Aesthetic analysis and critical perspectives on cinema and the moving image, from classical film to contemporary visual culture.
John M. Stahl What Stahl’s Restraint Reveals: Emotion Arranged in Space, Before the Color Arrived After the rain, the street holds a peculiar light. The asphalt, still damp, absorbs the color of the sky and reflects it back with a darker, deeper sheen. The films of John M. Stahl often bring that surface to mind. … Read more
Douglas Sirk The Red Curtain in the Window: How Sirk Turned Color into an Architecture of Confinement A red curtain hangs by the window, stirring slightly in the wind.Light passes through the fabric and spills across the room like fire.The figure on screen does not speak. She merely turns her head for a moment. And … Read more