Arts & Culture

The Mind of the Serpent

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I had big plans when I first sat down to watch The Embrace of the Serpent. Armed with pen and legal pad, I resolved to record every plot point, key quote and stylistic detail. After about two minutes, my tools had fallen to the floor and I stared at the screen, mesmerized, for the next two hours. The third major picture from director Ciro Guerra, The Embrace of the Serpent is engrossing, insightful and beautifully crafted. The film chronicles the journey of two scientists, Theo (Jan Bijvoet) and Evan (Brionne Davis) as they search the Colombian Amazon for the elusive, psychedelic Yakruna plant.

Arts & Culture

Hitchcock/Truffaut at Cornell Cinema

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If you are a film buff, a film major or a filmmaker, the work of Hitchcock should be running on a 24 hour loop inside your head. If you are any of the above and haven’t seen the man’s work, a self-respecting film buff would cry, “What the MacGuffin is wrong with you?” and prescribe you a steady diet of Vertigo, Rear Window, Psycho and others. I’m afraid I am not one of said film buffs who would do such a thing. Yes, I am a PMA major and aspiring filmmaker, but I have never been overtly enamored with the classic films of the great director. Personally, I’m more partial to his earlier work — The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps — and I even wrote a paper in Global I about the perceived lapse in quality — apparently noticed only by myself and Pauline Kael — as Hitch entered Hollywood.

Arts & Culture

Experimenter Analyzes Human Morality

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I like to think that I am a good person. But when I honestly think about it, there is no reason for me to believe that this is due to anything but sheer luck. I have lived a privileged life, and I have no idea what I would be capable of if circumstances ever pushed me to the edge. It is easy to assume that the horrors of this world are the handiwork of deranged, unstable people, but the evidence of history, full of genocide, mass murder and ethnic cleansing shows this to be a dangerous misconception. How is this possible?

Arts & Culture

Guest Room | Some Last Minute Best Picture Reflections

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If you were to ask last November which movie was poised to win the 2015 Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, a strong majority would subscribe to Carol as first-in-line for Oscar gold, as Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara crafted a dynamically real and voyeuristic affair. The queer-centric film was heavily lauded by critics not only for those performances, but also for its message that is breaking ground for gay rights and equality. As a result, I was left scrambling for clarification when the nominees were announced and Carol was surprisingly omitted. Thus, the question remains: who will win the ultimate award of Best Picture? If the past is indicative of anything, it is that unpredictability is inevitable.

Arts & Culture

F is for Fake: Welles Explores Truth in Deception

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By NICK SWAN

Orson Welles’ documentary F is for Fake is as much an exploration of one filmmaker’s idiosyncratic technique, as it is a philosophical debate about authenticity and expertise. Released in 1974, F is for Fake is Orson Welles’ last completed film — the culmination of an extensive and acclaimed career in artistic media.The beginning of Welles’ work actually existed not in film, but rather in theatre and radio. In 1937, Welles wrote a modern adaptation of and starred in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Although it premiered in an independent theatre, Caesar was soon moved to Broadway, where it ran until 1941. Welles burst onto the radio platform when, in 1938, he delivered the infamous “War of the Worlds” broadcast.

cinema

Student Assembly Votes for $0.30 Per Student Cinema Funding Increase

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The Student Assembly voted 18-3-0 to increase student activity fee allocations to Cornell Cinema by $0.30 per student Thursday, overturning the Appropriations Committee’s recommendation that the cinema should not receive an increase in activity fee allocations. With the funding increase, Cornell Cinema will now receive allocations of $10.90 per student from the student activity fee. However, the $0.30 per student increase is still far lower than the $1.40 per student funding increase that Cornell Cinema has applied for, and proponents of the cinema said that the cinema will still face considerable financial strain even with the increase in allocations. Several passionate Cinema supporters held signs in support of increasing cinema funding and spoke to the S.A. about the importance of preserving culture and arts on campus at the meeting. Debating with members of the Appropriations Committee, Douglas McLaren ’05, manager of Cornell Cinema, explained how his experiences at Cornell Cinema as an undergraduate inspired him to pursue a master’s degree in film preservation.