iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Farran Smith Nehme 🇱🇧 @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

PRAISE BE TO THE CINEMA GODS!! 2026 IS REDEEMED! 🙏

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John Bleasdale @www.johnbleasdale.com · 03/10/2026

By the way pals Writers on Film breezed past its 300th episode without much fanfare a few weeks ago. I really have no time to promote the show at all! But I am hugely grateful to those who listen and the guests who come on podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/w...

podcasts.apple.com

Writers on Film

TV & Film Podcast · Updated weekly · Writers on Film is the only podcast to focus on film books and to talk to the best authors working in the area of cinema. From Making Of tomes to biographies, stud...

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I stand by my hot take in this podcast: ‘Sixty years before Thelma and Louise, there was East Lynne…’ Don’t be put off by the compromised state of this film as it appears on YouTube – it’s very watchable, and a fascinating example of subversive pre-code attitudes to marriage and adultery.

theoscarproject.substack.com

4.61-East Lynne with Lewis Beer

Today’s episode is my conversation about the 1931 film East Lynne. I’m joined by Lewis Beer from the Slow Movie Pictures newsletter and we talk about some drastic changes the film made from the source...

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tnyfrontrow.bsky.social @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Visconti may be the diametrical opposite of Antonioni in the postwar Italian cinematic pantheon, but the film that his 1951 melodrama Bellissima (opening Friday at @filmforumnyc.bsky.social in a new restoration) is closely related to (and maybe inspired?) is The Lady Without Camelias:

newyorker.com

DVD of the Week: “Bellissima”

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JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

LA NOTTE (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961, rewatch). Fabulous to see this on the big screen yesterday, which really accentuated how unsettling and discordant the sound design is here (especially in the first hour). Rarely have urban alienation, ennui and disaffection looked so stylish. #FilmSky

A black and white shot from the film showing Marcello Mastroianni looking at Monica Vitti from behind. Her eyes are downcast and she looks sad / wistful. They are at a party - he’s wearing a suit and tie and she’s wearing a black cocktail dress with spaghetti straps.

Marcello is sitting on the grass next to Jeanne Moreau and kissing her hand.. He’s wearing the same suit as before, while she’s wearing a black slip with spaghetti straps.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Great review of an early Antonioni that deserves more love. I kind of disagree about Clara being naïve and complicit; I think the film is more absolute in its insistence on both her victimhood and her lucidity. From start to finish, she is self-aware and powerless in ways that Gianni is not.

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Mad Scholar Frights @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

THREAD: I got laid off from NYMag/Vulture after 14 years. The family lost 75% of income + medical. Now mzs.press bookstore, once a side project. is do-or-die for Judith & I. I feel weird telling you this because others are doing much worse. But if you could like or share this, we'd be so grateful!

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David M Rubin @six18sfoundry.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Watching Chantal Akerman watch. Camera placed. Events stream by. These 4 random moments from first ~4 minutes of Les rendez-vous d’Anna

Station w tracks on either side of staircase going down w train schedule listed. Yellow phone booth beyond

Same exact shot w crowd heading down stairs and train on right side

Same shot. People gone. Woman enters phone booth. Train at right now

Sad w train pulling away and woman walking towards us

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Frances Marion called the Oscar statuette 'a perfect symbol of the picture business: a powerful athletic body clutching a gleaming sword, but with half of his head, the part that holds his brains, completely sliced off.’ Then she won an Oscar for The Big House. Someone should make a film about her.

open.substack.com

4.15-The Big House with Lewis Beer

Today’s episode is my conversation about the 1930 film The Big House. I’m joined by Lewis Beer who writes the Slow Moving Pictures newsletter, and we talk about the key themes that weave throughout th...

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

The 'safe space' created by content warnings is one where people can confront difficult topics honestly because they have opted in - they have agency. Otherwise, in my experience, they tend to bottle up their feelings and/or use defensive humour, resulting in an oppressive space and a boring one.

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Tom Reagan’s Witch’s Hat @rufustsuperfly.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Balls. I gave my students content warnings before films because I’ve seen what happens when I don’t and students would have panic attacks or worse in my room because of PTSD.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

The blue surfaces and fabrics in Mantoa’s bedroom (in This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection) make an indelible impression on the viewer. This room is like a microcosm of the Plains of Weeping: the richly textured colours have so much history buried (and resurrected) in them.

