Senses of Cinema
@sensesofcinema.bsky.social
An online film journal devoted to the serious and eclectic discussion of cinema.
📢 Issue 115 Out Now
https://www.sensesofcinema.com/issues/issue-115/
Support Independent Film Criticism: https://linktr.ee/SensesofCinema
📢 Issue 115 Out Now
https://www.sensesofcinema.com/issues/issue-115/
Support Independent Film Criticism: https://linktr.ee/SensesofCinema
Pinned
📣 🎞Welcome to Issue 115 of the serious and eclectic discussion of cinema! www.sensesofcinema.com/issues/issue...
In the Issue 115 dossier with My Formative Queers, Angie Black "explores how the aesthetics of music video, particularly the art of remixing dominant narratives to create alternative readings, ignited my creative identity as a queer filmmaker."
Ladies and Gentlefolx, Miss Grace Jones: A Remix Queer Icon – Senses of Cinema
This article has been peer reviewed
buff.ly
December 9, 2025 at 6:08 AM
In the Issue 115 dossier with My Formative Queers, Angie Black "explores how the aesthetics of music video, particularly the art of remixing dominant narratives to create alternative readings, ignited my creative identity as a queer filmmaker."
Reposted by Senses of Cinema
Read Martyn Bamber’s annotation on Magnificent Obsession (1935) in @sensesofcinema.bsky.social
Magnificent Obsession – Senses of Cinema
www.sensesofcinema.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Read Martyn Bamber’s annotation on Magnificent Obsession (1935) in @sensesofcinema.bsky.social
Reposted by Senses of Cinema
Read Dana Polan’s annotation on Leave Her to Heaven (1945) in @sensesofcinema.bsky.social
Leave Her to Heaven – Senses of Cinema
www.sensesofcinema.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Read Dana Polan’s annotation on Leave Her to Heaven (1945) in @sensesofcinema.bsky.social
Reposted by Senses of Cinema
Join us on Wednesday 10 December for the second night of our focus on the pioneering Hollywood director John M. Stahl.
7:00pm – LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (1945)
9:05pm – MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1935)
7:00pm – LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (1945)
9:05pm – MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1935)
December 8, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Join us on Wednesday 10 December for the second night of our focus on the pioneering Hollywood director John M. Stahl.
7:00pm – LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (1945)
9:05pm – MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1935)
7:00pm – LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (1945)
9:05pm – MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1935)
"The competition did offer, in its Golden Leopard winner, a lighter and funnier touch than many years, and there was a cluster of clever comedies, even as they also register our moment’s melancholy..."
In Issue 115, Jamiey Fisher reports on the 2025 Locarno Film Festival:
In Issue 115, Jamiey Fisher reports on the 2025 Locarno Film Festival:
Locarno 2025: Good Trouble or Unruly Women (Understandably) on the Run – Senses of Cinema
Last year’s Locarno Film Festival was the first under the newly appointed president Maja Hoffmann, an important (and extremely wealthy) Swiss patron of the arts, and regular festival goers were…
buff.ly
December 8, 2025 at 5:59 AM
"The competition did offer, in its Golden Leopard winner, a lighter and funnier touch than many years, and there was a cluster of clever comedies, even as they also register our moment’s melancholy..."
In Issue 115, Jamiey Fisher reports on the 2025 Locarno Film Festival:
In Issue 115, Jamiey Fisher reports on the 2025 Locarno Film Festival:
"The film’s unsettling atmosphere seeps into the audience’s psyche; this disquieting mood is its primary achievement..."
In Issue 115, Ömer Kulak unpacks the themes and concerns of Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan (2014).
In Issue 115, Ömer Kulak unpacks the themes and concerns of Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan (2014).
Leviathan: Whale Bones And Rotten Humanity – Senses of Cinema
Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan (2014) teems with a range of emotions and ideas. The film concerns a father fighting to save his family and property; although the narrative is linear, Zvyagintsev…
buff.ly
December 5, 2025 at 5:59 AM
"The film’s unsettling atmosphere seeps into the audience’s psyche; this disquieting mood is its primary achievement..."
In Issue 115, Ömer Kulak unpacks the themes and concerns of Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan (2014).
In Issue 115, Ömer Kulak unpacks the themes and concerns of Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan (2014).
