6 days agoCan We Ever Completely Understand Cinema…?Or do we discover it anew with each film we see? There are those who know. There are those who question. There are those who have nailed down everything. They take it easy as they speak. …Cinema5 min readCinema5 min read
Jan 4Movies and the ‘Passive Protagonist’…How the Shibboleths of Filmmaking Education Shut Down the Filmmaker. Upon watching Colm Bairéad’s remarkable feature debut The Quiet Girl, its central, almost silent young protagonist powerless to act in the face of the situation in which she finds herself, I was struck by what so many filmmaking educators would…Filmmaking5 min readFilmmaking5 min read
Nov 29, 2022Cinema’s Outwards and Inwards Filmmakers.Life. Myth. People. Soul. The Real. The True. Mike Leigh says films should be about ‘real people’. Presumably, he’s arguing against the confections of the mainstream, the heroes and villains of the Manichaean escapism pervading much of it. It’s the ‘real people’ he cites, with their vulnerabilities, shortcomings, illusions, needs…Filmmaking5 min readFilmmaking5 min read
Nov 9, 2022Emptiness—Cinema’s Mesmerism of AbsenceA Film’s Universe Beyond Character and Action Some filmmakers have itchy fingers. An event finishes/An event begins. ‘Cut to the chase!’ ‘The story must move on!’ We’ve heard it all. The ‘industry professional’ speaks. Something must always be happening. It’s a one-size-fits-all screen in the cult of one individual slogging…Cinema4 min readCinema4 min read
Oct 17, 2022In an elevator with Harold PinterThe pause was Pinteresque Once, at the BBC Rehearsal Rooms in North Acton, London, I traveled several precious floors in an elevator with the great playwright and screenwriter Harold Pinter — master of the pregnant pause. Nothing was said, although I wanted to say so much. Nothing could be said…Filmmaking4 min readFilmmaking4 min read
Sep 12, 2022Peter and the Wolff: When the Actor Possesses the Frame.Not part of a filmmaking institution these days, I teach mainly the aspects of filmmaking I most care about: story, storytelling, the language and practical aesthetics of the screen, while I emphasize also the imperatives of ‘The Three M’s’ — mischief, magic, and mystery. I don’t venture forth on the…Filmmaking4 min readFilmmaking4 min read
Sep 6, 2022Notes and Heresies for the Young FilmmakerWith gratitude to the young for teaching me. · Know your story. · Tell your story. · Do what works. · Be mischievous. · Discover! · Don’t think like everyone else. · Don’t talk like everyone else. · Join no club. · Learn from the wisdom of the generations. ·…Filmmaking4 min readFilmmaking4 min read
Aug 9, 2022Conflict, Friction, Tension in CinemaWhat is it a film needs in order to work? ‘Drama’, commented Alexander Mackendrick, ‘is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.’ How often, here in the US, have we been told that drama in the movies is about conflict. Conflict, conflict, conflict was all I heard over the years of my film…Cinema6 min readCinema6 min read
Mar 8, 2022An Interview on Filmmaking and TeachingAn Interview on Filmmaking and Teaching Being with Anthony Minghella on his 9 Academy Award English Patient, working with Martin Scorsese, teaching as learning. This interview with me was carried out by Sunny Xiang of Global Entertainment, LA in February 2020. SY: Could you share your experience of working with…Filmmaking14 min readFilmmaking14 min read
Feb 3, 2022The Two Conversations of the Filmmaker…with the most demanding interlocutors… As you make your film, who is it that you talk to? Okay, so there are the conversations with the writer (if they’re not you), plus those in prep, during production, in post — in other words the constant, ongoing, to-and-fro conversations with your team…Filmmaking6 min readFilmmaking6 min read