Film Journal 2024: The First Omen
Directed by Arkasha Stevenson

Wish I had gotten out to see this in theaters. A visually rich and patiently drawn prequel that effectively utilizes setting and atmosphere to elevate the story. Yes, it’s a slow burn, but its smart and effective in how it utilizes that to the benefit of building atmosphere and tone. It’s less scary than it is immersive and unsettling by intention.

A worthy predecessor that deserves to be seen by more people.

In his book titled Imagined Places: Journey’s into Literary America, Micheal Pearson talks about how people have two basic conceptions of place- the place in which we can live, and the place in which our imaginations are drawn precisely because of the ways in which the place we imagine contrasts with the place in which we live. For Micheal Pearson we need both:

“Everybody has their ideal landscape and an antithetical landscape as well, a place that the person is drawn toward. It’s a place, he feels, that fascinates and startles with the difference from our own home ground. There’s a positive and a negative pole.”

For me, it is prairie and ocean/river. Living technically 10 blocks from the Red River is a microcosm of living 3,000 kilometers from the ocean. The 70 km drive from Winnipeg to Lake Winnipeg a slightly bigger microcosm. All manifest this basic tension in their own way. One roots us, one draws us, and inbetween these places we find perspective

Film Journal 2024: The Watchers
Ishana Night Shyamalan

Where it stumbles a bit in its execution, as an exercise in vision and potential The Watchers proves a worthy effort as a debut.

Part of the challenge for Ishana Night Shyamalan is finding ways to reign in what is a large and complex mythology underlying the story. You can feel this most acutely in the first half of the film when, following a beautifully shot and intensely captured opening sequence, the plot starts to move forward at a rapid fire pace. So fast in fact that it is difficult to keep up with where the story is going, what the story is doing, and how we even got to where we are at certain and sharp narrative turns.

There is a point though where it starts to settle in, and once a half point twist fills in the details with more clarity Shyamalan is able to then begin to explore a bit more of her cinematic vision and exercise some of her strengths as a filmmaker.

It is clear that she is good at thinking big. This is less the high concept approach of her father and more of a modern mythological approach, revelling in the ability to explore the intersection between that ancient story telling device and deep humanistic concern. The ending leaves no doubt that she can give big ideas a real and personal application.

The characters aren’t as fleshed out as I would have liked, even with Fanning giving a decently strong turn as the lead, but they all are given an important place in the story in their own way. The sound work and the visual approach is perhaps even more impressive, both being drawn with a careful and intimate touch.

Definitely left me wanting to see more from this young Director, and excited to see how she grows into her own beyond her father’s shadow. In fact, she effectively drew me into this story enough to go out and buy the book right after I left the theater. I’m really curious to see what her adaptive choices were.

Reading Journal 2024: Matter and Memory
Author: Henri Bergson

A tough read, although altogether fascinating and challenging. The toughness comes in wading through the thought process. The ideas are poignant and profound, but also at times frustratingly allusive in both their nature and their argumentation.

The purpose however is clear- “This book affirms the reality of spirit and the reality of matter and tries to determine the relationship of one to the other by the study of a definite example, that of memory.” This attempt to reconcile platonic ideals with aristotelian realism becomes the essential pattern, and it depends on both distinguishing each idea while at the same time seeing them as operating in relationship to each other. Here he puts forth a mutually existing pure perception and pure memory.

This is where I think it gets difficult to fully grasp. The author is clearly critiquing modernism and its hard and fast allegiance to enlightenment thought. However, this critique comes through acknowledging that the existence of pure perception actually roots memory in realism, while pure memory roots perception in idealism. Perception emerges from the flow of memory, thus being made of a composite of progressive actions as we exist in relarionshop to the world around us.

It becomes a fallacy to say that memory is a materialist function, and equally a fallacy to say that perception is not a spiritual function, precisely because these two ideas are interrelated and dependent on the other. The more we see them operating together the greater our perception of reality becomes.

