Tarkovsky is arguably the greatest filmmaker of all time and, for me, Andrei Roublev is his greatest film. Every single shot in this film is a masterpiece - every frame, every camera move, every chiaroscuro effect. It tells the story of one of Russiaās greatest religious icon painters, but in such a ramshackle way that it becomes an allegory of the creative process and what it means to be an artist. The film surprises at every turn ā not a single moment is predictable. The final scene is one of the greatest endings in all of cinema, right up there with the end of Lars Von TrierāsĀ MelancholiaĀ and the end of Robert BressonāsĀ The Devil Probably.
Kiarostamiās 1990 kinda doc kinda fiction exploration of filmmaking ethics, artistic desire, reasonable fraudulence, economic disparity and a whole lot else. How great is it to see something truly one of a kind? I am buzzing.
One of the greatest, if not, the greatest cinematographer of all time. Known best for his frequent collaborations with Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch, Müller's DP work lifts their work from greatness to profoundness. Every frame of film that he captured could be its own piece of framed art. I also highly recommend checking out his photo work at the Robby Müller Archive. A lot of it captures the way that memory feels.
This is inarguably the most difficult (and formally radical) book ever written and most people canāt make heads or tails of it but if you just start reading and donāt stop and let the words wash over you, its strange poetry starts to speak to you. Joyce invented a new language of neologisms and portmanteau words that were puns in multiple languages at once. He went as far with the English language as anyone can go and he attains heights of poetry, subtlety, and complexity that have never been surpassed. Iāve been reading it for 40 years and have only just scratched its surface but it has been an immensely rewarding experience.
The poetry of Wallace Stevens has been the single greatest help to me in living my life. He taught me to see the world ācleansed of its stiff and stubborn man-locked set.ā He taught me to apprehend the deeper mystery that is Reality, and to quote Stevens, to see āhow much of what he saw he never saw at all.ā He taught me to understand that Reality is not a solid but, perhaps, āa shade that traverses a dust/a force that traverses a shade.ā He taught me to be at peace in the world and I will forever be in his debt.
This is the book I have read more times than any other. I donāt think any other (human) writer has ever reached the spiritual heights that Blanchot achieved in this book. His work has been a beacon to me ever since I discovered it in college. Most of the people Iāve recommended this book to did NOT love it, but those that did became lifelong fanatics. Itās abstruse and almost every sentence is a mind-fuck, but I would argue that Blanchot is the greatest writer ever.