Tag Archives: cinema

Creation/Contemplation of the Virtual World (Genesis Rabbah)

Posted on April 27, 2021 by zjb

Reading in seminar with Syracuse undergrad students Naama Erez, Sam Gelfand, Giulia Kean from Genesis Rabbah 1:4. According to the rabbis here, the Torah and Throne of Glory were created before the creation of the physical world, and the contemplation … Continue reading →

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Time Happened to the 20th Century (An American Pickle)

Posted on August 9, 2020 by zjb

This bit caught my attention concerning the passage of time and cultural time-consciousness here from A.O. Scott’s review of the new Seth Rogen, American Pickle. It suggests something true about contemporary American Jewish awareness. The set up of the film … Continue reading →

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Planet Earth & Replicants (The View From Solaris)

Posted on May 5, 2020 by zjb

The plot of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) is basic enough. Sometime in the near future, Soviet psychologist Kris Kelvin goes to investigate goings on at the space station orbiting the planet Solaris. A massive churning sea with a mind of … Continue reading →

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(Russian Resurrection) Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky)

Posted on April 28, 2020 by zjb

I don’t have to say a lot to say about Christianity and cinema in Andrei Rublev (1966) by the great Andrei Tarkovsky, master of the long-shot form of the time-image. Just one quick comment about the structure of the film and the … Continue reading →

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Quarrel Between Ancients and Moderns (Strauss and Fellini)

Posted on October 15, 2019 by zjb

If I were writing a book about Leo Strauss, I’d use this movie still from Satyricon as a cover image to get at the quarrel or non-quarrel between the ancient and moderns. But for all intents and purposes, Fellini did … Continue reading →

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Thought and Image (Deleuze Cinema)

Posted on July 11, 2018 by zjb

I’m reading chapters 7-8 of Cinema 2 as a single, complete, and coherent unit that touch upon the image as a work of thought. There are 3 complex parts to these reflections in chapter 7. The endpoint is to theorize … Continue reading →

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Movement and Time Images (Deleuze) (Cinema 1 Cinema 2)

Posted on May 3, 2018 by zjb

I am trying to get a handle on the two primary types of image, the “movement image” and the “time image” in Deleuze two books on cinema. Each with their own specific variations, these two primary topoi are the respective … Continue reading →

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What in the Hell is The Death of Stalin?

Posted on April 16, 2018 by zjb

Wow! What in the hell was that? And what was it supposed to be? The Death of Stalin was billed as a comedy, but that’s not what it was. Sure there was slapstick, jokes, and one-liners, and bumbling idiocy. But that … Continue reading →

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(Death & Symmetry) Foxtrot (Samuel Moaz)

Posted on March 26, 2018 by zjb

(Spoiler Alert) So many of the reviews about Foxtrot have focused on politics and the Occupation, which is well enough, as these operate as the background situation to the action and non-action of the 2017 film by Samuel Moaz. The … Continue reading →

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Jane (Death & Primate Aggression)

Posted on March 13, 2018 by zjb

(SPOILER ALERT) I missed seeing Jane, the documentary on Jane Goodall by Brett Morgan when it was out in the theaters. It aired last night on television on the National Geographic channel. Taking a break from I Claudius and from thinking … Continue reading →

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