Jesse Schotter
@schotter.bsky.social
Modernism, film, fiction. Professor. Views my own.
Successfully played the long game in always irrationally hating Aronofsky and never seeing any of his movies. Vindicated!!!
First trailer for Darren Aranofsky's new AI animated series 'On This Day... 1776'
• Tells short narrative stories about the Revolutionary War
• Uses Gen AI tools, including tech made by Google DeepMind
• Has SAG voice actors
• Tells short narrative stories about the Revolutionary War
• Uses Gen AI tools, including tech made by Google DeepMind
• Has SAG voice actors
January 29, 2026 at 8:06 PM
Successfully played the long game in always irrationally hating Aronofsky and never seeing any of his movies. Vindicated!!!
Reposted by Jesse Schotter
I highly recommend “sound on” for this new angle
January 12, 2026 at 3:07 AM
I highly recommend “sound on” for this new angle
Reposted by Jesse Schotter
I wrote about the incomparable Béla Tarr. www.newyorker.com/culture/post...
Béla Tarr’s Unbroken Visions
In muckily deliberative masterworks such as “Sátántangó” and “The Turin Horse,” the Hungarian director monumentalized the process of decay and the passage of time.
www.newyorker.com
January 8, 2026 at 11:30 PM
I wrote about the incomparable Béla Tarr. www.newyorker.com/culture/post...
Reposted by Jesse Schotter
Columbus, Ohio tonight. There was one counter protester and the police made him leave. #vigil #ice #reneeGood
January 8, 2026 at 1:19 AM
Columbus, Ohio tonight. There was one counter protester and the police made him leave. #vigil #ice #reneeGood
Big turnout (200 or so?) on very short notice for the Renee Nicole Good vigil at Columbus City Hall this evening. Another one tomorrow.
January 8, 2026 at 1:43 AM
Big turnout (200 or so?) on very short notice for the Renee Nicole Good vigil at Columbus City Hall this evening. Another one tomorrow.
Reposted by Jesse Schotter
ICE agents stopped by protesters after the shooting an observer in Minneapolis, according to witnesse. ICE deployed pepper spray and tear gas.
January 7, 2026 at 5:15 PM
ICE agents stopped by protesters after the shooting an observer in Minneapolis, according to witnesse. ICE deployed pepper spray and tear gas.
RIP Béla Tarr. Werckmeister Harmonies, in particular, has so many moments and images that will stay with me forever.
January 6, 2026 at 1:11 PM
RIP Béla Tarr. Werckmeister Harmonies, in particular, has so many moments and images that will stay with me forever.
1. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, 1992) Eliminates the folksiness of the first two seasons to zero in with horror and compassion on Laura Palmer's actual experience. Knows that the best way of representing trauma is to dispense with realism entirely. Hard to take, but incredible.
January 1, 2026 at 12:48 AM
1. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, 1992) Eliminates the folksiness of the first two seasons to zero in with horror and compassion on Laura Palmer's actual experience. Knows that the best way of representing trauma is to dispense with realism entirely. Hard to take, but incredible.
2. Leila and the Wolves (Heiny Srour, 1984) The real revelation of the year: a pageant-like exploration of the role of women in Arab liberation struggles in Palestine and Lebanon in the 20th century. Moves effortlessly between realism and abstraction in its vignettes--altogether wonderful.
January 1, 2026 at 12:43 AM
2. Leila and the Wolves (Heiny Srour, 1984) The real revelation of the year: a pageant-like exploration of the role of women in Arab liberation struggles in Palestine and Lebanon in the 20th century. Moves effortlessly between realism and abstraction in its vignettes--altogether wonderful.
3. Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, 1998). Great music, great costumes, the Citizen Kane narrative structure works: just a go-for-broke, unhinged, and somehow wholly successful film--my favorite of Haynes. The sense of despair and missed possibilities at the end really rings true to our current moment.
December 31, 2025 at 7:48 PM
3. Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, 1998). Great music, great costumes, the Citizen Kane narrative structure works: just a go-for-broke, unhinged, and somehow wholly successful film--my favorite of Haynes. The sense of despair and missed possibilities at the end really rings true to our current moment.
4. One Battle After Another (PT Anderson, 2025). Always been a PTA skeptic, but this is the movie of the year; I've already watched it twice. The balance of urgency and hilarity works brilliantly--it really gets that these fascists are evil but also ridiculous and pathetic.
December 31, 2025 at 7:43 PM
4. One Battle After Another (PT Anderson, 2025). Always been a PTA skeptic, but this is the movie of the year; I've already watched it twice. The balance of urgency and hilarity works brilliantly--it really gets that these fascists are evil but also ridiculous and pathetic.
5. It was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi, 2025) Panahi x 2. Finding just the right balance between comedy and horror, between formal control and spontaneity, this builds slowly and inexorably to a set of breathless finales, both narratively and morally. Is the man capable of making a bad film?
December 31, 2025 at 6:42 PM
5. It was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi, 2025) Panahi x 2. Finding just the right balance between comedy and horror, between formal control and spontaneity, this builds slowly and inexorably to a set of breathless finales, both narratively and morally. Is the man capable of making a bad film?
6. Taxi (Jafar Panahi, 2015). Another Panahi miracle. What seems completely spontaneous and haphazard reveals itself as intricately planned, entirely coherent, and animated by the usual fascinating tensions between fiction/non-fiction, order/disorder. And what a final shot!