From Lemohang Mosese's This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection: a medium shot of Mantoa sitting on the edge of her bed; she is framed by blue drapes hanging on either side, and behind her is a dark blue wall.

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Frances Evangelista @nonsuchbook.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

“My friend, Pasolini says, we are demonstrating that facts are immaterial in fascism, that truth is dead, that meaning is on a permanent migration. I think we are engaged in honorable work.”

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Frances Evangelista @nonsuchbook.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Fellini and Pasolini’s favourite costume designer was a movie hero in his own right, says the novelist. www.ft.com/content/4b2e...

ft.com

Olivia Laing on Danilo Donati, ‘the secret magician of Italian cinema’

Fellini and Pasolini’s favourite costume designer was a movie hero in his own right, says the novelist

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phiiphalpenny.bsky.social @philiphalpenny.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Yes, Frank Ross' collapse into paroxysms of pain in 'Each Dawn I Die' recalls the raw emotion of Cagney in several films; 'Taxi', 'The Crowd Roars', 'Angels With Dirty Faces', 'The Roaring Twenties & ,of course, the astonishing grief scene in 'White Heat;. The Irish in him!

media.tenor.com

a black and white photo of a man with a black eye and a beard .

ALT: a black and white photo of a man with a black eye and a beard .

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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Francis Ford Coppola's top choice for ‘Hyman Roth’ in THE GODFATHER: PART II (1974) was the great James Cagney. Coppola even went to Cagney's house to discuss the role, but Cagney couldn’t be tempted, passed on it & of course it went to Pacino’s old acting teacher Lee Strasberg.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

James Cagney in Each Dawn I Die: as an innocent man framed for manslaughter, he shows how integrity and a strong will are no match for relentless isolation and punishment. Cagney is best known for playing tough guys (on either side of the law), but he was also a consummate gibbering wreck.

From William Keighley's Each Dawn I Die: a medium close-up of James Cagney chained to the bars of his solitary cell, yelling defiantly at the warden.

From William Keighley's Each Dawn I Die: a medium close-up of James Cagney as he receives a visit from his mother; unable to watch her cry, he clenches his eyes shut.

From William Keighley's Each Dawn I Die: a medium close-up of James Cagney, seen over George Bancroft's shoulder; he is unshaven and dishevelled after months in solitary; he bares his teeth furiously and jabs his finger at the warden.

From William Keighley's Each Dawn I Die: a medium shot of James Cagney breaking down during his parole hearing, clutching the table and sobbing violently as he cries, 'I can't do any more time!'

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

In this scene from Midnight Run, Robert De Niro conveys so much through his awkward small-talk with his daughter (‘Are you in the eighth grade?’), while Charles Grodin suggests the growing empathy between him and his captor by shutting up for a change and looking tactfully at the ceiling.

From Martin Brest's Midnight Run: Jack (Robert De Niro) and the Duke (Charles Grodin) are in the house of Jack's ex-wife; Jack is trying to talk to his daughter (out of focus in the foreground), while the Duke gives them space and looks at his surroundings.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Look at the care and tenderness with which Edward G. Robinson lights Fred MacMurray’s cigarette. Double Indemnity is about the loneliness of its three central characters; it’s about those small moments (in between the snappy dialogue) when they express emotion without verbalising it.

From Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity: Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) lights Walter Neff's (Fred MacMurray) cigarette as the latter lies sprawled out in an open doorway.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Phyllis Dietrichson, in Double Indemnity, is no ordinary femme fatale: beneath the scheming, evil exterior is a deeply lonely, vulnerable person who doesn’t know what she’s doing or why she’s doing it. Barbara Stanwyck plays both sides of the character with total conviction, and she breaks my heart.

From Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity: a medium close-up (over Walter Neff's shoulder) of Phyllis Dietrichson looking intensely into Walter's eyes, as she tries to explain why she 'couldn't fire that second shot.'

