Control Panel Pong
March 26, 2010 – 9:15 am
Werningerode
March 24, 2010 – 8:37 pm
A long aside… not far from the town hall is a bookshop with a big outdoor set of bells (glockenspiel) that pings away its own hourly tune (Annchen von Tharau—so I learned when I ran in to ask). In order not to compete with the official town clock, it does this five minutes after every hour. I can imagine the suffering of the glockenspiel’s owner—his only choices were either constantly being late or disrespecting authority. For a German in a quaint little city this is a serious dilemma. A Frenchman, for example, would have had no problem whatsoever with either option.
Excerpt from a fun piece about the quaint German town of Werningerode by Kevin Dolgin.
Suspense Beat
March 20, 2010 – 9:40 pm
The scene is one long suspense beat, a pattern that will be repeated throughout the movie. Over and over, Tarantino slowly ratchets up the tension until it is almost a relief when the tension explodes into violence. Which is, as it turns out, one of the things that elevates Basterds to the level of high art — Tarantino repeatedly uses the audience’s desire for release against it.
Well written piece by screenwriter Todd Alcott on Inglourious Basterds.
When I saw Basterds about a month ago I was surprised at how thoroughly it defied the expectations I’d had. I thought “hyper-violent Nazi bashing fun”, but I got “hyper-intelligent super-suspenseful reflection on violence in cinema and society (with genius acting and luscious set-pieces thrown in for good measure)”.
Hi, my name is Florian Schroiff, I live and work in the beautiful city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. This website is mostly a collection of the various flotsam and jetsam I encounter on my travels through the web.