Movie Diary 10/31/2022

Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966). More classroom material. A portal into another time but also into timelessness. When the camera looks up and begins to track the imaginary tennis ball, it’s a moment in the making since George Melies began imagining things on film.

Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett, 1977). Elliptical and mysterious, and just completely its own thing. It’s easy to point out the lyrical passages and the neorealist views of Black life in Los Angeles neighborhoods, but the film’s humor, which relies on timing and character and the camera’s deadpan gaze, is a big part of its success.