James Dalrymple
@jamesewand.bsky.social
Teaching/lecturing in France. Occasional academic.
Cinema, books, music, vintage television, podcasts (usually while cooking for the family), teaching, life in France etc.
Film reviews at: letterboxd.com/jamesewand/
Cinema, books, music, vintage television, podcasts (usually while cooking for the family), teaching, life in France etc.
Film reviews at: letterboxd.com/jamesewand/
I will do that!
November 11, 2025 at 7:55 PM
I will do that!
Bonnaire had a complicated love life herself it seems
November 11, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Bonnaire had a complicated love life herself it seems
I've seen the second of those. Rough! I heard about his Cannes speech. It seems he was a bit of an outsider!
November 11, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I've seen the second of those. Rough! I heard about his Cannes speech. It seems he was a bit of an outsider!
Sadly I missed that. Hopefully it will come up on streaming here again
November 11, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Sadly I missed that. Hopefully it will come up on streaming here again
Any Pialat favorites ? They did a retrospective on Arte a few years ago and I saw quite a few but not all. I think the early one, L'Enfance Nue, was my favourite, and fascinating to compare to something like Kes
November 11, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Any Pialat favorites ? They did a retrospective on Arte a few years ago and I saw quite a few but not all. I think the early one, L'Enfance Nue, was my favourite, and fascinating to compare to something like Kes
😱 can't we just fix the stuff that doesn't work before pressing on with A.I.?
November 11, 2025 at 6:33 PM
😱 can't we just fix the stuff that doesn't work before pressing on with A.I.?
he he, it's not an obvious casting choice but I think he makes a reasonable fist of it. It is a bit odd that Pialat won the Palm d'Or for this as he did other much more memorable films
November 11, 2025 at 6:25 PM
he he, it's not an obvious casting choice but I think he makes a reasonable fist of it. It is a bit odd that Pialat won the Palm d'Or for this as he did other much more memorable films
sometimes my daughter's terrible music interrupts my podcasts!
November 11, 2025 at 4:47 PM
sometimes my daughter's terrible music interrupts my podcasts!
Either way, I'm nostalgic for a culture in which modernist/experimental cinema could be both "popular" and "intellectual". France has become more globalised in its tastes now, for better and (often) for worse. 2/2
November 11, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Either way, I'm nostalgic for a culture in which modernist/experimental cinema could be both "popular" and "intellectual". France has become more globalised in its tastes now, for better and (often) for worse. 2/2
Agree about Truffaut and Chabrol but not about modernism, which to me necessarily happened later in cinema and television than in literature, art, architecture etc. Call it modernism with "un minuscule" if you like, but to me it's still modernism. 1/2
November 11, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Agree about Truffaut and Chabrol but not about modernism, which to me necessarily happened later in cinema and television than in literature, art, architecture etc. Call it modernism with "un minuscule" if you like, but to me it's still modernism. 1/2
Depending on your definitions, I don't agree that you can't make modernist cinema. To me, experimenting with film form (which can mean many things, because film encompasses so many media) is still vital & necessary. But obviously that is harder to do today with the enthusiasm of the Nouvelle Vague
November 11, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Depending on your definitions, I don't agree that you can't make modernist cinema. To me, experimenting with film form (which can mean many things, because film encompasses so many media) is still vital & necessary. But obviously that is harder to do today with the enthusiasm of the Nouvelle Vague
...but it's sad to see that in France, which had such an important role in the recognition of cinema as art. 2/2
November 11, 2025 at 10:21 AM
...but it's sad to see that in France, which had such an important role in the recognition of cinema as art. 2/2
I'm just nostalgic for a time (which I never knew) when cine-literate modernist films were popular and part of the cultural conversation. Now it is much more niche. Globally, too, of course, cinema has rather lost its status in the culture... 1/2
November 11, 2025 at 10:20 AM
I'm just nostalgic for a time (which I never knew) when cine-literate modernist films were popular and part of the cultural conversation. Now it is much more niche. Globally, too, of course, cinema has rather lost its status in the culture... 1/2
I think there is still a healthy film going public in France but I think it used to be a bit more obsessive and eclectic. That said, I think this is true to a certain extent everywhere
November 11, 2025 at 10:02 AM
I think there is still a healthy film going public in France but I think it used to be a bit more obsessive and eclectic. That said, I think this is true to a certain extent everywhere
Yes, my post wasn't necessarily meant to praise OUPW (which I haven't seen for quite a while), but the idea that such a film could be such a popular success. I doubt many of my students would have the patience to make it through the first ten minutes of the film
November 11, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Yes, my post wasn't necessarily meant to praise OUPW (which I haven't seen for quite a while), but the idea that such a film could be such a popular success. I doubt many of my students would have the patience to make it through the first ten minutes of the film
A schtick that stuck! I'm remembering that
November 11, 2025 at 8:06 AM
A schtick that stuck! I'm remembering that
Blimey. He never calmed down!
November 11, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Blimey. He never calmed down!
Yes, I read Wigan Pier for the first time this year, and the descriptions of mining are the ones that stayed with me most. The second part of the book is more polemical, and arguably less persuasive as a consequence
November 11, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Yes, I read Wigan Pier for the first time this year, and the descriptions of mining are the ones that stayed with me most. The second part of the book is more polemical, and arguably less persuasive as a consequence
I like Pialat, and this has some mémorable moments, but there are others of his that stuck with me more (his Van Gogh biopic, and Naked Childhood)
November 11, 2025 at 6:09 AM
I like Pialat, and this has some mémorable moments, but there are others of his that stuck with me more (his Van Gogh biopic, and Naked Childhood)