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WELCOME TO CLOSELY OBSERVED FRAMES
Dedicated to film journalism and selected interviews with industry professionals
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Alex Harper
Sep 12, 20233 min read
Film in Focus: Past Lives
A Korean immigrant reconciles her past life and love in Seoul with her present in New York, 24 years later, in Celine Song's mature debut.
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Alex Harper
Jul 14, 20224 min read
Film of the Week: Beau Travail
As Claire Denis’ two new films await release, we look back at Beau Travail, her blistering post-colonialist deconstruction of masculininity.
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Alex Harper
Jun 3, 20224 min read
Film of the Week: Men
Director Alex Garland and star Jessie Buckley call out the #NotAllRoryKinnears argument in this divisive, gnarly, feminist folk horror.
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Alex Harper
May 13, 20223 min read
Film of the Week: We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, and it’s a surprising trip in Jane Schoenbrun’s horror-drama on gender dysphoria and online subculture.
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Alex Harper
Apr 30, 20223 min read
Film of the Week: Happening
The “quiet one” of French independent cinema’s 2021 surge, Audrey Diwan’s Happening is harrowing, important, and deserving of more fanfare.
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Alex Harper
Mar 6, 20223 min read
Film of the Week: Petrov’s Flu
In light of world events, we look at Kirill Serebrennikov’s anti-Kremlin Russian parable—where a flu epidemic wrecks havoc on Yekaterinburg.
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Alex Harper
Feb 10, 20223 min read
Film of the Week: Flee
An Afghan refugee’s story of how he arrived alone in Denmark aged 15 is told in Flee, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s powerful animated documentary.
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Alex Harper
Jan 18, 20223 min read
Film of the Week: The Humans
Walls groan, light bulbs detonate, figures stare in from outside windows. In Stephen Karam’s The Humans, home is a nightmare for the lonely.
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Alex Harper
Dec 1, 20215 min read
Film of the Week: The Power of the Dog
Jane Campion’s return to film, The Power of the Dog, is a parable on masculinity and a deceptive thriller only felt long after it strikes.
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Alex Harper
Nov 25, 20214 min read
Film of the Week: Drive My Car
A director and his driver, both wounded by grief, find solace in the processes of their work in Hamaguchi’s deft, masterful character study.
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oliverjlwebb
Sep 26, 20212 min read
Comedies and Proverbs: Eric Rohmer’s Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987)
The sixth film in Eric Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs series, Boyfriends and Girlfriends is a beautiful tale of friendship and...
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Alex Harper
Aug 15, 20215 min read
New Series of the Week: The White Lotus
The staff of a luxury Hawaiian resort come under siege by a bunch of “rich, f—ed up white people” in Mike White’s glorious social satire.
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Alex Harper
Aug 12, 20214 min read
New Film of the Week: Zola
Janicza Bravo wants you to hear a story about how Zola and a “white bitch” fell out. It’s kind of long, but it’s full of suspense…
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Alex Harper
Jul 25, 20214 min read
Film of the Week: Slalom
In Charlène Favier’s beautiful but endlessly horrifying feature debut, a teenage skiing prodigy is derailed by abuse from her coach.
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Alex Harper
Apr 18, 20214 min read
New Film of the Week: Promising Young Woman
In Emerald Fennell’s vicious, prescient ‘MeToo’ revenge thriller, Carey Mulligan feigns intoxication to lure men into their worst instincts.
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Alex Harper
Apr 11, 20214 min read
New Film of the Week: Sound of Metal
A heavy metal drummer struggles to find comfort in the silence after suddenly becoming deaf in Darius Marder’s assured, authentic debut.
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Alex Harper
Apr 5, 20214 min read
Film of the Week: Blade Runner 2049
Blade Runner 2049’s soulful existentialism and technical mastery provide another compelling argument for a sequel outclassing a classic.
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Alex Harper
Mar 8, 20214 min read
Film of the Week: Saint Frances
Saint Frances is the patron saint of good vibes and heartfelt comedy, in a topical, character driven tale of a nanny seeking an abortion.
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Alex Harper
Jan 27, 20214 min read
Film of the Week: Euphoria: F*ck Anyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob
Not quite a film, but Euphoria’s second lockdown special is a stellar essay on trans identity, delivered by a formidable Hunter Schafer.
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oliverjlwebb
Oct 25, 20204 min read
Film of the Week: Greed (1924) with an introduction by Alena Von Stroheim.
I don’t know that I have much (particularly profound) to add to the conversation… this film has such a wildly storied history; thank you...
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