Autumn lazy Sunday vibes.
Castelmezzano, September '17
It’s Sunday evening, and I’m listening to -my old time classic now- Portishead band sing All Mine; going through a photo album of d’Agata's selected works from the 1980’s to the late 90s. We'd just come back to London from our Southern Italy road trip, and I find myself incapable of leaving my bed the whole afternoon. Not the usual me considering that I haven’t had any actual resting time since last Christmas. Always on the go. So I started typing. I have been thinking to start writing a blog for a while now. Initially, I thought I could potentially share some of my research work and promote the preparation of my phd. But, giving it a second thought, I doubt I will manage to figure out the time to do so. At the moment my schedule is somewhat tight and even though I am doing quite a few things, I managed to create a routine that is in a certain way flexible.
Positano, September '17
Needless to say, things are keep changing and my schedule is never the same, but some things remain same. For example, I have some everyday activities, that I do without any effort. Like taking pictures. Or sharing them. I used to be passionate about photography since I can remember myself. And I developed that passion further on my early 20s. I carried around a camera all day. I chose to shoot film over digital and experimented a lot. I was selective. Film photography has the ability to teach you that. We had our own dark room developed at home and put some effort onto learning how to print our own pictures. But today, I would say photography had become my third eye; attached on my hand like an extension. Most of the time my hand captures what my eyes see without even making sure that my frame is correct, or my focus is clear enough. Lame. ‘A digital photograph is just a pixel mosaic’. And it’s crazy how much the filters and the perspective only, can fix nowadays. But, people who know me well, know that I am getting bored of stuff easily. If something does not win me over, then I soon move forward to something new. With that lame way of mine, I can keep shooting without interfering my daily routine, chatting with my partner during our explorations and so forth. It’s a good technique actually. And there is so much actual beauty out there worth my naked eyes. However, there are also the moments where the mood is “all about taking the perfect picture”. And we always make sure to have a healthy competition out of it between the two of us.
Positano, September '17
So here I am, going through the harmony of my favourite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finalle. Autumn has always been my most inspiring month. In a way it feels like the beginning of a new year, an opportunity to start from scratch and make things better. The time for re-arranging our thoughts and set new goals for the forthcoming year. Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go, and get ready for the better that is yet to come. And more than anything, it’s the beginning of my cosy movie sessions as well.
Cuba, Havana, 1993, Antoine d' Agata
Speaking of which, I forgot what that post was all about! Yorgos Lanthimos; one of my most adored directors is releasing soon his next movie “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” that apparently I am so crazy about - looking forward to watch. I was the biggest fan of his filming long time before he became someway “famous”. This time I cheated a bit and had a sneak peak at the trailer. His movies extremely intriguing, touching surrealism, are absurd and shocking, clearly social commentary on a degree that is sometimes disturbing and others uncannily funny. I have the impression though, that he softens through time. In any case, if you are really into alternative, indie films and you have a strong stomach you can first give his “Dogtooth” movie a go and follow up with the “Alps” and the “Lobster” to understand the beautiful singularity of his work. Whenever I’ll find myself and my bed again on our endless Sunday love affairs I am thinking to write an article comparing ‘Dogtooth’ with Lucile Hadjihalilovic’s film, ‘Innocence’. This is all just so exciting! Well, see you soon :)
The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Trailer, director, Yorgos Lanthimos