December 31, 2025 at 6:39 PM
6. Taxi (Jafar Panahi, 2015). Another Panahi miracle. What seems completely spontaneous and haphazard reveals itself as intricately planned, entirely coherent, and animated by the usual fascinating tensions between fiction/non-fiction, order/disorder. And what a final shot!
7. Sinners (Ryan Coogler, 2025). Maybe not every single bit coheres, but what a remarkably rich and dense exploration of capitalism, race, and appropriation. And it's fun as hell and made with absolute command and panache. This is what you do when you get a blank check from the studio!
December 31, 2025 at 6:36 PM
7. Sinners (Ryan Coogler, 2025). Maybe not every single bit coheres, but what a remarkably rich and dense exploration of capitalism, race, and appropriation. And it's fun as hell and made with absolute command and panache. This is what you do when you get a blank check from the studio!
8. Pressure (Horace Ove, 1976) Screenplay by the great novelist Sam Selvon. Both a wonderfully evocative slice-of-life portrait of Black British life in London and a tense and rapidly escalating tale of political awakening and radicalization. Still, of course, relevant.
December 31, 2025 at 6:33 PM
8. Pressure (Horace Ove, 1976) Screenplay by the great novelist Sam Selvon. Both a wonderfully evocative slice-of-life portrait of Black British life in London and a tense and rapidly escalating tale of political awakening and radicalization. Still, of course, relevant.
9. Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004). Never been into Mann before, but this is great. Excellent performances from Cruise and Foxx, a brilliant screenplay, and gorgeous experiments in digital video. Hits the sweet spot between the abstraction of the images and the tightness of the script.
December 31, 2025 at 6:30 PM
9. Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004). Never been into Mann before, but this is great. Excellent performances from Cruise and Foxx, a brilliant screenplay, and gorgeous experiments in digital video. Hits the sweet spot between the abstraction of the images and the tightness of the script.
10. Bamboozled (Spike Lee, 2000). A masterpiece of discomfort: the subject matter, the smeary early digital video, the near refusal to provide any sympathetic characters. The purest distillation of Spike Lee's cinema of provocation: prescient and unnerving.
December 31, 2025 at 6:26 PM
10. Bamboozled (Spike Lee, 2000). A masterpiece of discomfort: the subject matter, the smeary early digital video, the near refusal to provide any sympathetic characters. The purest distillation of Spike Lee's cinema of provocation: prescient and unnerving.
It's that time of the year again--my list of my top 50 new-to-me films that I've watched in 2025. Counting down:
50. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof, 2024)
49. Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater, 2025)
48. No Way Out (Roger Donaldson, 1987)
47. Dig! (Ondi Timoner, 2004)
50. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof, 2024)
49. Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater, 2025)
48. No Way Out (Roger Donaldson, 1987)
47. Dig! (Ondi Timoner, 2004)
December 31, 2025 at 2:26 PM
It's that time of the year again--my list of my top 50 new-to-me films that I've watched in 2025. Counting down:
50. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof, 2024)
49. Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater, 2025)
48. No Way Out (Roger Donaldson, 1987)
47. Dig! (Ondi Timoner, 2004)
50. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof, 2024)
49. Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater, 2025)
48. No Way Out (Roger Donaldson, 1987)
47. Dig! (Ondi Timoner, 2004)
I realized all my favorite films from this year are, appropriately, about attempts at solidarity against fascism/violence: One Battle After Another, It Was Just an Accident, Sinners, Secret Agent. If we widen that to solidarity against sexual predation then Sorry Baby, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl too.
December 26, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I realized all my favorite films from this year are, appropriately, about attempts at solidarity against fascism/violence: One Battle After Another, It Was Just an Accident, Sinners, Secret Agent. If we widen that to solidarity against sexual predation then Sorry Baby, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl too.
Because of the Christmas Adventurers Club, and the related use of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” One Battle After Another is a Christmas movie. Now added to my annual rotation.
December 25, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Because of the Christmas Adventurers Club, and the related use of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” One Battle After Another is a Christmas movie. Now added to my annual rotation.
For the online student evaluations, OSU this semester has paid an external company for an AI tool that analyzes student comments and turns them into “actionable” suggestions. It is glacially slow, absolutely useless, and barely lets you see the comments themselves! Enraging.
December 23, 2025 at 3:30 PM
For the online student evaluations, OSU this semester has paid an external company for an AI tool that analyzes student comments and turns them into “actionable” suggestions. It is glacially slow, absolutely useless, and barely lets you see the comments themselves! Enraging.
My book Hieroglyphic Modernisms is a mere $19.98 all this weekend thanks to @edinburghup.bsky.social ‘s sale!
edinburghuniversitypress.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
My book Hieroglyphic Modernisms is a mere $19.98 all this weekend thanks to @edinburghup.bsky.social ‘s sale!
Reposted by Jesse Schotter
Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81
Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81
Star of The Harder They Come had hits including You Can Get It If You Really Want and I Can See Clearly Now
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81
Making my students read David Denby’s notorious review of Do the Right Thing and of the many enraging things he says the worst is him referring to Radio Raheem as a “black boy.” Bill Nunn was 36!!!
November 15, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Making my students read David Denby’s notorious review of Do the Right Thing and of the many enraging things he says the worst is him referring to Radio Raheem as a “black boy.” Bill Nunn was 36!!!
No Bears
November 7, 2025 at 12:15 AM
No Bears