The Influence of Letterboxd on the Film-Watching Experience

Since I started using Letterboxd (four years ago), an unconscious tendency I developed when watching films is that, throughout the film, I’ll think about what Letterboxd rating I’m going to give it. If the start of the film starts really well and feels unique and perfectly attuned to my sensibilities, then I might think, This…

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Fear of the Void: Cosmic Anxiety in ‘Aniara’ (2018)

Aniara (2018) is a Swedish sci-fi film written and directed by Hugo Lilja and Pella Kågerman. It is an adaptation of the 1956 Swedish epic poem of the same name by Harry Martinson. It depicts a dystopian, distant future in which extreme climate change, war, famine, disease, social collapse, pollution, and lawlessness force humans to…

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The Mind-Altering Films of Peter Tscherkassky

Peter Tscherkassky is an Austrian avante-garde filmmaker. He’s one of the few filmmakers who, through his experimental techniques, can create truly mind-altering cinema. There are certainly many films I’d describe as psychedelic – in terms of depicting trips or because of their cinematography and themes – but Tscherkassky’s experimental short films are different to films…

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Badiou and Žižek on Cinema

This is a guest post by Inger Cini. The philosophers Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek have provided contrasting perspectives on cinema. In this essay, I would like to comment on the similarities and differences in their thought under three main headings: how to read cinema, ideology in cinema, and the truth in cinema. Whilst Žižek…

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Book Review: Why It’s OK to Love Bad Movies by Matthew Strohl

This is a book I didn’t know I needed. But I’m interested in both philosophy and bad movies, so when I found out there was a book making a philosophical case for bad movie love, I had to get it immediately. Why It’s OK to Love Bad Movies (2022) – written by philosopher of art…

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