Tag / 1977

by Jaime Rebanal

‘News from Home’ Review: Finding Solace in the Alienation from Your So-Called Home

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Chantal Akerman was a filmmaker who didn’t simply want to be seen as another “great woman filmmaker.” Yet to talk about the sort of things that she had pushed for when in control of the medium is a whole other topic entirely. In her best known film, Jeanne Dielman, she tells a story of a housewife doing her chores over the course of three days over a period of a little over three hours – how exactly must one follow up such a feat? There we have News from Home a significantly shorter film, but also one that carries a unique sort of beauty to it too. While it may not have a story in the traditional sense of the word, News from Home still remains so stunning on the ground that it remains ever so personal for the Belgian filmmaker, with so little being said so explicitly.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Eraserhead – Review

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Cinema poses lots of different mysteries to be encapsulated within any amount of running time, Eraserhead is arguably one of the grandest of such enigmas. I first saw Eraserhead at a rather young age and what I remember rather fondly of it was that it left a specific taste in my mouth that couldn’t be described properly, and the next day I watched it once more. The idea became more clear to one like myself, yet it still fascinates me for there’s always more to pick out on every watch. When I watched Eraserhead for my first time, I was always thinking to myself about how to piece together what it was that I just watched. Parts of it all managed to make more sense when I got around to watching David Lynch’s own Mulholland Drive (which is my favourite from his body of work this far) and as Eraserhead remained in my head, I grew much more fondly of it – something that still runs within my own head today.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Suspiria – Review

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Dario Argento’s magnum opus, Suspiria, is not only proof that he is one of the greatest filmmakers to have lent his eye to the horror genre but it still remains one of the most captivating films ever to have been made. Of the many filmmakers out there who are best known for what they have laid upon the horror genre at a consistent rate, ranging from names such as Mario Bava to Wes Craven to John Carpenter, Dario Argento is my favourite. While Carpenter’s consistency even when he ventured away from horror is one thing to which he receives my grandest admiration for, I hold Argento in much higher regard for whenever he lends his touch to the genre, they are always so distinctive not just as horror films amidst a subgenre, but instead we always see them as Dario Argento films. And if one film from the bunch highlights itself from all the others, it would be none other than his 1977 masterpiece, Suspiria.

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by Jaime Rebanal

House – Review

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How to describe House: a haunted house movie that took so much acid to the point it lovingly pokes fun right at and pays tribute to what we recognize out of horror movies. In all seriousness, films like House truly are as baffling as they get but the fact that we know so little about what exactly we should make of what we are watching is why it’s also so much fun to watch. Yet maybe in fact there was so much more behind all the crazy imagery or turns of events that made House the psychedelic experience which it provides while it lasts. Experimental cinema, absurdist comedy, surreal horror, whatever it may be, House just takes what many would expect out of all three and puts them into a blender and the final result is absolutely glorious. Continue reading →