Italian film director Alice Rohrwacher talks of how, as a child, she used to fall asleep in the car on long family trips. She recalls that when she woke up, she was met by a completely different world from the one she started in. She says: ‘this is film’. You close your eyes, and when you open them again you are in a completely different world, with new opportunities and also with new reasons to see, to wonder and to interpret.

I have learned to practise this idea at the opening of a film. Before it begins I close my eyes and let myself wake up to a new world. I savour that moment when I am introduced to people and contexts totally new to me. It asks for my curiosity and concentration. The first 10-15 minutes, it is hard work to pick up pieces of information and to receive sensations about people and relationships, so that I can start to settle into their story. Then I try to float along as the story develops, observing, feeling, connecting, and interpreting. I keep telling myself that although I see, I may not yet perceive what is really going on. It helps me to postpone my judgments about the film and about the people in it. If I draw conclusions too early, it limits and eventually shuts down my ability to observe and to be surprised. So I stay on my toes until the very end.

After the closing credits (I like to be on the look-out for names, music, locations, etc that enrich my understandings) I ask myself questions such as:

• • What the film was about?
  • How do I feel about the protagonists? 
  • Are there elements in the story I can relate to?
  • What are the feelings the film invokes in me?
  • What is the issue I may need to walk around with for a while?
  • Did I discover anything new about the genre the film represents?

One of the true treasures of film for me is its capacity to elevate life qualities such as empathy and compassion. It challenges me to turn inwardly to my true self, to the place where I am present in what I feel, see, hear, get moved by. It asks from me to look with the eyes of my heart. This requires the use of all perceptive capacities, of heart, stomach, head, eyes and ears to catch something that is deeper and higher. To connect with that which is not yet within my field of experience and vision, allowing me to rise above myself and move consciously toward what is real in me.

Film is a combination of script, music, sound and pictures. Although it is important to keep those four together (because their combination produces its impact!), it may be helpful to give a thought to each one separately as well. What was special in how the story was presented and how was the flow of the story maintained? Debut films often show how difficult it is to edit away elements that really are side stories and do not really contribute to the power of the story conveyed. How did the music contribute to the impact of the film? Or was there no music at all, and if so, why did the director choose to do that? Are you aware of any particular use of sound in the film? Any impressions of unusual use of visual effects like colors, angles, lighting, choice of camera, compositions, etc.

A more complicated issue is if it helps to have some basic knowledge of the director, genre or purpose of the film, before you see the film. The danger being of course that it spoils the freshness of the experience. But considering film as an artwork, it would be unusual to go to a museum to just see a painting, without any prior consideration of the painter, the era, the style. Many find a little backstory helpful for opening the artwork, preparing us for what we are going to see.   

Rinus, Feb 2019

Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash

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