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Carl Dreyer’s films are about bodies and how they interact through the medium of art. Mikaël shines a light on a painting of his own naked body; Countess Zamikow looks from the painting to his (clothed) body, but ‘sees’ what is beneath the clothes.

From Carl Dreyer’s Mikaël (a.k.a. Michael): a medium close-up of Mikaël (Walter Slezak) holding a light, just out of frame, and looking towards the camera.

From Carl Dreyer’s Mikaël (a.k.a. Michael): a medium close-up of Countess Zamikow (Nora Gregor) looking from the illuminated painting towards Mikaël, her eyes directed downwards to the lower part of his body.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Carl Dreyer’s films are about looking: he cuts off part of the frame to isolate Nora Gregor’s eyes, and gradually brings Walter Slezak into focus as his paintbrush replicates those eyes on a canvas. How do you show (to the viewer) the 'look' of another person?

From Carl Dreyer’s Mikaël (a.k.a. Michael): a close-up of Nora Gregor, with the frame cut off from her nose downwards and blackness obscuring her hair, isolating her eyes and forehead.

From Carl Dreyer’s Mikaël (a.k.a. Michael): Walter Slezak, slightly out of focus as the camera dollies towards him, stands against a black void and reaches out of frame with his right hand to apply paint to a canvas.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Carl Dreyer’s films are about light and darkness. Benjamin Christensen stands, in focus, before his out-of-focus painting. Then the focus shifts, a shadow descends, and he is subsumed into the old man on the canvas: the painting shows his feelings more vividly than his 'real' self ever could.

From Carl Dreyer’s Mikaël: a medium shot of Claude Zoret, standing in front of his painting of Job (an old man on a desolate patch of land, prostrate on the ground and clutching his chest in agony).

A moment later, the light shining on Zoret has been switched off, leaving him in darkness, and the painting in the background has been brought into sharper focus.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Who could forget the giant head-sculpture in Carl Dreyer’s silent masterpiece, Mikaël? No wonder this image resonated with a director so preoccupied with the power of a close-up: he loves to ‘enlarge’ the human head and examine its opaque surfaces.

From Carl Dreyer’s Mikaël (a.k.a. Michael): a wide shot of Claude Zoret (Benjamin Christensen) shaking hands with his banker; they stand in an open doorway, and behind them, in Zoret’s studio, a huge white sculpture of a human head is mounted on a pedestal.

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Equisapien Replicant of the Falcon Cult Replicants @eqspnrplcnt.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Playtime (1967) and Red Desert (1965) were both intended as depictions of alienation from modernity, and are both regarded as visual masterpieces in their respective countries. They both are unintentionally but unavoidably statements about capitalism and environmental destruction.

Giuliana in Red Desert framed by industrial garbage as she searches for something in the distance along a massive red wall

Hulot in Playtime looking down into a grid of high wall cubicles with shut doors bordered by wide hallways, in effect a panopticon

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Brendan Hodges on Yi Yi: 'Indebted to Antonioni’s cinema of alienation, Yang expands La Notte’s modernist maze of distorted bodies and faces across an entire cityscape. There’s an inherent loneliness to these city shots, but a quiet humanism too.'

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

'"I just didn’t think…." is a weak apology but in truth the most accurate explanation for my behavior.' An eloquent summation of what this piece is about: ‘I just didn’t think…[because Rosamond Smith was doing the thinking].’ That last part is elided (...) because the other 'I' is talking now.

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David Hudson @dwhdaily.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

There’s a Visconti retrospective on in Vienna, a newly restored Comencini in NYC, and the Harvard Film Archive will soon be screening films by Antonioni, Olmi, and Bertolucci — www.criterion.com/current/post...

Monica Vitti, looking beautiful and bored in Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’AVVENTURA (1960).

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James Dalrymple @jamesewand.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

First watch: Matewan (1987, written and directed by John Sayles). Extraordinary true story and much more of a neo-western than I was expecting, and admirable for dealing with an issue rarely touched upon in American cinema: namely, class struggle. 1/3

poster for Matewan (1987), written and directed by John Sayles

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

The title sequence of To Sleep with Anger: the warm, familiar domestic space; a creeping sense that something is 'off'; little by little, everything catches fire; but somehow, the fire only lulls us to sleep.