I am deeply interested in the subject of memory, so I really appreciated how he approaches this subject as a blend of science and philosophy. He doubles down on perception as an active word, meaning it is formed as we act in the world, or through necessary movement. Without movement there would be no perception precisely because there would be no memory. It is on this basis that he looks to establish that memory is not simply something that is trapped in a brain, as though it is a series of snapshots being stored until they are accessed. Memory perception exists as a summation of movement/activity, and thus as reality. Perception pulls memory down into the functional reality of Aristotle’s concern while memory pulls perception upwards into the Platonic ideals, ultimately giving us what we call reality, something that is neither realism or idealism, both pure ideas in their own right, but something truer to itself when it is opposing such dualism.

I’m butchering the brevity of the books lengthy passages and exposition, but from what I gathered these were some of its more essential conclusions. Because movement and image are not opposed but mutually dependent, this must change our perception of reality, or our perception of perception to put it more aptly. Living, or true reality is what he calls a “continuity of becoming”. Perception can only ever be a distinguishing of the beginning to the end, a movement. And in the center of this movement is a body. A body situated between the matter that influenced it and that which it is has influence on. It is human interaction with these two competing forces, which is responsive in its nature, that holds consciousness in its grip as the characteristic note of the present, pulling realism and idealism together as it acts/functions.

To cease to act would be to cease to be conscience, and to cease to be conscience would be to cease to exist. It is this flow of  conscious action that we can call spirit. Consciousness illuminates the past in relationship to the future, proving that the past must exist/survive for the present to exist. We, by nature of conscious awareness, are interested in the unfolding of time precisely in this manner, not necessarily the whole, but the unfolding depends on the existence of the whole.

If it hasn’t been made aware yet, this is why this is a tough read. I would wager even my understandings here, for as much as I am trying to articulate it with integrity, is not yet quite grasping the ideas. But that’s the beauty of such a process- it ruminates, and as it does I trust it continues to bring clarity, because I do think this is important stuff.

Reading Journal 2024: Brewtown Tales: More Stories from Milwaukee and Beyond
Author: John Gurda

Bought this on my visit to Milwauke this past summer, and it didn’t disappoint. I was interested in learning about the character of the city as I was fascinated by its story and its uniqueness as a midsize city center existing in the shadow of its much more prominent southern neighbor (Chicago). It is designed so that you can start anywhere and pick up anywhere, serving as  collection of essays that travel through the different parts of the city and through his own personal family history. But it is also able to be read as a cohesive story that moves through time and development.

Given that I had visited many of the neighborhoods and got a decent sense of its city structure and geographical shape, it was both helpful and fun to be able to read and imagine those spaces’ development. I’m a sucker for a good story, and the author is a good storyteller, helping the different quirks and flavors come alive.

You not only get to see its innovations, but you also get to hear about the would have/could have/should have beens on the historical stage. Loved the transformation of the waterfront, its storied relationship with the railroad, its history with bikes and bike infrastructure, and its fascination with drama and its dark history. The city that it has become seems to see itself formed from the early divide that the river and its central bridge created, choosing to lean into that ethos of being a mix of dark and lawless underbelly and smart, innovative culture.

Looking forward to returning for another visit with greater awareness in tow.

Film Journal 2024: The Coffee Table
Directed by Caye Casas

A tight, taught horror indie that uses a simple premise (a couple with a new baby purchases a new coffee table that becomes the center piece of their home) to depict a gradual but persistent unraveling of their once mundane lives.

The Director uses a mix of visual filmmaking and character work to achieve a real sense of dread, and features some genuinely memorable sequences. It struggles a bit to land some of its metaphorical or allegorical possibilities, and it could have been better served by trading some of the less fleshed out plot pieces (there is one particular thread that ultimately proves to contribute little to the overall end effect) for a stronger thematic focus, but what it does well it does very well.

Film Journal 2024: The King Tide
Directed by Christian Sparkles

I tried hard to catch this in theaters but couldn’t make it work. Was happy to catch up with it now that it’s on VOD and Hoopla, as it felt like it would be my kind of movie. It has elements of horror, drama, spiritual and philosphical reflection, thriller, and has a strong sense of place and setting.

