Exploring passion on screen and behind the camera, Kingston’s cinephiles explain their top picks
What does passion look like in cinema? For members of the Kingston Film Society (KFS) passion is not just reserved for romance, but spans memory, ambition, creativity and obsession.
And the movie buffs are not only interested in what makes the final cut, but the labour-of-love that is filmmaking itself. For the KFS, performances, cinematography and all the work behind-the-scenes make a film passionate as much as its plot.
Here, three of Kingston’s biggest film fanatics share the motion pictures they associate most with the word passion, and why.
KFS President Louis Wrench’s choice is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Michel Gondry’s melancholic love story. This romantic sci-fi drama centres around a couple (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet), who break up and then undergo a medical procedure to erase all memories of each other.
The film explores passion through romance and attachment. As Joel’s (played by Carrey) memories are erased, he relives his past relationship and is confronted with the choice between forgetting and feeling his emotions.
Photo Credit: David Lee/Focus Features/Kobal / Shutterstock
Describing the film as both “hopeful” and “hopeless”, Wrench said:
“It’s a very raw description of heartbreak that answers the question of ‘what if we met under different circumstances?’”
When discussing his love for film, Wrench said:
“Film is important to me as a means of self-expression that I am able to articulate my thoughts and feelings through.”
Jonah Wightman, community officer of the film society, chose Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York (2008) due to its depiction of both romantic and career focused passion.
The film follows a theatre director who becomes entirely consumed by his creative drive, challenging the boundary between performance and reality. Wightman said,
“It’s a film about a man who is insanely focused and passionate about his craft.”
Photo Credit: Sidney Kimmel Entertainment/Kobal / Shutterstock
Wightman related to the film’s depiction of passion as a distraction from the world, referencing a flashback scene in which Caden (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) talks about his lost relationship with his daughter, as a particularly poignant moment.
“Films are human stories and are an amazing way to express emotion”, said Wightman.
KFS member Omari Harwood-Walker thought about passion in cinema from a different perspective, choosing Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) as an example of passion for storytelling and stop motion animation.
The film is an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s book of the same name and earned a critically acclaimed score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and two Academy Award nominations.
Photo Credit: Twentieth Century-Fox Film/Kobal / Shutterstock
Harwood-Walker cited the construction of the film’s intricate animatronic sets as a key reason for his choice, explaining that he was drawn more to the passion for the craft of filmmaking than to its thematic elements.
“I love the world building done within this film, and I want to pursue this in my own work,” he said.