Reposted by Senses of Cinema
Read Jonathan Mackris’ annotation on Back Street (1932) in @sensesofcinema.bsky.social
Back Street – Senses of Cinema
www.sensesofcinema.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Read Jonathan Mackris’ annotation on Back Street (1932) in @sensesofcinema.bsky.social
Reposted by Senses of Cinema
Read Amelia Leonard’s annotation on Imitation of Life (1934) in @sensesofcinema.bsky.social
Imitation of Life – Senses of Cinema
www.sensesofcinema.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Read Amelia Leonard’s annotation on Imitation of Life (1934) in @sensesofcinema.bsky.social
Reposted by Senses of Cinema
Join us on Wednesday 3 December for the first night of our new season, The Courage to Take Things Seriously: John M. Stahl’s Unironic Melodramas.
7:00pm – IMITATION OF LIFE (1934)
9:10pm – BACK STREET (1932)
7:00pm – IMITATION OF LIFE (1934)
9:10pm – BACK STREET (1932)
December 1, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Join us on Wednesday 3 December for the first night of our new season, The Courage to Take Things Seriously: John M. Stahl’s Unironic Melodramas.
7:00pm – IMITATION OF LIFE (1934)
9:10pm – BACK STREET (1932)
7:00pm – IMITATION OF LIFE (1934)
9:10pm – BACK STREET (1932)
In Issue 115 as part of the My Formative Queers Special Dossier, Connor Mulvaney reflects on the music video for Nicki Minaj's Super Bass, camp aesthetics, and digital diva worship.
“This One is for the Boys”: Nicki Minaj, Camp Aesthetics and Digital Diva Worship – Senses of Cinema
This article has been peer reviewed
buff.ly
December 2, 2025 at 5:59 AM
In Issue 115 as part of the My Formative Queers Special Dossier, Connor Mulvaney reflects on the music video for Nicki Minaj's Super Bass, camp aesthetics, and digital diva worship.
"Bi Gan’s take on the cinema’s death, however, is to give cinema a corporeal body and let it die slowly in dreams..."
In Issue 115, Xinyuan Wang examines the ways Bi Gan engages with the 'death of cinema' in Resurrection (2025).
In Issue 115, Xinyuan Wang examines the ways Bi Gan engages with the 'death of cinema' in Resurrection (2025).
Cinema Disembodied?: Bi Gan Revisiting the Death-of-Cinema Cliché with Resurrection – Senses of Cinema
Following his international reputation established with Lubian yecan (Kaili Blues, 2015) and Diqiu zuihou de yewan (Long Day’s Journey into Night, 2018), Kuangye shidai (Resurrection, 2025)1 marks…
buff.ly
December 1, 2025 at 5:59 AM
"Bi Gan’s take on the cinema’s death, however, is to give cinema a corporeal body and let it die slowly in dreams..."
In Issue 115, Xinyuan Wang examines the ways Bi Gan engages with the 'death of cinema' in Resurrection (2025).
In Issue 115, Xinyuan Wang examines the ways Bi Gan engages with the 'death of cinema' in Resurrection (2025).
"By my reckoning then, I’m not yet fully formed. I think this is part of what’s most interesting about the idea of our speaking to the formative influences upon us. To wit: that, at whatever age we find ourselves at, at any point in time, we’re still works in progress."
In the Issue 115 Special Dossier with My Formative Queers, Cerise Howard offers "A Personal Meditation Upon a Particular Video Clip – and Others of Its Ilk – With a Lot to Answer For."
Callner and Response: A Personal Meditation Upon a Particular Video Clip – and Others of Its Ilk – With a Lot to Answer For – Senses of Cinema
Author’s note: in order to transmit something of the experiential, pseudo-audience-participatory dimensions of this piece’s two public airings to date, I’ve retained in the text that follows frequent…
buff.ly
November 27, 2025 at 9:36 AM
"By my reckoning then, I’m not yet fully formed. I think this is part of what’s most interesting about the idea of our speaking to the formative influences upon us. To wit: that, at whatever age we find ourselves at, at any point in time, we’re still works in progress."
Reposted by Senses of Cinema
The annotations from our past three weeks of screenings are now live on @sensesofcinema.bsky.social!
November 27, 2025 at 5:54 AM
The annotations from our past three weeks of screenings are now live on @sensesofcinema.bsky.social!
In the Issue 115 Special Dossier with My Formative Queers, Cerise Howard offers "A Personal Meditation Upon a Particular Video Clip – and Others of Its Ilk – With a Lot to Answer For."
