Tag Archives: silent film

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Posted on September 19, 2025 by John Biscello

“To know the face of Renee Maria Falconetti, a living mask of plasticity molded to the inner world of a young Joan, is to know the private history of a spiritual crisis. Falconetti wrings every last nuance and syllable out … Continue reading →

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Melodrama

Posted on February 22, 2024 by John Biscello

Let’s start with this photo, the comic melodrama in which you, perfectly staged, are wearing a blue pinafore dress, your dark hair gagged in pigtails, mouth heavily lipsticked, cheeks cherubically rouged, your eyes two flashing ovals of abyss-pooling licorice, sweat … Continue reading →

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Labyrinth

Posted on November 13, 2022 by John Biscello

You say no more words because it is something to say, a way to get started on using more words to constellate yourself, to orient your innate trembling. Mapless, we wander. To wander, mapless and wordless, what would that be … Continue reading →

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Lulu in Hollywood

Posted on December 16, 2021 by John Biscello

By cyclical turns, she burned silver into stock– Lulu’s lasting surge.

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Shutter

Posted on December 16, 2021 by John Biscello

Witness to a claim, Pandora’s box-cutting gaze– hope at the bottom.

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Moonstruck

Posted on June 2, 2019 by John Biscello

Coming attractions– The moon, starring in its own epic tome to film.

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Fear and Loathing in Golgotha

Posted on May 1, 2019 by John Biscello

Beatitude earned by way of human cruelty– The head count, shameful.   (Film still from The Passion of Joan of Arc)

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Buster’s Blues

Posted on April 4, 2019 by John Biscello

At the fool’s margins, ceremony gives due pause for a life well-worn.  

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Cadenza

Posted on March 31, 2019 by John Biscello

Some death is musical, a candied apparition scalding the bones of Venus in soft chambers of silk and notes of smoldering silence.

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The Passion of Joan of Arc

Posted on April 17, 2018 by John Biscello

(Review of The Passion of Joan of Arc, the silent film classic, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary.) Celebrating its 90th anniversary, Dreyer’s film remains starkly modern in its composition and complexion, fixed in an otherworldly and hallucinogenic present. Jean Cocteau … Continue reading →

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