The Long Take

If one concedes the modernist shock of montage and the postmodern schism between lived and global time create conditions that resist contemplation, Lutz’s history of the durational in cinema and its correlates, expands ‘the long take’ as a philosophy practiced through the varied screenscapes of contemporaneity in service of restoring wonder. With thoughtful readings of Calle, Tarr, Alÿs, Weerasethakul, Kiarostami, Cardiff and Bures, Farocki and others he traces a history of artists concerned with a kind of image making that opens broad, poetic, contemplative horizons. I particularly love the penultimate chapter (Un)timely Meditations that puts Kiarostami in dialogue with Weerasethakul against the backdrop of 24/7 neoliberal time and its media flows. If at times it feels Koepnick is overly insistent on the primacy of his long take thesis, it’s allayed by being accompanied by a generous and insightful guide through many interesting contemporary works of moving image. Much appreciated and recommended .

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