Callner and Response: A Personal Meditation Upon a Particular Video Clip – and Others of Its Ilk – With a Lot to Answer For – Senses of Cinema
Author’s note: in order to transmit something of the experiential, pseudo-audience-participatory dimensions of this piece’s two public airings to date, I’ve retained in the text that follows frequent…
buff.ly
November 27, 2025 at 5:59 AM
In the Issue 115 Special Dossier with My Formative Queers, Cerise Howard offers "A Personal Meditation Upon a Particular Video Clip – and Others of Its Ilk – With a Lot to Answer For."
In Issue 115, Cerise Howard reports on the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (and its Shadow Festivals). www.sensesofcinema.com/2025/festiva...
Of Omnipresent, Absent Friends, of Unprepossessing Men and Putting Female Voices to the Front: The 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (and its Shadow Festivals) – Senses of Cinema
www.sensesofcinema.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:12 AM
In Issue 115, Cerise Howard reports on the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (and its Shadow Festivals). www.sensesofcinema.com/2025/festiva...
Reposted by Senses of Cinema
Love learning about unsung women directors! Betty Kaklamanidou on 1950s Greek filmmaker Maria Plyta in new issue of @sensesofcinema.bsky.social.
www.sensesofcinema.com/2025/feature...
www.sensesofcinema.com/2025/feature...
November 21, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Love learning about unsung women directors! Betty Kaklamanidou on 1950s Greek filmmaker Maria Plyta in new issue of @sensesofcinema.bsky.social.
www.sensesofcinema.com/2025/feature...
www.sensesofcinema.com/2025/feature...
"The release of Cerrar los ojos (Close Your Eyes, 2023), just his fourth feature-length film, affirms that the cinema still drives Erice’s thinking." Now in Issue 115, George Kouvaros examines the most recent film by Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice.
The Remains of a Shipwreck: Víctor Erice’s Close Your Eyes – Senses of Cinema
At the origin of all our lives is the mystery of what came before: the circumstances and events that led to our arrival. This mystery remains. It inhabits the memories we have of the people who cared…
buff.ly
November 21, 2025 at 5:59 AM
"The release of Cerrar los ojos (Close Your Eyes, 2023), just his fourth feature-length film, affirms that the cinema still drives Erice’s thinking." Now in Issue 115, George Kouvaros examines the most recent film by Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice.
In this written transcript of a speech originally delivered by the author at the original My Formative Queers event in 2024, Davey Thompson reflects on the 'effortlessly sensual' music video for Kylie Minogue's 'Slow'.
Effortlessly Sensual: “Slow” by Kylie Minogue – Senses of Cinema
Editors’ note: The following is the written transcript of a speech originally delivered by the author at My Formative Queers on 16 November 2024.
buff.ly
November 20, 2025 at 5:59 AM
In this written transcript of a speech originally delivered by the author at the original My Formative Queers event in 2024, Davey Thompson reflects on the 'effortlessly sensual' music video for Kylie Minogue's 'Slow'.
In the Issue 115 Special Dossier 'My Formative Queers', Carolyn D'Cruz revisits the queer aesthetics and politics of the music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love' (Jean Baptiste Mondino, 1990). buff.ly/Maub8GM
November 18, 2025 at 5:59 AM
In the Issue 115 Special Dossier 'My Formative Queers', Carolyn D'Cruz revisits the queer aesthetics and politics of the music video for Madonna's "Justify My Love' (Jean Baptiste Mondino, 1990). buff.ly/Maub8GM
"We thus seek to recover the rhythmic, percussive, and ritual pulse that, from the apparent inert mass of accumulated materials, allows the exuberant song of audiovisual sequences to bloom..."
Now in Issue 115, read Cristóbal Escobar in conversation with Colectivo Los Ingrávidos:
Now in Issue 115, read Cristóbal Escobar in conversation with Colectivo Los Ingrávidos:
“Nothing Needs To Exist”: In Conversation with Colectivo Los Ingrávidos – Senses of Cinema
Many worlds are walked in the world. Many worlds are made. Many worlds make us […] The world we want is a world where many worlds fit.
buff.ly
November 17, 2025 at 5:59 AM
"We thus seek to recover the rhythmic, percussive, and ritual pulse that, from the apparent inert mass of accumulated materials, allows the exuberant song of audiovisual sequences to bloom..."