From Charles Burnett's To Sleep with Anger: a wide shot of Gideon (Paul Butler) sitting by a table, on which there is a bowl of fruit; on the wall is an old photograph of a woman.

A close-up of Gideon's shoes (with his feet in them) burning.

A close-up of Gideon's face, his eyes closed as he falls asleep; flames rise from below the frame.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

An especially haunting moment from Carrie: Chris and Billy, watching the aftermath of their prank, are stricken with a kind of blank horror. The split-screen goes beyond the language of shot/reverse-shot. This catastrophe cannot be fully processed by human eyes, or by a single camera-eye.

From Brian de Palma's Carrie: a split-screen image, with a close-up of the blood-soaked, wild-eyed Carrie on the left, and Chris and Billy on the right, spectating the prom scene from their hiding place.

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John Hodson @mgcroadster.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

The director’s personal favourite, there’s something quite Lynchian about 'Shadow Of A Doubt', Hitchcock taking his dead eyed villain out of the rotting carcass of a distinctly seedy New Jersey and setting him down in a cute, folksy California. My review on Letterboxd - boxd.it/cwuN1V #FilmSky

boxd.it

A ★★★★½ review of Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Uncle Charlie: The cities are full of women, middle-aged widows, husbands dead, husbands who've spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. And then they die and leave their money to their...

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Michael Brooke @marbleicehook.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Today's contextual piece in my ongoing Andrzej Wajda survey on Substack is my most self-indulgent to date, but now that I've covered all three films in the 1950s War Trilogy I had an excellent excuse to write about the logistical challenges of planning and recording commentaries for them—with clips.

marbleicehook.substack.com

Talking about Wajda...

Recording commentaries for Second Run's War Trilogy Blu-ray box set

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Apocalypse Later @apoclater.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

This year I'm reviewing films from 1926 on their centennials and the 1st saw a beautifully shot Carl Theodor Dreyer romantic drama set in Norway. As always, comments are welcome. The Bride of Glomdal (1926) www.apocalypselaterfilm.com/2026/01/the-...

Apocalypse Later That's a Wrap! image of the movie poster for The Bride of Glomdal (1926).

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The Quietus @thequietus.com · 07/01/2026

'The Turin Horse is an apocalyptic tale of unrelenting nihilism, suggesting an unholy union of Miklós Jancsó, Antonioni and Beckett. It makes Waiting For Godot seem like an episode of Teletubbies' R.I.P. Béla Tarr buff.ly/Ypzp5G3

Bela Tarr's The Turin Horse black and white still image. Two people sat at a large wooden table, breaking bread.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Why does this image from Blow-Up affect me so deeply? The pervasive green-ness, the distance between the two trees, and the predatory grace with which David Hemmings skips between them – there is a secret, lightly embedded in this sequence, about the nature of loneliness.

From Antonioni's Blow-Up: a high-angle shot of Maryon Park; a large patch of grass fills most of the frame; in the background, a green fence separates the grass from a cluster of green tree-canopies; in the middle-ground, David Hemmings (with his camera) stalks from one tree to the other, staying low to avoid being seen (by the people he is photographing).

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

If you like Antonioni and have a million hours to spare, why not read all 52 parts of my 284,000-word analysis of Red Desert? There are references to 115 other films and 190 non-film sources, so it's only about half as monotonous as it sounds...

slowmovingpictures.org

Everything That Happens in Red Desert

Contents and bibliography

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

‘The blue it speaks so full, it’s like the beauty one can barely stand, or too much things dropped in your hand. And there’s a green like the peace in your heart, sometimes…painted underneath the sheets of ashy snow.’ (Dar Williams, ‘Mark Rothko Song’)

A Mark Rothko painting, known as Green on Blue (1956), University of Arizona Art museum.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

The mythical Room in Stalker: it grants your innermost desire, but do you know what that desire is? Would you want it to be fulfilled? What might that entail, in the ruined world we inhabit? The camera enters the Room and takes us with it, leaving the characters to watch at a safe distance.

