In this paper the author compares the concept of a Noh play, Matsukaze, with a Slovak altar painting from Košice Cathedral. The article uses Japanese Noh, where stage continuity has been preserved up until the present day, to reconstruct European medieval stage practices reflected in 15th century painting. Referring to the platonic tradition, the second speech represents a corrective to the first, thus legitimizing a sense of passion in the process leading to catharsis, or enlightenment.
The article discusses the construction of space and the position of the viewer in the video installation Madame B. Explorations in Emotional Capitalism, presented at the turn of 2013 at the Museum of Art in Łódź. Directed and designed by Mieke Bal and Michelle Williams Gamaker, the installation was produced in parallel with a full feature film of the same title. Both the installation and the film constitute an intersemiotic translation of a literary work – Gustave Flaubert’sMadame Bovary. Part of the inspiration for this experiment was the proto-cinematic quality of Flaubert’s style (narrative simultaneity resembling parallel editing, the suppression of drama, dissolution of the time-flow). The museum installation, with its use of dark exhibition space and multiscreen projection, provided an innovative interpretation of the novel by bringing to the fore its acute audio-visuality: the non-verbal level of meaning found in the presentation of material surroundings, fashion, gesture, facial expressions, sound, tone, and tempo of action. In this respect, the exhibition had an advantage over the continuous version of the feature film, which tends to focus the viewer’s attention more directly on the plot. In the case of the museum installation, the narrative continuity was disregarded in favor of the affective resonance of selected scenes from Emma’s life. Walking through a series of episodes split across nineteen screens, the viewer had to choose his or her own way through a complex narrative (the whole comprised 450 min. of filmic material), so in a sense it was the viewer who “performed the piece”. The narrative of Madame B. partly diverged from Flaubert’s story to bring it closer to our times. The anachronistic intermingling of the 19th century and contemporary realities set it away from the conventions of costume movies and suggested the actuality of Emma’s story – its relevance for contemporary questions of “emotional capitalism”. These anachronisms and the spatialization of the narrative occasioned a specific position for the viewer, who, despite the immersive effect of the images, remained conscious of his or her participatory presence here and now. Thus, while attending to the scenes of Emma’s life, the viewer might also reflect on the emotional effects they raised in him/herself. This analytic outlook did not necessarily inhibit the viewer’s sympathetic engagement with the protagonists’ emotions and experiences, but gave it a more informed character. The spatial arrangement of images, as well as the situations performed in several episodes, also invited reflections on the social function of looking and being seen. In this sense, the installation may be counted as a part of Mieke Bal’s practice of visual culture analysis.
The article discusses the oldest recorded film adaptation of the legend of Pan Twardowski, found in the archives of the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The two-part feature film was filmed in Russia between 1916 and 1917, and its creator was the famed Polish filmmaker Władysław Starewicz.
PL
The first film adaptation of Pan Twardowski The article discusses the oldest recorded film adaptation of the legend of Pan Twardowski, found in the archives of the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The two-part feature film was filmed in Russia between 1916 and 1917, and its creator was the famed Polish filmmaker Władysław Starewicz.
When Roman Polanski’s Macbeth hit the screens in 1971, its bloody imagery, pessimism, violence and nudity were often perceived as excessive or at least highly controversial. While the film was initially analysed mostly in relation to Polanski’s personal life, his past as a WWII child survivor and the husband of the murdered pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, in retrospect its bleak imagery speaks not only for his unique personal experience but also serves as a powerful comment on the American malaise, fears and paranoia that were triggered, amongst other things, by the brutal act of the Manson Family. We had to wait forty four years for another mainstream adaptation of the play and it is tempting not only to compare Kurzel’s Macbeth to its predecessor in terms of how more accepting we have become of graphic depictions of violence on screen but also to ask a more fundamental question: if in future years we were to historicise the new version, what would it tell us about the present moment? The paper proposes that despite its medieval setting and Scottish scenery, the film’s visual code seems to transgress any specific time or place. Imbued in mist, its location becomes more fluid and evocative of any barren and sterile landscape that we have come to associate with war. Seen against a larger backdrop of the current political climate with its growing nationalism and radicalism spanning from the Middle East, through Europe to the US, Kurzel’s Macbeth with its numerous bold textual interventions and powerful mise-en-scène offers a valid response to the current political crisis. His ultra brutal imagery and the portrayal of children echo Polanski’s final assertion of perpetuating violence, only this time, tragically and more pessimistically, with children as not only the victims of war but also its active players.
Łódź is often called “the capital of Polish film”. The cultural history of this town from the end of World War Two to the present day is closely connected with the movie industry. Marek Hendrykowski’s study on Łódź as a cinematic city offers the first comprehensive critical guide to the many films, interviews, published writings and individual memoirs of the Film School’s students and professors. This panoramic view presents the process of the historical transformation of cinematic images from Łódź between 1945 and 2013, as well as the profound influence this town had on many filmmakers. It serves as a reference work that will allow readers to navigate the subject’s wide range of examples: from Antoni Bohdziewicz, Jerzy Bossak, Kazimierz Kutz and Andrzej Wajda to Krzysztof Kieślowski, Wojciech Wiszniewski, Janusz Kijowski and Polish filmmakers of new generation.
PL
Cinematic City Łódź through eyes of the Film School. Students and Professors Łódź is often called “the capital of Polish film”. The cultural history of this town from the end of World War Two to the present day is closely connected with the movie industry. Marek Hendrykowski’s study on Łódź as a cinematic city offers the first comprehensive critical guide to the many films, interviews, published writings and individual memoirs of the Film School’s students and professors. This panoramic view presents the process of the historical transformation of cinematic images from Łódź between 1945 and 2013, as well as the profound influence this town had on many filmmakers. It serves as a reference work that will allow readers to navigate the subject’s wide range of examples: from Antoni Bohdziewicz, Jerzy Bossak, Kazimierz Kutz and Andrzej Wajda to Krzysztof Kieślowski, Wojciech Wiszniewski, Janusz Kijowski and Polish filmmakers of new generation.
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