Monday, January 9, 2023

THE SCHOOL OF TARKOVSKY: NINA MENKES

I guess I see myself more in the tradition of filmmakers like Andrei Tarkovsky - Nina Menkes, Sensesofcinema.com


"My Tarkovsky Homage" - Nina Menkes, Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power
The Mirror /
Phantom Love

Nina Menkes is very much her own filmmaker. She has one of the most unique visions and it has been a pleasure discovering & re-discovering her work over the years.

One thing that stood out to me while clicking around & reading about her online is the open praise she's given to certain specific filmmakers that came before her (some directors can be evasive when it comes to any talk of influence). 

Names like Chantal Akerman & Agnes Varda make perfect sense...

I love Vagabond, by Agnès Varda. When I first saw it, I related so completely that I felt I could have practically shot that film myself! - Nina Menkes, Film Comment
Vagabond /
Queen Of Diamonds

We carry trauma intergenerationally via DNA. It’s literally in our genes. So the combination of a Holocaust personal history and a fiercely feminist consciousness makes my connection to Chantal Akerman’s work very clear - Nina Menkes, criterion.com
Jeanne Dielman /
Queen Of Diamonds


But it was her multiple Tarkovsky namedrops over the years that really raised an antenna. Nina Menkes would be a dynamic filmmaker without Tarkovsky's work. I just find the visual similarities between their films compelling...

I had the pleasure of interviewing her last year (click here to go to the interview) and she referred to Tarkovsky's book; Sculpting in Time as "water in the desert" (she even refers to the comparison above as her "Tarkovsky homage" in her latest film; Brainwashed). 

That was the final confirmation I needed.

Below are some of my favorite interview excerpts of Menkes shouting out Tarkovsky along with some visual comparisons I put together (while some of these are intentional, I'm sure others are just me reaching for something that might not be there).

Enjoy...


One thing I find dull about most traditional narratives is the depiction of time. The standard cinematic construct is that you, say, start in the morning and then this and that happens, and there might be a flashback or a flash-forward, but there’s an essential fixed concept of how time “moves forward”. Tarkovsky has talked about this, he calls that “horizontal time”, whereas “vertical time” is a more transcendental or ever-present concept. In my work, I try to express the place where horizontal time intersects with vertical time which is, to me, a more accurate expression of where this mystical force-time-really exists - Nina Menkes, Sensesofcinema.com

The Mirror / Phantom Love


I think of the name of Tarkovsky’s book Sculpting in Time … Tinka always managed to bypass any known laws of editing and just zero in on the essential quality of the experience. So in Queen of Diamonds, instead of five or six shorter casino/dealing scenes interspersed throughout, she understood the power of making one monster dealing scene - Nina Menkes, Talkhouse.com

Sacrifice /
Queen Of Diamonds

Menkes comes back to this shot/idea a few times in her work...

Sacrifice / 
Phantom Love

Solaris/ 
Phantom Love


Stalker / 
Phantom Love

Sacrifice / 
Phantom Love


Andrei Rublev / 
The Bloody Child

Andrei Rublev / Dissolution

Solaris/ 
Phantom Love

Andrei Rublev / 
Dissolution


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