Still Animal: Francis Bacon
Bacon in his studio, Jane Bown ,1985
On an airless white soundstage, shutters scream up. A man steps in. He walks with brass dignity, a hand in his pocket, wearing the colours and contours of Berlin; black turtleneck, grey blazer; mouth ajar like the eyes above it have found something tasty in a trap. Another man waits for him, suited, with the aspect of someone who could wait forever. Not a w...
The Puppet Show Putin Doesn’t Want You to See
In the distance, a baby wails. Above him drape the angel wings of a pillow fort’s white blankets. As we step closer, stained glass emerges, and a cradle, a candle on cloth. “Waaaaa!” goes the baby. A man hovers over it. “God,” the man says, “why did this have to happen to me?” It’s a gross baby. A fairy buzzes in. “Yes, yes,” the fairy agrees, “your first ones were prettier.” The fairy has a f...
Ari Aster's Families On The Fritz
In Ari Aster’s 2016 short film C’est La Vie, Chester Crummings, a homeless man, speaks directly and combatively to camera about his life and society at large as he wanders the streets of LA, surviving, begging for change and casually murdering people. At one point, he says: “You know what Freud says about the nature of horror? He says it’s when the home becomes unhomelike. Unheimlich.”
In Sig...