Now in Issue 115, read Cristóbal Escobar in conversation with Colectivo Los Ingrávidos:
Now in Issue 115, read Cristóbal Escobar in conversation with Colectivo Los Ingrávidos:
Reposted by Senses of Cinema
It was so much fun presenting this story at last year's MQFF symposium. Chuffed to have it included in the dossier.
"Secretly watching “Secretly” was a queer transformative act."
My Formative Queers Special Dossier co-editor, Stuart Richards @stuartrichards.bsky.social, offers a queer reflective reading of the music video for Skunk Anansie's 'Secretly':
My Formative Queers Special Dossier co-editor, Stuart Richards @stuartrichards.bsky.social, offers a queer reflective reading of the music video for Skunk Anansie's 'Secretly':
Secretly Watching “Secretly” – Senses of Cinema
This article has been peer reviewed
buff.ly
November 14, 2025 at 7:57 AM
It was so much fun presenting this story at last year's MQFF symposium. Chuffed to have it included in the dossier.
"Secretly watching “Secretly” was a queer transformative act."
My Formative Queers Special Dossier co-editor, Stuart Richards @stuartrichards.bsky.social, offers a queer reflective reading of the music video for Skunk Anansie's 'Secretly':
My Formative Queers Special Dossier co-editor, Stuart Richards @stuartrichards.bsky.social, offers a queer reflective reading of the music video for Skunk Anansie's 'Secretly':
Secretly Watching “Secretly” – Senses of Cinema
This article has been peer reviewed
buff.ly
November 14, 2025 at 5:59 AM
"Secretly watching “Secretly” was a queer transformative act."
My Formative Queers Special Dossier co-editor, Stuart Richards @stuartrichards.bsky.social, offers a queer reflective reading of the music video for Skunk Anansie's 'Secretly':
My Formative Queers Special Dossier co-editor, Stuart Richards @stuartrichards.bsky.social, offers a queer reflective reading of the music video for Skunk Anansie's 'Secretly':
"City films reveal connection between, movement, energy, rhythms, light, products, architecture and inhabitants..." "
IMartin Blažíček presents an innovative vision of city symphonies, now in Issue 115
IMartin Blažíček presents an innovative vision of city symphonies, now in Issue 115
Symphonies of Infrastructures: From City Films to Political Fiction – Senses of Cinema
The city and its reflection play a special role in interwar avant-garde cinema. For the wave of city symphonies of the 1920s and 1930s, urbanity represents an emblem of modernity, an almost ultimate…
buff.ly
November 11, 2025 at 5:59 AM
"City films reveal connection between, movement, energy, rhythms, light, products, architecture and inhabitants..." "
IMartin Blažíček presents an innovative vision of city symphonies, now in Issue 115
IMartin Blažíček presents an innovative vision of city symphonies, now in Issue 115
"A Voice That Saved Lives: The Queer Influence of David Bowie"
This essay is the written transcript of a speech originally delivered by Darryl W. Bullock at My Formative Queers on 16 November 2024. This dossier is dedicated to the memory of Darryl W. Bullock
This essay is the written transcript of a speech originally delivered by Darryl W. Bullock at My Formative Queers on 16 November 2024. This dossier is dedicated to the memory of Darryl W. Bullock
A Voice That Saved Lives: The Queer Influence of David Bowie – Senses of Cinema
Editors’ note: The following is the written transcript of a speech originally delivered by the author at My Formative Queers on 16 November 2024.
buff.ly
November 10, 2025 at 5:59 AM
"A Voice That Saved Lives: The Queer Influence of David Bowie"
This essay is the written transcript of a speech originally delivered by Darryl W. Bullock at My Formative Queers on 16 November 2024. This dossier is dedicated to the memory of Darryl W. Bullock
This essay is the written transcript of a speech originally delivered by Darryl W. Bullock at My Formative Queers on 16 November 2024. This dossier is dedicated to the memory of Darryl W. Bullock
Did you know Senses of Cinema is on Patreon? For 25 years, Senses of Cinema has made uncompromising film criticism free and accessible to global audiences, connecting us through a shared love of cinema. Our Patreons keep Senses free and independent. Join us: www.patreon.com/sensesofcine...
Get more from Senses of Cinema on Patreon
Support independent film criticism
www.patreon.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Did you know Senses of Cinema is on Patreon? For 25 years, Senses of Cinema has made uncompromising film criticism free and accessible to global audiences, connecting us through a shared love of cinema. Our Patreons keep Senses free and independent. Join us: www.patreon.com/sensesofcine...