The Obsession of the Well-Tampered Clavier

Bach's Well-Tampered Clavier is all about an obsession. If it were a movie, the tagline would be "Discover the fetish of prelude & fugue!" Granted, there's a diversity of styles, especially in the preludes. But this is a work of an obsessive genius, who could have easily written yet another 48 pieces. In fact, it's almost sad that there's limit to the chromatic scale because unlike the Goldberg variations, the Well-Tampered Clavier doesn't have a direction. It's not meant to end. It's not about a singular journey. It's variations on a theme ad infinitum. The only reason it ends is that Bach runs out of keys! Yet the WTC is cohesive for this very same reason(the limit of keys), which smells like a paradox to me.

(Now, these toughts come to my mind as I listen the way Rosalyn Tureck drills the keys of her piano. It's not always pretty, but it's certainly obsessive.)

Maybe the form of the WTC is that of a fugue. A form that reinvents itself again and again, that looks at the same idea from different angles and prespectives...hopefully ad infinitum.

L'Eclisse (1962)

These days, I am obsessed with art that leaves empty spaces and uses the viewer's imagination to fill it. Antoni's L'Eclisse, despite its grim atmosphere, plays around with this idea with incredible joy. To qualify any film as good or bad, one first has to decide what the film is trying to accomplish. L'Elisse exploits this very idea: Scene after scene, Antoninoni teases the viewers' emotions and intellect with unmistakable precision, yet it's somehow impossible to pin him down.
Instead of giving answers, he let us navigate, contemplate, and figure out something relevant for ourselves. His aesthetic approach is not arbitrary: It's reflects his(and Monica Vitti's character's) worldview, where meaning and chaos constantly flirt with one another.

35 Rhums (2008)

After seeing Claire Denis' "35 Rhums", I checked the summary from the Istanbul Film Fesitval Guide. It turned out to be different from the one I had in mind - at least in certain points. Well, who got it wrong? I was not %100 sure. In a way, that's what's so fascinating about the film. Denis doesn't spell out things, she rather "feels" her way around. She never shows off, she never goes for sentimentality, and even avoids poetry(that includes an impressive dream "sequence"). I had my mind and heart working non-stop to hear the delicate sounds of her cinema. In the end, "35 Rhums" is a conversation with a great filmmaker. Does it really matter who said what line? I think not.

Sibelius' 5th Symphony

Sibelius is like a soul-mate to me. His music achieves everything I want to do with my experimental videos. Having listened to his 5th Symphony for the first time a few moments ago, I am speechless. The always elusive "question of form" has found its match. The sheer sound of the orhestral writing so shocking, you'll think it's the first time you've ever heard an orchestra in your life. And then there's that ending, so strange, so unexpected, so inescapable...Apparently before he finished the work, Sibelius wrote to his friend: "God is opening his doors for a moment, and his orchestra is playing the fifth symphony."

Süt (2009)

Semih Kaplanoglu's new film "Sut"(Milk) is truly inspired. His previous film "Yumurta"(Egg) was a similarly understated narrative, admirable for its stylistic simplicity(at least on the surface level). This time around, his ideas are bolder and yet no less subtle. His cinematic language favors hiding things: A visually mysterious chase scene, the use of wide shots, a sequence that is almost completely dark...Question marks are all over the place. Even in the nature landscape, which is a constant backdrop with its suffocating bright colors and sounds. It reminds me of the famous airplane scene from "North by Northwest". The surreal is always around the corner.

La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)

By demystifying the trial of Jeanne d'Arc, Dreyer somehow manages to film the transcendental experience. Jeanne is human because she believes. Her close-ups are wonderfully ambigious.