10th of May, 2018
This piece was first left as a review on the website RateYourMusic.com. I was reviewing Grim, a film by Takashi Ito. I no longer think that the distinction between dualistic and non-dualistic filmmaking that I laid out here makes sense. There is clearly a difference in method, but to make a division on that basis into two formally distinct categories of film is not a move I like any more.
It opens with a hand, covering a lens. Shots in films are constrained by the moment the editor begins and ends the cut, the long shot might produce a dreamlike effect by holding the gaze for longer than one can bear, or it could present a naturalistic view of the content of the shot without distraction by editing or montage techniques, or the shots can go by quickly and in turn bring these margins into the forefront and make them the subject of the shot. That's the difference between dualistic film-making (Eisenstein's method, which makes the film the product of a combination of shots) and non-dualistic film-making (Tarkovsky's method, which is primarily concerned with preserving the natural poetry of whatever appears to be happening within the camera's gaze, so each shot merely stands for what it is.)
In stop motion film every single frame is separated by a cut, and there is no possible way of having the content of the shot be united and whole in the way that an unbroken shot in traditional film is. The filmmaker has to use trickery to lend the scene a sense of continuity. Here's some black space to chop the shot, Ito's hand says, and he puts his hand in front of the camera, breaking the spell.
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Grim is, in a way, humorously sinister. It all seems so on the nose. I could see myself hating it for this reason but I suppose I have a soft spot for Ito's impeccable sense of style. It just works, and it's lots of fun.