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Forthcoming Review of Johan Grimonprez: Double Take

The opportunity came up to receive a review copy of this film from Soda Pictures, and of course, I took it. Based on an earlier post on Double Take by Grimonprez that featured a bunch of video excerpts, I think the PR company behind the film found me through Google, and here we are. I have to say, I’m more excited about reviewing this film than I am about doing most things in life right now. Stay tuned for news on that as I’m going to try and get it published somewhere off-site first….

I’m thinking that the film finds its roots somewhere in the writing of novelist Tom McCarthy, and my long-standing interest in the idea and act of translation was therein piqued. This would mean pulling in some literary material by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, where he unpacks ideas about “translation,” specifically having to do with using Genet’s writing as the basis for his film, Querelle. Perhaps there are some ties between the two with the theme of mirroring, as it specifically relates to images in the film, and then more broadly as it is a (possibly clunky) metaphor for the act of translation. Further, I can’t help but try to weave in some ideas about how paranoia relates to all of the above subject matter.

Querelle Film Poster, by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

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