Chisenhale Gallery has another moving image work showing at the moment titled ‘Autoportrait’. The artist, Luke Willis Thompson, describes it as ‘sister’ film to Diamond Reynolds’ Facebook Live stream of the aftermath of her boyfriend Philando Castile’s fatal shooting by police officer Jeronimo Yanez. The film captures a personal tragedy but also, many argue, a social scandal: police brutality towards black people in the US. As you probably already know ten days ago, Yanez was found not guilty of manslaughter and other charges. The film in the gallery is quite the opposite; firstly, it’s on 35mm and features two static shots of Reynolds, one framing her head and upper body, the other a close up of her face. It’s black and white and silent. There’s an almost classical beauty about the first composition, a sculptural physicality; Reynolds looks off camera, still, before lowering her head to her chest in thought. In the second roll of film, she appears to sing, pray, or incant, gently and rhythmically moving her head. We’re not used to looking at strangers for long periods, but this film draws attention to fundamental things: breathing, just existing. We slightly struggle with the use of outdated technology due to there rarely being a valid reason for it. However, here there’s a thoughtful question of distribution; This is an image that cannot easily circulate or be manipulated online.
We managed to catch the opening of ‘Nature of the Hunt’ by Harman Bains at Auto Italia South East which was very striking. There was an incredible film at the back which was this crazy, disembodied survey of twentieth-century exploitation and body horror cinema. The full emotional spectrum was felt; at times when these female subjects are spoken about being dangerous to society, you’re amused but simultaneously shocked that anyone could ever believe such a statement. Paranoia, insatiability, jealousy, evil and hysteria are disruptive fictions that are presented as oppositional to the desired traits of being female, and obstinate to the globalised homogenous understanding of human culture. The female characters from this sub-genre of horror cinema – the vampire, the werewolf, the wife, the witch and the mother – are often used as markers to subvert the infrastructures of church, state and heteronormative socialities. No longer the victim but the perpetrator of violence, the monstrous female is a practitioner of alternate identities, systems and orders. This combined with Andy Holden’s ‘Laws of Motion in the Cartoon Landscape’ has caused us to revisit a previous idea, researching the use of art in film, that’s been put on ice for a while due to us not knowing how to approach it. We still don’t know how we’re going to go about it but these works have provided us with good ideas to consider; the first being to start with a set of rules or parameters to guide the research.
Very excited to have been able to see ‘Baby Driver’ earlier this week and we loved it! It flows beautifully from beginning to end with amazing music and brilliant choreography. On a purely technical note it’s one of the most amazing pieces of editing we have ever experienced. Not only is it for people who love music but there’s plenty of intense action sequences to keep you on your toes. However, we had a bit of an issue with Debora’s character being that she was quite underdeveloped and overly dependent. She’s basically a waitress who meets the protagonist, Baby, and falls in love almost instantly. But there’s very little back story to her character considering she’s essential to the storyline (something that could be overlooked as a homage to other classic American heist films but it doesn’t mean it feels right). She merely exists as a beautiful woman with no history, family or friends, and whose only goal in life is a road trip and is willing to risk her life for Baby despite only going on one real date with him. This doesn’t take away from the fact that the film is incredibly well made and tells its story very well but it does make you think. It’s similar to the issue ‘Nocturnal Animals’ had with Edward’s fiction positing a hateful alternate reality that is designed to shame and intimidate. His story, which the director Tom Ford places at the centre of a film, seems to be telling women, who are all essentially superficial (just like their mothers), stand by your man or else. We still thoroughly enjoyed both films and believe them to do what they do well but these ideas do still need to be questioned.
