Tag Archives: Contemplation

Sátántangó (Tarr, 1994)

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Kamran Ahmed

Tarr’s poetic vision, a realism so uncanny, so surreal, so alive, is realized in each and every frame of the film, only minorly slighted by Tarr’s undeniable social-satirical agenda. This affectation of his work, which is exceedingly present in his … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews (capsule) | Tagged Art, bela tarr, cinema, Cinematography, Contemplation, Experience, Film Art, foreign cinema, Humanity, hungary, long film, long take, Meditation, messiah, mihaly vig, monumenal, music, palinka, Poetry, satan's tango, satantango, social-satirical, Space, space-time, tango, Time, transcendence, world cinema | 1 Comment

Knight of Cups (Malick, 2015/16)

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Kamran Ahmed

Easily Malick’s most impenetrable film, as well as perhaps his most visually breathtaking. The subject matter is rather scattered, with little of a sense of grounding in the lead character’s life. Instead it uses poetic devices and artful cinematography to … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged antonio banderas, Beauty, Cate Blanchett, christian bale, Cinematography, Contemplation, desert, energy, genius, great beauty, high life, knight of cups, la dolce vita, Lubezki, Malick, mass ornament, Meditation, metaphysics, natalie portman, prayer, Religion, Spirituality, Spring Breakers, sunlight, superficial, Terrence Malick, vitality, woman | 1 Comment

Ordet (Dreyer, 1955)

Posted on December 26, 2015 by Kamran Ahmed

Such perfect mastery of time and rhythm perhaps unequaled in cinema. A chamber drama with few scenes, each austerely captured by the observing and detached gaze of a languid camera, which carefully tracks the actors deeply nuanced performances in long … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged agnostic, Art, best movies of all time, black and white, carl theodor dreyer, christ, christian, Cinematography, clock, Contemplation, cross, danish, denmark, destiny, dreyer, eternity, faith, farm, fate, Foreign Film, fundamentalist, ghost, God, gods, jesus christ, kingdom of heaven, Life, long take, lord, madness, Meditation, mental disease, mental illness, mindfulness, Mise-en-scene, Movies, ordet, prayer, presence, psychosis, Religion, resurrection, revelation, revival, Spirit, Spirituality, sweden, ticking clock, Transformation, word, yin and yang | Leave a comment

The Long Take and Mindfulness

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Kamran Ahmed

Branching from my recent post on the film cut and mental anxiety, I’d like to now put into context the opposite phenomenon, the link between long takes and mindfulness, a notion that often leads to theories on the therapeutic value … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged andre bazin, anxiety, attention, awareness, buddhism, cinema, Cinematography, conscientiousness, conscious, Consciousness, Contemplation, dharma, eternity, harmony, kracauer, Life, long take, Malick, Meditation, meditativeness, metaphysics, mindfulness, Mise-en-scene, moment, nirvana, peace, philosophy, physical reality, presence, psychology, pure cinema, pure experience, Samadhi, self-aware, self-help, Sokurov, stress, tranquility, vedanta | Leave a comment

Being, Time, and Rhythm: How Cinema as Art is Life

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Kamran Ahmed

Rhythmic expression of time exists in three states: cinema, life, mind. When these expressions are in harmony, there is bliss. Rhythmic expression of film in harmony with man’s soul (implicit perception of time) equals acceptance of the aesthetic—declared art, love … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged Aesthetic, Art, Ascetic, Beauty, bliss, cinema, consummation, Contemplation, dharma, Experience, expression, harmony, ideas, kindred, Life, Meditation, notions, philosophy, Poetry, Religion, rhythm, sense of time, Spirit, Spirituality, though catalog, thoughts, Time, transcendence, transcendentalism | Leave a comment

Elegy of a Voyage (Sokurov, 2001)

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Kamran Ahmed

As with Russian Ark, Sokurov creates an all encompassing atmosphere through narration and open form montage, yielding a sense of presence throughout the film. Open montage, the use of nondescript (yet no less arresting nor beautiful), non representational images, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged aesthetic experience, Aleksandr Sokurov, Art, Arthouse, Atmosphere, Beauty, bresson, Christianity, church, cinema, Cinematography, Contemplation, Death, film, God, Life, Malick, Mise-en-scene, Montage, music, Nathaniel Dorsky, nature, Observational, Poetry, psychology, Religion, Russia, russian filmmaking, Sokurov, Suicide, tarkovsky, tree of life, urgency, weather | Leave a comment

Lucy (Besson, 2014)

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Kamran Ahmed

Though divisive and critically overlooked, Luc Besson’s Lucy (2014) will surely satisfy the armchair philosopher, especially those psychedelically inclined. Indebted to the LSD consciousness expansion movement of the 60s counterculture, Lucy is frankly the best visual interpretation of Mind at … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged action, Blockbuster, cerebral activity, Consciousness, Contemplation, eternity, Films of 2014, Limitless, lsd, luc besson, lucy, Mind At Large, mind expansion, morgan freeman, phenomenology, phenomenon, philosophy, Psychedelic, realization, scarlett johannson, Time, timothy leary, violence, vulgar auteurism, William Burroughs, yakuza | 1 Comment

The Immigrant (Gray, 2014)

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Kamran Ahmed

James Gray’s The Immigrant (2014) is a landmark in American Cinema that will one day be credited as a modern masterpiece. It is a tour de force in all respects, taking the most appealing qualities of European art cinema and … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged 2014 film, American Cinema, Asceticism, Austere, Beauty, Cannes, cinema, Contemplation, film, forgiveness, funeral canticle, guilt, immigrant, james gray, jeremy renner, joaquin phoenix, John taverner, Marion Cotillard, masterful, masterpiece, Minimalism, misery, Poetry, polish, Religion, Salvation, shame, sin, Spirit, the immigrant | 1 Comment

Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d’un curé de campagne, Bresson, 1951)

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Kamran Ahmed

A performance of austerity on the subject of austerity. A filmmaker practices austerity to create art; a priest (Claude Laydu) practices austerity to instill faith: both seek to fluorish growth amidst the people. The ascetic habits and characteristics of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Robert Bresson | Tagged Adrien Borel, aesthetic experience, aesthetics, Art, Ascetic, Asceticism, Austere, Austerity, bresson, Buddha, Christianity, Cineaste, cinema, Cinematheque, Claude Laydu, Consciousness, Contemplation, Darkness, Death, Diary of a Country Priest, Directed By Andrei Tarkovsky, film, filmmaking, formalism, Jean Riveyre, Journal d'un curé de campagne, Love, Meditation, Minimalism, movie, Nicole Ladmiral, Parish, phenomenology, Priest, Rectory, Religion, robert bresson, Robert Bresson Retrospective, Samadhi, Siddhartha, Simplicity, Spirituality, Tao, tarkovsky, transcendentalism | Leave a comment

The Devil Probably (Le Diable Probablement, Bresson, 1977)

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Kamran Ahmed

The Devil Probably (1977) is a powerful meditation on the arbitrariness of life. Originally restricted in France to those under 18, the film developed controversy due to it’s subjectification of suicide. Many believed that it may incite suicide in certain … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Robert Bresson | Tagged Abritrariness of Life, Aesthetic, Antoine Monnier, Apathy, Ascetic, bresson, cinema, Contemplation, Devil, Devil Probably, Drama, film, formalism, French Film, Hendri de MauBlanc, Meditation, Mouchette, movie, Poetry, Religion, robert bresson, Spirituality, Suicide, The Devil Probably, Tina Irissari, transcendentalism | 4 Comments