Film Studies at LICA, Lancaster University

14/03/2022

Currently on Netfilx, THE ADAM PROJECT raises some interesting issues. Yes, there is a lot of faff about time travel and some impressive CGI fight sequences that recall TRON and STAR WARS, among others. But in this film we have a very traditional narrative: a family loses a father and the project of life then comes to be restored, in the end, by raising up and reasserting the power of the father. (Lacanians would call such things the ‘paternal signifier’ or ‘Name-of-the-father’; perhaps Julia Kristeva would call this ‘the father of individual prehistory’ - time travel indeed!). All of this is very interesting in an age when the role of the father and his symbolic power is increasingly under pressure. In THE ADAM PROJECT, the evil villain is a woman, while the story’s wife-mother struggles to function now that she has lost her husband. Do I dare declare that the film’s message is that ‘women have messed things up’ and the only way to restore harmony to the world is to restore the power of the paternal signifier; that is, to restore patriarchal power? Well, I’d have difficulty seeing the film in any other way, right down to its assertion of the project of Adam over … well, over Eve, of course! Does this make THE ADAM PROJECT a bad film? Not necessarily. I think it makes it a very interesting interjection into debates on the the future of the nuclear family, the roles of motherhood and fatherhood, and childhood (the shadow of E.T. looms large here …).
Especially interesting, perhaps, in comparison to Almodóvar’s PARALLEL MOTHERS (which we wrote about a few weeks ago).

28/02/2022

PARALLEL MOTHERS continues Almodóvar’s reflections on social formations, especially on families and the kinds of families that might emerge as alternatives to the traditional nuclear family. His extraordinary ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER (1999) was perhaps his boldest step in this direction, and many of his subsequent films have returned to those concerns (VOLVER (2006), BROKEN EMBRACES (2009), JULIETA (2016)). So PARALLEL MOTHERS investigates families that have disintegrated due to divorce, but also to families whose fathers were murdered during Spain’s Civil War, but then also to families in which there are more than one mother.

Surely the key intertext here is ANTIGONE. One aim of the film is for Penelope Cruz’s character, Janis, to obtain a proper burial for her great-grandfather and other (male) members of her village, all victims of the Civil War. And so, as with ANTIGONE to some degree, PARALLEL MOTHERS opens itself to notions of the Law – of politics, of history, of family – as determined by women: by mothers, friends, lovers. All of this is not simply to dismiss all men and ‘Patriarchal’ law as bad or evil. On the contrary, the women in this film demonstrate their love for men and fathers and grandfathers with great tenderness. There are no preordained or proper ways to do things. Rather, the lesson is: we do what we can do.

03/09/2020

Movies under lockdown can lead to some interesting synergies. One day this week I happened to watch a western from 1954, THEY RODE WEST (directed by Phil Karlson). Then later in the evening I watched Clint Eastwood’s 2008 film, GRAN TORINO. I was surprised that both films were about the American problem of race. For THEY RODE WEST, the ‘problem’ is American Indians. For most of the soldiers in the film who are stationed at a remote western outpost, the Indians are savages who pretty much deserve to be eradicated. The film’s hero, a doctor (played by Robert Francis), instead tries to protect and save the Indians. In doing so he disobeys orders and this means that the film’s main conflict is between the brash forces of military power who want to eradicate their ‘inferiors’, and the enlightened pacifist doctor who disobeys orders so as to care for the Indians. And what do you know, something sort of similar happens in GRAN TORINO. Eastwood plays a retired army man who is initially completely disdainful of his Korean neighbours - he’s additionally embittered against them after having fought in the Korean War. Over time, and as a result of plot movements I won’t detail here, he comes to befriend his Korean neighbours in ways that might lead to a brighter future (I won’t give away the ending for those who haven’t seen it).

Of course, all of this can also be seen in the context of the vicious racial battles currently being fought in the US (let’s not mention Eastwood’s politics here). If we substitute American Indians or Koreans for African Americans, then we can see that both of these films are speaking to concerns that remain utterly relevant today. And I think we can lament the fact that, even as films like these preach tolerance and understanding, so little has changed from 1954 to 2008 to 2020.

THEY RODE WEST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDhH6C4S-rE

02/03/2020

Terrence Malick’s latest film, A HIDDEN LIFE, certainly raises some interesting questions. How important is it for a person to stick to what he (or she) believes is true and correct? Does such a commitment to the truth verge on madness or irresponsibility? Is it a form of religious fundamentalism (the film’s Christian resonances are intended)? And is it defensible to pursue such a course even when it leads to misery and unhappiness for the people one loves? There are no simple answers to these questions, though Malick’s film seems to present the case that remaining true to one’s own truth is the highest form of ethical act. The film is certainly worth seeing on the big screen if you can catch it.

06/11/2019

Film Workshop (Part of Cultural Capital Series of Workshops) with Dr Yasmin Fedda, lecturer at QMUL and director of the documentary 'Queens of Syria' - Wednesday 6 @ 14:00 in Elizabeth Livingston Lecture Theatre (Bowland North)

28/06/2019

Less than 24 hours to go until the first Lancaster University Open Day of the year! It's set to be a scorcher so don't forget to pack your sun protection and we'll be on hand with snacks and water 🌞

Visit us in the 📍 LICA Building to chat to our academics and current students about studying:

🏦 Architecture
💻 Design
🎨 Fine Art
🎬 Film
🎭 Theatre and Performance

BOOK for an upcoming Open Day this summer ➡️ https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/open-days/undergraduate-open-days/

20/06/2019

Come check out the Film Premiere tomorrow for Coordinate - LICA's 2019 Degree Show 😊🎥

18/06/2019

29/05/2019

Congratulations to PhD student Anna Kumacheva on becoming one of 10 scholars on the prestigious Cumberland Lodge Scheme! 😀

Anna says, “It is a great honour and amazing opportunity. I will be visiting Windsor for conferences and debates in the next two years, talking to members of Parliament, training in public speaking, having ongoing mentoring in intellectual leadership. And what is most important for me - I will be working on the betterment of society.”

Photo Credit - Cumberland Lodge