The Big Picture Magazine
Before the minimalism of the 2010s, there was the minimalism of the 1980s. The difference lies in the individualistic power of the 1980s, and in the individual identity. Today, everybody seems to “dress alike, look alike, talk alike and behave alike”, fashion photographer Michael Doster said in his book, Doster: 80s/90s. Back then, everybody sought […]
Her outfits are mannish; her words are enunciated with cold, distant, crisp precision; her presence is uptight and cautious; her sculpted face never crumples. Some have criticized Lindsay Crouse’s performance in House of Games as robotic, a total absence of appeal, even unsettling. I beg to differ. Why are female characters always expected to be read for […]
It was not until I saw Penélope Cruz in Volver that I fully understood why she is Pedro Almódovar’s muse. Her ability to convey a lot of depth with remarkable ease makes her a pleasure to see on screen. It took one great director to discover her real talent: “Pedro would push me to the limit. He […]
I’ve been on a Wes Anderson marathon lately, revisiting almost everything I’d already seen and finally watching the rest. However, the idea for this article came to me when I saw the illustration below, made by Wes’ brother, Eric Chase Anderson, in the book The Wes Anderson Collection. For anyone interested in fashion and film, a […]
That’s Ryan Gosling at the wheel. After all the singing and dancing in La La Land, here is a little reminder that he can do tough, too (but then again, he can take on any role). Gosling is the Driver in Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 American debut. With uncanny skill, in league with cinematographer Newton Thomas […]
“Here’s to the fools who dream.” No wonder I love this film. And I don’t even like musicals. But here I am talking about La La Land voraciously every chance I get. To be honest, it took me a while to get acclimatised to the opening sequence, but as soon as that was over, I was completely […]
January 10th, 1927. It was on this day, 90 years ago, that Fritz Lang released Metropolis – not only a key film of the German expressionist movement, but also the primordial science fiction movie. Set far in the then-distant year 2000, the themes and designs of Metropolis forged new paths for cinema. It is impossible […]
With this year’s Elle and Things to Come, Isabelle Huppert is gaining acclaim for challenging female stereotypes. But the truth is she has been honing her ferocious talent for over forty years. In Claude Chabrol’s 2006 L’ivresse du pouvoir ( A Comedy of Power), Huppert played Jeanne Charmant-Killman, a fierce, dedicated French magistrate who investigates […]
Summer is optimistic by nature. So am I. Maybe that’s why noir is my favourite film genre. Harking back to the past. The sensual, fatalistic bleakness. The subtle tone and mood. The quotable lines that float up into your consciousness and stick. The morally ambiguous hero, alienated from society, charismatic yet flawed, charting a course […]
