Monday 16 February 2009

What else does slowmoves embody for you? Film?

Pretty much all we have written to date has been about slowmoves and travel. slowmoves is however more than a travel choice. It's in the word, it's about a movement, as well as moves. Anouk looked at winter seasonal pleasures, and offered a recipe for mulled wine. And I credit a friend of slowmoves, Adam, for giving us this post.

Adam suggested some films he believes embody the slowmoves ethos:

We'd love to hear from you if there are there any films that slowmoves (enjoying the journey, as well as the destination) embody for you.

This all got me thinking of a film I saw in the ICA (a cultural oasis just off Piccadilly Circus) in London (also worth mentioning the offerings at the BFI (on the South Bank of the Thames)), Soy Cuba. Soy Cuba slowly tells the story (albeit with unapologetic propoganda) of the revolution in Cuba. Although made in 1964, I have yet to see a film with as inspressive cinematography and equal focus on every aspect of the story, right throughout what is an epic in length and delivery.

If slowmoves inspires something else in you aside travel, we'd love to share it on this blog.

[George]

Picture: http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g262/niekoolien/Article_Soy_Cuba.jpg

2 comments:

  1. Soy Cuba is definitely a remarkable film... all shot on infra-red filmstock with remarkable camera moves that puts Hollywood CGI filmmaking to shame. Perhaps its clarity of vision makes it share a slowmoves ethos.

    On a more literal level... I am quite interested in films/photos/books etc that could be called 'slowmoves'. In real life, it's those journeys out of the ordinary in which the banal takes on a crystalline quality... staring out of a train window for 3 hours and it feeling like an exhilarating movie, whereas day to day on the London tube, the floor is far more interesting. Vincent Gallo's movie The Brown Bunny does this beautifully - it's just a guy driving across America whilst having a mental breakdown. The original version was several hours long and was described by movie critic Roger Ebert as "the worst in the history of Cannes". In response Gallo called Ebert a "fat pig with the physique of a slave trader". A shortened version of the movie is available on DVD for around £3 at Fopps here in London - ignore the terrible reviews, it's an amazing slowmoves film.

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  2. Thanks Adam, good to get your thoughts and interest, hope you will share more with us on this site. Drop Anouk or I an email if you would like to blog direct also: anouk@slowmoves.org or george@slowmoves.org.

    My thoughs on Soy Cuba were as you suggest, somewhat less literal. I remember the journey that the film took me on as a viewer of the story, and appreciated that journey perhaps more than in any other film I have seen! As you say, remarkable camera moves throughout,

    George

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