PINNLAND EMPIRE: TV

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Tuesday, July 8, 2025

THE REHEARSAL + EDVARD MUNCH (1974)

Edvard Munch / The Rehearsal

I think Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal is one of the best television shows to come out in a very long time. It’s funny, weird, interesting and a genuine attempt at trying to do something unique (especially for HBO). Everything that’s good that needs to be said about it has already been said over these last few years. We don’t need another review gushing over how great Nathan Fielder is. This isn’t a review or a critique of the show. This is just a random observation/coincidental connection I noticed after rewatching the last two seasons.

Much like my Joe Pera/Chantal Akerman post, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between Fielder’s work and the films of Peter Watkins. Specifically, his Edvard Munch biopic.

Edvard Munch / The Rehearsal

Peter Watkins is hardly the first director to utilize cinema-verite/mocu-mentary style zoom-ins or shots of characters looking directly in to the camera. But the fact that Edvard Munch and The Rehearsal both fall under that fake documentary style of filmmaking that we’re all so familiar with today (The Office, Parks and Rec etc), makes the coincidental connection slightly more stronger in my eyes.

If you’re a fan of recent stuff like The Rehearsal, How To with John Wilson or even Nathan For You, you might want to delve in to the cinema of Peter Watkins. I haven’t found any evidence that Nathan Fielder is familiar with the work of Watkins. He probably doesn’t even know who he is. I just think it’s kind of cool how similar some of the shots are and how Fielder could be a potential gateway to other lesser-known filmmakers…

Edvard Munch / The Rehearsal

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

VISUAL REFERNCES IN TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY

This entry isn't anything significant. I just felt like highlighting some of the standout references and homages from the latest season of True Detective. I've shared these on my twitter account but since I'm still shadowbanned, no one really sees them except for the bigger accounts that steal my tweets and passed them off as their own (none of these homages were hard to miss so I'm not that bent out of the shape about people stealing from me). The folks responsible for this season were quite open about their inspirations. All I did was make the comparisons based off of their own words (with a few speculations of my own at the end).

Enjoy...

One of the biggest influences that I ever will have in this genre, and honestly in cinema in general, is SE7EN - Issa Lopez, Deadline.com

Se7en / True Detective: Night Country

Se7en /
True Detective: Night Country

Se7en / True Detective: Night Country

one of the biggest references for it is Carpenter's The Thing, no doubt - Issa Lopez, The AVClub.com

The Thing / True Detective: Night Country

Tsalal [the research station in Night Country] has undertones, the way we shot it, to Kubrik’s the Overlook - Issa Lopez, The AVClub.com

The Shining / True Detective: Night Country

Oh, this reminds me of The Silence Of The Lambs - Issa Lopez, The AVClub

The Silence Of The Lambs / True Detective: Night Country

None of these have been confirmed but here a re few more scenes that I felt were homages...

Aliens
/ True Detective: Night Country

The Blair Witch Project / True Detective: Night Country

The Exorcist / True Detective: Night Country

Sunday, January 8, 2023

A FEW (POSSIBLE) VISUAL REFERENCES IN COPENHAGEN COWBOY

Vampyr /
Copenhagen Cowboy

Putting aside the obvious (and sometimes tired) modern visual references often associated with Nicolas Winding Refn (Mann, Friedkin, Argento, Refn himself or any filmmaker that’s utilized a neon light or synthesizer), I noticed a handful of slightly deeper visual references in his latest project; Copenhagen Cowboy.

I’ll be going back to watch the series again and will update this post accordingly. But in the meantime please scroll through the first wave of comparisons I came up with along with various interview excerpts from over the years to add some context and/connective tissue.

I’m not a film analyst but most of the things we do nowadays, also in advertising, lead back to Kenneth Anger’s work - Nicolas Winding Refn, Indiewire

Lucifer Rising /
Copenhagen Cowboy

Scorpio Rising /
Copenhagen Cowboy

Vampyr has always reminded me of a mysterious dream I once had when I was very little. The film has always stayed with me. I watch it before I make every film - Nicolas Winding Refn, Criterion

Vampyr /
Copenhagen Cowboy

I offered to read the tarot for him [REFN] and from then on he had me read his tarot every time he made a new movie - Alejandro Jodorowsky, Vulture

Holy Mountain /
Copenhagen Cowboy

Unique, brilliant, fantastic! I love this movie! - Nicolas Winding Refn on Tokyo Drifter, Criterion

Tokyo Drifter /
Copenhagen Cowboy

Tokyo Drifter / Copenhagen Cowboy

Tokyo Drifter /
Copenhagen Cowboy

For me, Night of the Hunter has always been one of the greatest horror film titles. It is truly a very frightening fairy-tale - Nicolas Winding Refn, Moviemaker Magazine

Night Of The Hunter /
Copenhagen Cowboy

film is such an early medium in a way. You know what I mean? If you go through the history of painters, you can always say that somebody was inspired by someone to do that or to do this, and of course, it's the same thing with film. Every art form is an exchange to someone else, whether it's generational, whether it's of an experience, of an opportunity - Nicolas Winding Refn on influence of David Lynch, nrftsjournal

Lost Highway /
Copenhagen Cowboy

He [Terrence Fisher] was a very interesting film director and I think very much undervalued - Nicolas Winding Refn, mubi

Flesh For Frankenstein /
Copenhagen Cowboy

Seeing The Shining is like watching a painting of pure terror. It has no purpose, sexuality or function other than to completely terrorize you - Nicolas Winding Refn, Moviemaker Magazine