On starting

Starting an essay is hard, so instead of staring at a blank document, i’ll just let the words start to flow out as i watch some Agnes Varda.

Recently, I encountered Lars Von Trier’s The Five Obstructions (2003), a brilliant film about the technical limits of filmmaking, and of the nature of limitations as a source of creativity. I found it incredibly compelling on multiple levels.

Firstly, Trier explicitly sets out to challenge Leth, his mentor, to remake Leth’s’ early film The Perfect Human five times, each with increasingly unique obstructions - no shot longer than 12 frames, the deliberate obscureness of suffering, to make a film with no limitations whatsoever, to make a cartoon, and finally to give up control completely, and let Trier direct the final version with Leth reading a text written by Trier.

I found myself jumping and cheering, crying and laughing at the artistry on display throughout - I felt so akin to Leth’s struggle, and completely inspired to go out and challenge myself in a similar way.