The Best Video Essays of 2018
Are you not edu-tained? Here’s a roundup of our favorite video content from the past year.
“Orson Welles: Who Is This Man?”
By Luís Azevedo
Sneak Peak
Luís Azevedo turns in a stirring montage on the shape-shifting grand duke of cinema, Orson Welles. Highlighting Welles’ enigmatic presence on-screen and off, it’s hard not to get riled up by Welles’ (and Azevedo’s) passion for performance.
“No Country for Old Men – Don’t Underestimate the Audience”
By Lessons from the Screenplay
Sneak Peak
“Show don’t tell” is a truism of good storytelling for a reason: it’s a great way to invest your audience in your characters, plot, and moral landscape. Here’s Michael Tucker explaining why when it comes to respecting audiences, No Country For Old Men excells.
“How Michael Scott Makes a Sale”
By Like Stories of Old
Sneak Peak
In an essay that is as much about pop-culture as it is about workplace sociology, Tom van der Linden treats a very silly character with a lot of care, empathy, and reverence. Brace for feels.
“Abduction as Romance”
By Pop Culture Detective
Sneak Peak
Oh boy. So…the romanticization of women being disempowered by male captors is uncomfortable. To put it lightly. Jonathan McIntosh does a great job of confronting an ugly trope while keeping things focused.
“Suspiria: Phantasmagoric Artificiality”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgHB-_VVfog
By Cinema Cartography
Sneak Peak
If you’re going to talk about the collective dream dimensions of cinema, Argento is an excellent place to start. Tackling the visual language of phantasmagoric horror, Lewis Michael Bond and Luiza Liz delve into the uneasy on-screen dream of Suspiria.
“Déjà Vu – It”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpw9FsWjQ4n/
By Candice Drouet
Sneak Peak
Moving away from exegesis, Drouet’s essays tend to lean on lyrical motifs, shared threads, and gestalt “oh hey’s.” Her breakdown for Canal + of the similar moments between the two Its, is particularly crunchy.
