. Arguing that consumption modes help shape storytelling strategies, Søren Bastholm explores the two alleged ‘Netflix Originals’ – Mindhunter and Manhunt: Unabomber – and the differences between the show Netflix commissioned and the one Netflix picked up after its premiere.

INTERVIEW. Tim Hunter is an esteemed film and TV director who began his career as a writer of independent movies, before going on to become one of the most famous episode directors in American television. 16:9 met him in Los Angeles for a talk about his career, about the film and television industries, about his predilection for stories and film history and about the changes in the mediascape. Fittingly, the interview is lengthy, inclusive and anecdotal, forming a sort of double feature that tells the small story of one director and writer in Hollywood and a larger story of Hollywood itself and the changes in the industry.

IN ENGLISH. Preparing a book on sound design in films and television, Andreas Halskov has talked with Walter Murch about film sound, listening and technology, focusing on Murch’s sonic inventiveness and his long-standing collaborations with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.

IN ENGLISH. Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a Thai filmmaker, but his work seems to exist exclusively in the consciousness of those outside his native land. In this feature, Rasmus Helms explores the director’s unique cinematic voice.

IN ENGLISH. Kenji Mizoguchi remains as one of Japan’s most accomplished filmmakers. His work called upon a number of influences, not just from his cinematic peers, but also from his own culture. One such influence which was prevalent throughout his life as a director was the Japanese theatre, particularly traditional noh theatre which was used as both a stylistic and narrative device. In our latest article, Paul Spicer explores this relationship by examining two of his most important works of the 1950s.