I consider VALIS to be the PKD novel par excellence, since it was the first one I read. I agree, however, that it should not be the first novel a person reads when trying to start on PKD. It is widely known that 1974 marks a before and after in the career of PKD, sicne he starts leaning towards more religio-spiritual themes in his later works. But another difference I find relevant is that the characters become (as PKD himself did) more and more unstable as well. ...
This is a book that is in no way easy to digest. Its prose, however, is too lyrical for its content. In it, we find a post-war Japanese setting, where a man, Ryuji, has decided to settle for a woman he just met and fell for. This man is a sailor, who from an early age thought he was destined for glory, for something that is reserved to no ordinary man. ...
In Sculpting in Time, Tarkovsky takes on the task to comprise the thoughts that accompany the films that he created. This means that he goes from discussing a particular technique and why use (or don’t) it, to the most troubling attitudes that pervade modern societies. The art Throughout the book Tarkovsky presents with different perspectives on what Art means, and how does that relate to his craft specifically, namely, cinema. ...
The city This is a movie that boils down to family and the relationships that are formed between the members of the same family. This feels, at every step of the way, a homage to Ozu and the way he was able to portray the intergenerational struggles of what could be called modern Japan. Kogonada tries to portray the intergenerational struggles in an even more modern United States. The viewer is presented with so many clues to understand that this is a small town. The calmness of the characters, the slow pace in which everything develops. The viewer is then forced to slow down, if they are not used to living like that (like myself). ...
There is no easy way to start unpacking what this movie has brought to cinema in any simple manner. The influences that others films that I find dearly close to my heart found part of their voice because of this film. The film is clearly surreal and the meta/self references abound, starting by the title itself. During one of the last dialogues, his film critic brings Mallarmé and his blank page up. This is, I believe, of importance since Fellini never directly points us at the matter, as if to accurately describe the issue or theme at hand. Instead, he does so by circunventing it, by symbolising much of the film’s theme. This is, Mallarmé would never describe a flower inasmuch detail as to accurately paint that flower in the reader’s mind. What 8 1/2 does is present the viewer with as many symbols as it can possibly think of and it does so in a beautiful way. ...