There is a moral dilemma at play that is fascinating to watch play out, and I love how it uses this to then flesh out the community dynamic of this small, isolated village. It really does feel like there is a lot more hanging in the balance than the initial optimism and excitement this community initially exhibits and expresses understands and recognizes. It is these untold and somewhat hidden tensions that guide the story forward through the unusual nature of its present circumstances. A seemingly good and positive turn of events feels like it is stirring what are some deeply rooted primal instincts. Which makes this an equally interesting study of human nature.
An under the radar gem that has much to offer both on the cinematic and thematic front.

Film Journal 2024: Lost in Tomorrow
Directed by Kellen Gibbs

A quaint and lovely hidden gem. It feels a bit uncertain in the early going, but once the premise kicks in, following a young girl struggling to fit in at school and at home as she finds herself lost in tomorrow, it is quite affecting.

What’s interesting about the film is that you could essentially break it up into different parts, as the cast is always changing even as we follow a singular character. And that easily could have been a weakness here, as without a visible lead it could feel like it might be hard to locate the character development. The Director does a really nice job however of tying each sequence together narratively and thematically, and each new person that we meet (or that she wakes up in) does a great job of embodying her growth and transformation. Part of the journey here is, every time she wakes up she gets further away from herself. Thus there is a natural flow to the concept of learning to find herself by discovering the story of others. Our main character is always part of the story even when her face is out of view.

Works really well as a low budget, indie family film with lots of heart and a good message that traverses subjects like family, identity, growing up, discovery, and being present.

Film Journal 2024: Footnotes
Directed by Chris Leary

Low budget indie that makes decent use of its script and its performances. You can tell the film wants to dig deep, to explore the nuances behind the standard romantic drama beats. It doesn’t fully realize its potential on that front, trading a drive for clarity and real thematic punch for getting lost in some of that nuance instead. But what makes the film worthwhile is that desire not to simply stay on the surface.

There are certain subtleties to the way the central relationship develops, following two single neighbors struggling with the recent lockdown during the pandemic as they randomly choose to become each others safe person, bridging the functional distance and creating a cohabiting space. These subtleties ebb and flow through a relationship that is largely undefined. The more time goes on the more you can feel that inevitable emerging crisis that demands some sort of defintion. The question hanging in the balance is, can they find a shared defintion.

It’s a very conversational film that leans into the chemistry of its leads, which is definitely there. The film is at it’s best when it’s just sitting with them in these moments, allowing us to search for those subtleties and nuances that naturally emerge from the conversational flow. When it does need to move the story forward on its own, using a mix of editing choices and visual moments, it feels slightly less confident. However, the groundwork it lays allows it to stay afloat and to utilize its final concluding moments in service of that developing tension.

Not bad for a small and unassuming debut.

I was sent this Episode recently of the Exra Klein Show titled Your Mind Is Being Fracked, along with a strong recommendation to give it a listen.
Great episode. Highly worth a listen for anyone interested in the subject of attention, particularly as it relates to our present social media age.

There’s a natural progression to the conversation that brings up many worthwhile points to think about and ponder. Some of my own reflections:

They bring up the question of defining what attention is, nong a lack of clear defintion, especially when we look at the differences between functional attention (such as the idea of attention being the absence of distraction that allows us to do our jobs well) and emotional attention (such as relational engagement that requires being immersed, or attentive, in a given experience).

The question of a working defintion is attached to the question of when and why the notion of attention came into being as a recognizable, and therefore necessary idea and concept. One could argue that attention emerges as an idea because it became necessary in response to human (evolutionary), societal and cultural changes. Here then we get caught in another tension- is the interest in attention based on a positive (we need to understand and hone the concept of attention for the sake of a, b, and c. And further, does a, b and c reflect our central value system, and if so what is that value system).

Or is the interest rooted in the negative (a, b, and c robbed us of our attention, therefore we need to understand it and hone it for the sake of gaining back that which was lost for the sake of human flourishing).

