Friends! I'm sure we could all devise side-splittingly droll emails along
the lines of 'please list films with people in them', or doors, or houses,
or land, or clothes, or walking, or air, or time, or space, or etc - BUT
let's not let the comedy wipe out the fact that anything - even the most
banal, widespread, everyday thing - becomes meaningful in a film IF THE FILM
MAKES IT MEANINGFUL. That is, for me, one definition of the art and craft of
filmmaking! None of these things are meaningful 'in themselves' - or rather,
all their meanings are potential, the meanings history and society give them
in advance as pro- or pre-filmic material - but it's the work of film which
activates these things, puts them into a form or logic, makes us notice,
appreciate and explore them more deeply. That's part of Kracauer was talking
about in proposing cinema as 'the redemption of physical reality'.
On with the show! Adrian
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