Of Love and Other Demons: Ideal Love in Cinema
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Justine Peres Smith
Justine Smith (@redroomrantings) lives and writes in Montreal, Quebec. She has a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies and a passionate hunger for all kinds of cinema. Along with writing for Vague Visages, she has written for Vice Canada, Cleo: A Feminist Journal and Little White Lies Magazine.
Locarno 2015: ‘I Remember Nothing’ (Zia Anger, 2015)
“Creating something beyond just an experience of mood and sensuality, Zia Anger offers a film that is consistently engaging and fun.”
Of Love and Other Demons (From Locarno 2015): Peckinpah and Sex Part 3 – ‘Straw Dogs’
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Locarno 2015: ‘88:88’ (Isiah Medina, 2015)
“The style of 88:88 has been compared to Jean-Luc Godard, specifically his recent projects like Film Socialisme (2010) and Adieu au langage (2014). What sets this film apart from Godard is an intimacy approaching a breach of privacy.”
Locarno 2015: ‘La vallée’ (Barbet Schroeder, 1972)
“La vallée is not an entirely successful film, largely because of its limp energy and problematic ideological frameworks. It is, however, intensely bizarre and a fascinating portrait of a particular time and place.”
Locarno 2015: ‘Right Now, Wrong Then’ (Hong Sang-Soo, 2015)
“Even seasoned film writers struggle to put into words the enduring appeal of Hong Sang-Soo.”
Of Love and Other Demons: Sam Peckinpah and Sex – ‘The Getaway’
“Of all Sam Peckinpah’s films, the violence in ‘The Getaway’ often strikes me as the most senseless.”
Locarno 2015: ‘Chevalier’ (Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2015)
“Masculinity has been the love-theme of this year’s edition of Locarno, and Chevalier further indulges in the dank impulses and fragility of the male ego.”
Locarno 2015: ‘Cosmos’ (Andrzej Zulawski, 2015)
“Cosmos feels more like a parody of Zulawski’s work than a larger part of it.”
Of Love and Other Demons: Sam Peckinpah and Sex – ‘The Ballad of Cable Hogue’
“Cable Hogue ogles and desires Hildy because she appeals to him sexually: there are no shades of grey here, no self-reflection. In the world of Peckinpah, sex is often just sex.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Black Orpheus’ (Marcel Camus, 1959)
“‘Black Orpheus’ embraces sex as multiplicitous. This somehow makes the love more noble, because it is not confused with lust, and sex becomes a celebration rather than a symbol of it.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Mamma Roma’ (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962)
“Pasolini suggests in ‘Mamma Roma’ that the spiritual beauty of humanity often emerges from vulgarity and contradiction.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Tabu’ (Miguel Gomes, 2012)
“The strength of ‘Tabu’ lies in how powerfully sex is captured, offering aural and visual textures that inspire sensorial memories.”
Game of Thrones Recap: ‘Mother’s Mercy’
“Game of Thrones may disappear from the conversation for brief lulls, but it always returns with full force — it is doing something right.”
Recap: Game of Thrones ‘The Dance of Dragons’
“Now in its fifth season, Game of Thrones has long settled in the category of dread built on anticipation.”
Recap: Game of Thrones ‘The Gift’
“The threat of rape hangs over all the women of Game of Thrones, and it is beginning to weigh on the audience.”
Recap: Game of Thrones ‘Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken’
“Rape is often portrayed as worse than death in popular culture, and unfortunately Game of Thrones uses it often as a device with little framing or exploration.”
Recap: Game of Thrones ‘Sons of the Harpy’
“Maybe our great mistake is believing that Game of Thrones obeys mythological standards rather than refuting them — or believing that just one man will stand, if it will be a man at all.”
Recap: Game of Thrones ‘High Sparrow’
“Unlike fairy tales where the prince and princess get married and live ‘happily ever after,’ for many (particularly women), a Game of Thrones union marks the beginning of tragedy.”
Recap: Game of Thrones ‘The House of Black and White’
“The House of Black and White contains natural beauty and rich compositions that rival the best of cinema.”