What was interesting to me was the way the first part of the episode begins to root our interest in the concept of attention in the question of human flourishing. On some level, and it articulates this later on, understanding typically follows feeling. Meaning, we feel this or that to be true, and thus the need for understanding emerges when this feeling reflects a point of crisis. Understanding is never, however, purely functional. It is simultaneously revealing a value system. And this is crucial to our ability to say something about why education, or education about attention, matters.

What is interesting was the tension I then felt listening to the first part of this episode, as I found myself noting how much of the why of the matter (or why it matters) persistently kept coming back to this notion of human flourishing, and how human flourishing kept coming back to this notion of the self as the ultimate end. A self that even they note is an illusory idea at best, if a false one.

Further yet, I found it fascinating to consider that all of the ideas about attention it was fleshing out on an academic level were ideas that I had learned a long time ago through my years as a practicing Christian in the church. Here the host makes an interesting distinction between two prominent but arguably co-existing definitions of attention within academia- attention as action (bringing about or acting on known/revealed desire), and attention as waiting (allowing that unknown desire to emerge). This echos the very defintion of Hebrew and Greek faith or faithfulness as an embodied term rooted in spiritual practice.

Things get even more interesting when the host notes a world where religion has lost its narrative presence and force of influence and has been traded for market values. In some sense what is being reflected on here is a trading of the emotional or immersive form of attention for the functional. And what is expressed is a dissatisfaction with the value system (market) this binds us to. Not only do we seem to feel a loss of attention (or our ability to be attentive), our attention has been commodified and reapplied to modernitys obsession with a form of progress.

The guest inserts the possibility then of two other avenues that can do what religion does- education and the arts. But here is the issue. What religion does is it allows us to direct our attention to something other than ourselves, precisely because something other exists. Education doesn’t have the power to either be a transcendent value or an end (it is in fact a subservient activity), but in a world absent of religion it plays that role superficially and falsely. The arts on the other hand can only be an expression of our values. It points to that which drives our attention/convictions and which gives it value. What happens then when those values are inevitably held captive to the self? No matter how education and the arts attempt to replace religion, they inevitably come back to that same fundamental place- human flourishing. Or the capacity of the self to point to the will (or choice, or liberty). To point to desire. This is why attention is seen to be a concern. But these are all, by defintion, functional constructs. They are things that don’t actually have transcendent qualities, no matter how much our art attempts to treat them as such. This leaves this train of thought grappling with the notion of the world we are being attentive to being a necessarily false one.

Things get more complex when they begin to consider how it is we solve the question of the cycles or progression of history. As people we inevitably compare our present to the past, and we are prone to seeing either our present as superior in its progression or as futile in its descent (the world is getting worse). In some sense it appears to be a both-and, but that requires a measure and it also is held captive to how we tend to need to think in more hard and fast terms if we are to give our present interests/concerns validation, motivation and meaning (progress requires this). The present is always left thinking in terms of its particular concerns and vantage points. Complexities emerge when we bring in things like history and progress as reasoned faculties. The challenge here is that simple observation tells us we are still here, therefore the concerns of the previous generation didn’t lead to the worlds end, but in reality we can equally observe that the problems also didn’t go away, they simply changed and morphed according to the same cycles and patterns inherent in the whole of human progression. So, tackling the problem of attention might be relevant to the here and now in context, but the minute we step outside of ourselves it becomes apparent that we have little to no basis to think and believe that this will and does lead to a positive progression.

Which is perhaps what attention is really about. We can see the world as it is and feel that things are not right, especially as we experience change. But we also intuitively need to be attentive to what we call the unknown in order to function in this world. The question is, can we say that the unknown is true or false. Is it conception/construct or is it reality. Is it functional or transcendent? These things have massive implication for how it is we attend to the present and whether we can actually get past the self on our way to a defining value system that justifies our need to be attentive. To me, the podcast conversation tables this tension, but then kind of walks around it. It is nevertheless interesting though and thought provoking and highly worth a listen.