Mise-en-scène: The Journal of Film & Visual Narration

Letter from the Editor

2024-07-09T09:34:44-07:00

Issue 9.1 Editorial

Hollywood's Portraits of the Artist as a Kept Man

2024-07-09T09:34:44-07:00

Since the early 19th Century, the male artist has been both celebrated as a heroic figure who represents self-expression and freedom from traditional work and a figure whose financial dependence of a patron undermines his masculinity. In the USA after World War Two, men faced increasing suburbanization and consumerism, and often longed for the rebellious freedom represented by artists like Jackson Pollock, Ernest Hemingway, and Jack Kerouac. But in the post-war Cold War culture, those who rebelled were threatened with the label of communist or homosexual. Focusing on three films made after World War Two--Humoresque (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and An American in Paris (1951)--the article explores the portrayal of the male artist as a "kept man," and discusses visual and narrative elements in each film that work to reinscribe traditional gender roles. Specifically, each film uses a love triangle between the artist, an older, wealthy, female patron who threatens the artist's masculinity and artistic integrity, and a younger, more traditionally feminine woman who, by the end of the film, will help the male artist reassert his traditional masculine role.

Touching the Millennium

2024-07-09T09:34:44-07:00

By taking a close look at the forms and cinematic strategies of Tsai Ming-liang’s 1998 film The Hole, this essay intends to identify the nostalgic subtext that emerges from the tensions generated by different temporal/diegetic levels of representation. Using proper citation mechanisms, the film dialogues with the memory of the century that ends, while projecting into the near future–the overly symbolic year 2000–the anxieties of the present, ultimately proposing a way out through human unmediated connection. Relying on scene analysis, the text will invoke thinkers from cultural studies, film studies, politics, history, philosophy and sociology as well as objects from the visual arts and fiction literature, to create an ample mesh of references that can help contextualize Tsai’s gesture as a filmmaker of its time.

Uncovering Identity on Both Sides of the Camera: An Interview with 'Monica’ Director Andrea Pallaoro

2024-07-09T09:34:45-07:00

Italian film director, Andrea Pallaoro’s striking third feature, Monica (2022), sees trans actor Trace Lysette play the titular character, a trans webcam performer who returns home and tries to reconnect with her ailing mother, Eugenia (Patricia Clarkson). Monica is a continuation of fractured relationships and loneliness, that is defining the early stages of Pallaoro’s career. At a glance, Medeas' (2013) focus on a rural family appears to share more in common with Monica, than his sophomore feature Hannah (2017), that centres on a woman thrust into loneliness when her husband is imprisoned. Both Medeas and Monica are broader family portraits, compared to Hannah's sparseness. That's not to suggest that it lacks the depth of exploration into human nature, but it's smaller cast of characters deepens the claustrophobic intimacy of his other feature films. Pallaoro directs Monica with a patience that emphasises the character’s self-reflective nature, utilising longer takers and fewer edits to not interrupt the stream of consciousness. The director wants us to observe the character, to piece together our understanding of who she is not only by her words, but her silent existence. It’s difficult to not comprehend the spirit of Michelangelo Antonioni’s non-intrusive observational approach in Pallaoro’s storytelling, but Monica never feels an act of imitation, instead it continues a tradition of filmmaking through the individual voice of its director.

Speaking with MSJ during the film's festival run, in the spring of 2022, Pallaoro discusses encouraging the audience’s active participation, the opportunity of his non-judgmental gaze, and the creative manipulation of the cinematographic framing.

The Reader Must Awaken: On A Masterpiece in Disarray: David Lynch’s Dune

2024-07-09T09:34:45-07:00

This review highlights key features in Max Evry's extensive oral history of David Lynch's 1984 film, Dune. The first section provides illustrative examples of production/design personnel accounts, life of the cast and crew on- and off-set, and a treasure trove of research that reveals the many alternatives that were considered in the making of the film. The second section analyzes the complex portrait that Evry assembles in the book while admirably resisting the move to reinforce the existing hagiography. Overall, this review uses specific examples of costume designers' insights and actors' reflections on collaborating with Lynch to give readers a taste of how Evry reframes Dune inside of its moment and beyond.

ReFocus: The Films of Antoinetta Angelidi edited by Penny Bouska and Soitiris Petridis

2024-07-09T09:34:45-07:00

Antoinetta Angelidi is a ground-breaking filmmaker who has crafted a legacy in the realm of experimental film and feminist film theory. The book ReFocus: The Films of Antoinetta Angelidi edited by Penny Bouska and Soitiris Petridis breaks down this legend by addressing her many films such as Topos (1985) and Idées Fixes / Dies Irae (1977) and analyzes the many techniques and themes that make Angelidi’s work stand out. From her avant-garde feminist perspectives on women's sexualities and motherhood, to visual and sound techniques, the film scholars within this text take a deep dive to give context and analysis on Angelidi's artistic contributions.

The Un-zipped Lips of Iranian Women in Ava Maria Safai’s ZIP

2024-07-09T09:34:46-07:00

Ava Maria Safai’s short horror film ZIP (2023), was green-lit for production by the Crazy8s Film Society out of hundreds of submissions, and for good reason. ZIP is a disturbing coming of age story about a girl on the cusp of her 16th birthday whose dream it is to sing an original song in her highschool talent show. However, her father has other plans, and she wakes on her birthday to find that her mouth has been replaced with a zipper she cannot open. Set in 1979 in Canada but during a pivotal year in Iranian history, ZIP is an effective condemnation of human rights violations against Iranian women, sparked by the murder of 16-year old Mahsa Amini for ostensibly removing her hijab.

Journeys in Solidarity

2024-07-09T09:34:46-07:00

A review of KDocsFF 2024

A Beautiful Festival

2024-07-09T09:34:47-07:00

A review and report on the Sundar Prize Film Festival, a social justice festival that selected beautiful films which aligned with the festival mission statement: celebrate human resiliance. The review is from the perspective of Ian Frayne: a member of the Sundar Prize Planning commitee, practice-led researcher, and filmmaker. The Sundar Prize featured nine filmes that are breifly reviewed, putting the main focus on the process of how the festival was planned to support filmmakers, film spectators, and social activists. Examining the festival with looks behind the scenes and viewing the festival, the review seeks to contribute to the research around film festivals, particularity to present how this festival handled the “responsibilities of programmers to their creative profession, the filmmakers whose work they showcase" (Colta 128). The review features answers questions about film festival studies and how it applies to the Sundar Prize festival, Ian's experience working on the Inagural festival, how the day to day of the festival ran, what was the history behind of the festival's conception, and reflections on how the festival could be applied in other locations.

Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference

2024-07-09T09:34:47-07:00

A report on the 45th annual Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA) Conference