An Ancient Gesture

I Am Love

I just got home from Cobble Hill Cinemas, where I saw I Am Love, an Italian film by Luca Guadagnino, starring Tilda Swinton. I walked out feeling like I’d been through a whirlwind, the sensory elements were so powerful. The cinematography and score were such that this film must be seen in the theater. Gasps were audible throughout the film as plot undulations and climaxes occurred. On several occasions, my mother, who went with me, tightly grasped my arm and emitted noises of genuine emotion and shock.

I don’t want to give away too much, but I will say that I found Tilda Swinton to be breathtaking as a Emma, a Russian émigré living in Italy, an alien in her own villa in Milano among her regal, beautiful family. Brilliant too was Alba Rohrwacher, who played the daughter, Betta. Only at times was it a bit too over-wrought for my taste, and even at those moments I understood that these were essential in fulfilling the aesthetic aims of the movie. It had the aura and tone of a film made in another era of filmmaking, but simultaneously was one of the oddest and most innovative films I’ve seen recently. It’s difficult to maintain that nostalgia while producing such cacophonous, unsettling, but perfectly appropriate effects that send the viewer out of their comfort zone.

An exceptional cinematic experience. 

Also, did you know that admission is $7 on Tuesdays (all day long) at Cobble Hill? I may have to make the excursion a weekly ritual if that deal endures.

Also note Anthony Lane’s fantastic review in The New Yorker, that made me want to see it in the first place.

Pour Your Body Out

Thankful for museum memberships to get me out of long lines, and anxious to see what all the fuss was about, I finally went to MoMA the other day to view Pipilotti Rist’s Pour Your Body Out, a multimedia interactive piece commissioned by MoMA, site-specific to the atrium on the 2nd floor. What resulted from the collaboration between Swiss visual artist, Rist, and MoMA is a very beautiful film that, in my mind, is about regeneration. Various elements and stages of being are depicted; the body interacts with properties of death and the cultivation of life through death…sort of. 

Anyway, in the center of the atrium ia an enormous couch for visitors to lounge on, surrounded by projections of the film on all of the walls surrounding it. Visitors are encouraged to sing, dance, and react to the piece in any manner. The mission statement tells us that it is meant to get us in the mood for the rest of the art one is about to view in the rest of the museum. I went just to see this. It was enough for one day; absolutely wonderful. 

I could have sat there all day. The kid friendly atmosphere would have gotten to me after awhile—I got a knee to the head once or twice, but couldn’t help but think it awesome that these kids get to experience a little of the avant-garde and taboo at such a young age—breasts, menstruation, feral animalistic behavior, dirt, garbage, sexuality; all of those elements interacting. 

It is an entirely visceral as well as visual and aural experience. It fits the space perfectly. The beauty of MoMA’s structure interacts so brilliantly with the colors and aesthetics of the film. It’s only viewable until the end of February, so if you can check it out, do so before it’s too late!