KINO OBSCURA

FIRST/FINAL FRAMES: STANLEY KUBRICK

NARRATOR: There is war in this forest. Not a war that’s been fought, or one that will be, but any war. And the enemies who struggle here do not exist, unless we call them into being. This forest, then, and all that happens now, is outside history. Only the unchanging shapes of fear and doubt and death are from our world.

Fear and Desire | 1953

ALICE: Maybe, I think, we should be grateful. Grateful that we’ve managed to survive through all of our adventures. Whether they were real, or only a dream.
BILL: Are you sure of that?
ALICE: Only as sure as I am that the reality of one night, let alone a whole lifetime, can ever be the whole truth.
BILL: And no dream is ever just a dream.
ALICE: The important thing is, we’re awake now. And hopefully, for a long time to come.
BILL: Forever?
ALICE: Forever.
BILL: Forever.
ALICE: (beat) Let’s not use that word. It frightens me. But I do love you. And you know, there's something very important that we need to do as soon as possible.
BILL: What’s that?
ALICE: Fuck.

Eyes Wide Shut | 1999

TYPOGRAPHY: JOHN HUSTON (1952-1963)

The Films of 2019

David Liu | 1 January 2020

Uncut Gems | Josh & Benny Safdie

A balls-to-the-wall fever dream of a movie, launched into the ether by a career-best turn from Adam Sandler (and Kevin Garnett — playing himself!) Cineastes like to talk about the Safdies as love children of Scorsese and Cassavetes, but to hell with cross-generational comparisons. After a decade of reinventing New York movies, they’ve given us the best film about greed since There Will Be Blood.

Atlantics (Atlantique) | Mati Diop

Part coming-of-age romance, part police procedural, part supernatural folk tale, Mati Diop’s stunning feature debut ultimately evolves into something else altogether: a tragedy of epic scale played out in the most intimate of settings. Expertly blending verité and expressionism, Diop’s direction breathes life into a time and place long gone — or maybe still to come.

The Souvenir | Joanna Hogg

Both a daring act of remembering and a poignant deconstruction of what is remembered, Hogg’s portrait of the artist as a young woman is also the most terrifying study of addiction and co-dependency in recent memory. Honor Swinton Byrne carries her own as the lead, a young film student who comes of age through her unwavering faith in the therapeutic power of cinema. The final minutes are tremendous.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu) | Celine Sciamma

What would cinema had been like if it was invented a century earlier? How would it have moved? How might it have made us feel? Sciamma makes you wonder. Noémie Merlant and Adele Haenel stun as Marianne and Heloise, whose tryst on an island off the coast of western France is immortalized through a fiery storm of art, music, literature, words, and expressions. It’s cinema at its most sacred — a secret shared.

I Lost My Body (J'ai perdu mon corps) | Jeremy Clapin

A pair of parallel storylines — one of a young boy coming of age, another of his severed adult hand making its way across Paris — drives the year’s most original animation. Frame by frame, Clapin and screenwriter Guillaume Laurant build a haunting ode to loneliness, loss, and the strange, restorative power of simple words and gestures. At the very least, it might change your opinion of pizza delivery drivers forever.