The Cinema of Disorientation : Inviting Confusions

210 Pages·2020·1.473 MB·English

by  Dominic Lash

T H E C I N E M A O F
D I S O R I E N T A T I O N
I N V I T I N G C O N F U S I O N S

D O M I N I C L A S H

The Cinema of Disorientation
This book is dedicated to the memory of Sean Bonney (1969–2019),
a master of revelatory disorientation and incisive confusion.
The Cinema of Disorientation
Inviting Confusions
Dominic Lash
Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in
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© Dominic Lash, 2020
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
The Tun – Holyrood Road, 12(2f) Jackson’s Entry, Edinburgh EH8 8PJ
Typeset in Garamond MT Pro by
Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire,
and printed and bound in Great Britain.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4744 62778 (hardback)
ISBN 978 1 4744 6279 2 (webready PDF)
ISBN 978 1 4744 6280 8 (epub)
The right of Dominic Lash to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI
No. 2498).
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Prospectus 13
Part 1: Confusion as Fusion: Metalepsis, Completeness and
Coherence
Chapter 1: Metalepsis in Film and Its Implications 27
Chapter 2: Genres within Genres within Genres: Nested Narrative and
Metalepsis 39
Chapter 3: ‘Disappeared where it’s real hard to disappear’: Three Ways
of Getting Lost in INLAND EMPIRE 51
Chapter 4: Achieving Coherence: Diegesis and Death in Holy Motors 69
Part 2: Disorientating Figures and Figures of Disorientation
Chapter 5: Figuring (Out) Films: Figuration in Narrative Cinema 91
Chapter 6: Distinguishing the Indistinguishable: Figures of
Imperceptibility and Impossibility in Lost Highway and Caché 105
Chapter 7: Homes for Displaced Figures: Pedro Costa’s Colossal Youth 117
Chapter 8: Sink or Swim: Immersing Ourselves in Jean-Luc Godard’s
Adieu au langage 133
Conclusion: Method-Free Orientation 153
Appendix: Colossal Youth Scene Breakdown 159
Notes 165
Bibliography 181
Filmography 191
Index 195

List of Illustrations
Figures
I.1 A reflection enters the frame . . . but turns out not to be that of
Alan Gray, as we are likely to have assumed. 3
I.2 We assume the camera movement tracks Gray’s attention, but his
mind – and body – are elsewhere. 4
I.3 A tear – or not? 10
P.1 Visually similar images can represent either looking out or looking in. 22
2.1 The structure of David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas. 42
2.2 The structure of the entire film Cloud Atlas. 43
2.3 The structure of a twenty-minute segment from Cloud Atlas. 44
2.4 The structure of The Forbidden Room. 47
3.1 Sandy, Lula and Nikki: Laura Dern speaks while barely moving
her lips, variously conveying concern and curiosity (Blue Velvet
(1986)), fear and desire (Wild at Heart (1990)) or sorrow and guilt
(INLAND EMPIRE). 61
4.1 The fraudulent porthole. 76
6.1 Fujiwara’s shots (2), (3), (4) and (5) from the corridor sequence
in The Night of the Demon. 107
6.2 From the opening of Caché. 108
6.3 Mirror images hiding in plain sight in Lost Highway. 113
6.4 Hiding in plain sight at the end of Caché. 114
6.5 Instances of violence in Caché and Lost Highway. 115
C.1 Confusion rectified? 157
C.2 Ethan is shut out but the viewer is not shut in. 158
Table
8.1 Adieu au langage 145