From Tarkovsky's Stalker: the camera has dollied backwards into The Room, which is now partially visible to us; we look back at the three men who have travelled here, and who sit at the threshold looking into The Room, or at the floor, or at themselves. The walls and floor of the room are illuminated by a sepia-coloured gloom; the tiled floor is flooded with murky water.

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Radiance Films @filmsradiance.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Visconti captures the agony and ecstasy of infatuation with the exquisite, snow-laced melodrama LE NOTTI BIANCHE. Our Limited Edition is out now, available at both retailers and on our site: www.radiancefilms.co.uk/products/le-...

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

At the end of Red Desert, Valerio points at the poison-smoke: ‘Don’t the little birds die when they fly through it?’ He is not worried - just curious. It is clear from Giuliana’s response that she identifies with those little birds who have learnt to avoid danger. But the danger keeps expanding...

From Antonioni's Red Desert: a wide shot of Giuliana and Valerio standing in a factory courtyard, looking up at the factories; Valerio points at something.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Two meta-cinematic confrontations from Lemohang Mosese: ‘Many saw death, but Ke’moralioamang, Daughter of No One, saw a resurrection.’ (from This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection) ‘I stare into the mirror. Do you know what I see, mother? I see you.’ (from Mother, I Am Suffocating)

From Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese's This Is Not A Burial, It's A Resurrection: Ke’moralioamang, Daughter of No One, stares into the camera lens in an intense medium close-up, with the other villagers standing behind her in an obscure blur.

From Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese's Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You: a child, his face marked by the wool that was tied around it (which has just been unravelled) stares directly into the camera lens in an intense close-up.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

‘Now the painting is desperate but the crowds wash away, in a world of kind pedestrians who’ve seen enough today.’ In the final part of this series, I explain why the ending of Red Desert makes me think of Dar Williams’s Mark Rothko Song, and how ‘desperate’ art has saved my life. #filmsky

slowmovingpictures.org

Everything That Happens in Red Desert (52)

Seen enough today

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Marcello Mastroianni and Monica Vitti in La notte: which of them is behind the glass, and which of them is reflected in it? No matter how many times I watch the film, the answer always surprises me. This is both a profound existential insight and a measure of my poor spatial awareness.

From Antonioni's La notte: inside the Gherardini mansion, we see Giovanni (Marcello Mastroianni) approaching Valentina (Monica Vitti). We are looking at a pane of glass, and Giovanni is behind it - in a moment, he will walk out from behind it to reveal that the image of Valentina is a reflection.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Can you see the human figure in this image from Yi Yi? Edward Yang uses transparent-and-reflective surfaces to show how, in our glass-encased urban environment, we can find ourselves occupying multiple spaces at once – or perhaps, as in this lonely image of a hotel room, a kind of no-space.

From Edward Yang’s Yi Yi: the interior of a hotel room, seen reflected in the interior of the hotel room window; outside, we see the buildings of Tokyo (including the base of the Tokyo Tower), dimly lit but still bright enough to render the reflection of the hotel room obscure; the room’s sole occupant is a black shadow crouched in the middle of the lower part of the frame.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Eiko, in Eros+Massacre, is warned to stop researching the past. She stands in front of a screen on which images of that past are projected: she is part of the historical narrative but also a reminder of its artificiality. As one slide phases into another, she stares into the projector light.

From Yoshida's Eros+Massacre: Eiko, positioned to the right of the frame, stands in front of a screen (that fills the entire frame) on which an image of the Great Kantō earthquake is projected; the image is distorted as the slides change over; Eiko stares at the camera, or at the space just behind it - perhaps at the projector light.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Giuliana stares into the Red Desert; the Red Desert meets her gaze and says, ‘Get out and don’t come back.’ This week, I argue – for about the 51st time – against redemptive interpretations of Antonioni, and draw comparisons with Tarkovsky’s and Mosese’s revelatory endings. #filmsky

slowmovingpictures.org

Everything That Happens in Red Desert (51)

Our place in the red desert

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Genese Grill @genesegrill.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

What is this book, The Man Without Qualities, by Robert Musil? And why might you want to spend a year reading it with me and @samantharhill.bsky.social ? open.substack.com/pub/genesegr...

open.substack.com

The Man Without Qualities

apropos of upcoming reading group with Samantha Rose Hill

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