Vanishing Point

I watched Vanishing Point last night from a Art of Memory recommendation and it was a really fun and beautifully filmed movie. It was a great film not only for the action but for how well it depicts the western landscape. It gave me the itch to hit the road and explore the West some more (doesn't this third image remind you of something I would paint?). Other movies I've seen recently that present the western landscape well are Gerry and of course No Country for Old Men.

photos from JanVanEyck (the art of memory)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I don't usually write about films, but after watching, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford", I had to recommend it - especially to those readers who may be into photography. It is a slow moving film, but the cinematography by Roger Deakins is spectacular and kept my interest the entire length of the film. I don't mean to imply that this film is only good because of its cinematography - the movie is quite good for multiple reasons. That said, this was one of the best filmed movies I've seen in a long time. Every shot in the film is exceptionally composed. I can't say enough about how captivating the photography/cinematography is in "Jesse James..." In several scenes, Deakins creates a vignette that references the photography from that time period. The cinematographer Roger Deakins will often holds on stationary objects (a shoe, a cluster of trees, a empty road) - these visual pauses add to the sense of place though I could see them being a test of patience for some viewers. Personally I love it when films incorporate non-moving images. Maybe it has something to do with my fascination with Warhol's 1964 film "Empire" in which he films the Empire State Building for six and a half hours.

The scene in the photo above is especially dramatic when the train comes around a bend and its light streams through the trees. On the subject of trains in film - I would also recommend a extensive collection of film stills with trains in them from the art of memory blog. And another gem I found from the art of memory is Sharon Harper's photos taken from trains.