Five participants successfully finished five-week long Film Criticism workshop mentored by Jonathan Rosenbaum: Daria Blažević, Matija Krstičević, Nikola Radić, Višnja Vukašinović and Vida Zelić. The films they wrote about were Last Year at Marienbad (1961) directed by Alain Resnais, Rio Bravo (1959) directed by Howard Hawks, Enchanted Desna (1964) directed by Yuliya Solntseva, and Rear Window (1954) by Alfred Hitchcock.

Jonathan  wrote his impressions about the workshop on his website:

Even though not all of the seven students, located in different parts of Serbia and Croatia, made it to the end of the workshop – which was conducted via emails shared by everyone before our 105-minute “in-person” gathering  — I told the five who made it through that they were the brightest reviewers I’ve ever been lucky enough to teach, even though the English they wrote in was their second language. 

We are sharing with you one review of each participant by their choice. You can read other reviews here: Daria, Matija, Nikola, Vida

^{22nd of March 2021}

Rear Window: Can’t Get (It) Up!

Višnja Vukašinović Pentić

In Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) James Stewart plays a photojournalist with a broken leg. Confined to a wheelchair, he spends his time watching his neighbors live their lives, and when confronted with the choice of living his own life, is overcome by impotence. Although he can’t get up and maybe can’t even get it up, Grace Kelly, who plays his girlfriend, still adores him. But the problem is that he feels more comfortable keeping still and fantasizing about his neighbors than in trying to satisfy his Grace by giving her what she wants. His impotence may be real or imagined but it keeps him caught up in fantasies. One of them is that everyone else is leading more interesting lives than he is. He likes to watch others do stuff he can’t or thinks he could never do. The twist is that something real starts to happen in the story we were sure he made up. After proving one of his fantasies (yes, the murder) to be real he starts thinking he can make them all come true. He makes himself believe he can satisfy beautiful Grace after all. But, on their wedding night, there seems to be a problem. He can’t get (it) up. He is so immersed in his fantasies that he is no longer able to operate (it) in the real world. Like so many other of Hitchcock’s films, Rear Window is a cautionary tale about the importance of balancing our fantasies and realities.

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_{Rad Kino kluba Split podržavaju Hrvatski audiovizualni centar, Društvo hrvatskih filmskih redatelja, Grad Split i Zaklada Kultura nova. Voditeljica programa je Sunčica Fradelić.}