Hello Ken,
Thank you very much for your numerous suggestions.
As far as Ruiz's "Time regained" is concerned, you are right. The issue of
immobility is very important in Proust's work. It has a lot to do with
something like "human fossils" and I intend to adress that aspect in my Ph.
D. dissertation on immobility in films.
Besides, the Asiatic dimension of that topic is of paramount interest to me.
The meaning of immobility in HK and Chinese films is engrossing. I'm
unfortunately not familiar with HK fantasy and comedies (it is hard to find
these films in France) ; and I didn't know that J. Woo used the freeze frame
effect. Do you have any specific titles in mind or is it just very common in
J. Woo's films?
Far from John Woo, Hou Hsiao-Hsien's works (at least, if you put aside
"Flowers of Shanghai")often create an atmosphere of immobility, especially
in his way of filming landscape; I can't help comparing the size of the
characters in some of his shots with that in Chinese traditional landscape
painting. Maybe Hou's style has something to do with "shanshui" painting; it
may also be influenced by the Chinese philosophical background (cf. the
concepts of "Dong" and "Jing").
Best,
Ludovic.
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