Sunless

Chris Marker might not be my favorite creator, although he's certainly unique with a lot to offer. His perspective truly isn't easy to replicate, just like the form in which he films. Even though it may seem like a documentary at first glance, there's a clear coherence here that's linked to Marker's personality, thus making it unique. (14/12/2015)

Japan, Africa, and various other corners of the world. But also, France, the best of its culture and thinking. The Annales school of history gave the world the concept of "longue durée," which looks beneath the surface of political turbulence to what is important, the "long-lasting" structures of human life. Marker also pays attention to banal moments and traditions, in which there is more hidden than in superficial "grand histories." Even ethnographic passages (including the name Levi-Strauss) in Sunless, and perhaps most importantly, a piece of beautiful avant-garde filmmaking with a multitude of experiments with image and sound. It is no coincidence that there is also a brief mention of Godard in the film. If The Pier was an essay on the impossibility of escaping time, then Sunless is an essay on the impossibility of stopping time from slipping away. Time that has passed can perhaps be captured in memory, but it escapes our control with the same inevitability as what memory should have preserved, and thus there may be only one thing left - to capture time on a film strip. This also does not help, but thanks to attempts like those of Chris Marker, we can add this author to the greats of French culture. (19/09/2014)