Within Context – Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket
Within Context is the second part of Hope Lies at 24 Frames Per Second’s mammoth look at Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket. Comparing Pickpocket to A Man Escaped Pickpocket is the final part of an unofficial trilogy of films that begins with Diary of a Country Priest and is completed with A Man Escaped. The protagonist in … Read more
No Actors, No Parts, No Staging. Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket
No Actors, No Parts, No Staging is the first of a two-part exploration of Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket. Part Two to follow tomorrow. Robert Bresson’s oeuvre is informed predominantly by three key events in his life. A deep love and understanding of fine art, his Catholic upbringing and a stint in prison as a prisoner of … Read more
The Brutal Absurdity Of War – Paths Of Glory
By Edwin Davies The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow’r, And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave, Awaits alike th’inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. – “Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard” by Thomas Gray Though Stanley Kubrick was too complex a director for his worldview … Read more
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – Killer’s Kiss & The Killing
By Joe Gastineau It’s a widely held view that Stanley Kubrick’s first masterpiece is Paths of Glory. That remarkable film started a run that continued with the likes of Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut. No matter which way you shake it, … Read more
An Introduction to Jean-Pierre Melville’s Les Enfants Terribles
What follows is a transcript from an introduction I made to Jean-Pierre Melville’s Les Enfants Terribles. Les Enfants Terribles is collaboration between two of the most important French filmmakers of all time. On the one hand we have Jean-Pierre Melville, who is probably the least traditional filmmaker that we’re looking at this term, and on … Read more
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
As a long-time champion of Eureka’s Masters Of Cinema line, it gives me great pleasure to introduce one of their latest releases, Frank Tashlin’s Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. The tale of a New York ad-man, the eponymous Rockwell Hunter, and his descent into celebrity in an attempt to save his job, the film stars … Read more
Celebrating A Bout de Souffle
With Jean-Luc Godard’s debut film celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this month, a number of very cool pieces of attachment have reared their heads. This is the promotional poster for the UK release. And here are a couple of items that design house Rodarte have designed to promote the film in the US. I can’t find … Read more
The shape of things to come
Due to my increasing workload I have decided to take a drastic step for the immediate future of Hope Lies at 24 Frames Per Second. Put simply, I don’t really have the time to keep the site running in the same manner as it has in the past. So, from today onwards I will be … Read more
L’Enfance-Nue (1968)
What follows is the fourth in a series of essays produced in conjunction with The Cineastes. This month’s article in conjunction with The Cineastes revolves around a film chosen by yours truly. Maurice Pialat’s L’Enfance-Nue is a long held favourite of mine, so I took the opportunity as an attempt to spread the word as … Read more
Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud (1958)
If the work of Jean-Pierre Melville laid the foundations of the Nouvelle Vague, then one might claim that with Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud Louis Malle concludes with the empty building that would house the movement being fully erected. That Malle would never fully return to the stylistic tone that he helped create is proof if proof … Read more
