Seventh Row is a nonprofit Canadian film criticism publication and publishing house. We're dedicated to helping you expand your horizons by curating the best socially progressive films from around the world and helping you think deeply about them. This newsletter is run by Seventh Row (http://seventh-row.com) but features exclusive content not found on the website.
A quick thing to try
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You might be wondering what it's actually like to step into The Deep Focus. So here's a little taste. The first thing I always do is point you to a moment worth looking at. Below is one from the beginning of Sentimental Value. Take a sec to see what you spot in the image. Everything counts — even (and especially) the obvious. You might have noticed: ✨ We're looking through a window (which takes up most of the frame). ✨ We're watching someone through glass. ✨ Someone is leaving. ✨ It's a bright, sunny day. ✨ The subtitles say: "When her father left for good, the house grew lighter." ✨ Or something else entirely. Most of the time, we don't slow down enough to look like this. We're too busy thinking about what happens next. But so much of what a film is doing happens in the details. What you just did is where we begin inside The Deep Focus. From there, I'll help you figure out what it means, why it matters, and what it opens up. (We'll follow a process that makes that easier.) 👉 Keep going inside The Deep Focus We start April 9. Doors close when we begin. Only 20 seats available (some already taken). Alex P.S. We won't go this deep on every frame — just a few scenes that can shift what you see in the whole film. I’ve chosen them carefully. Not interested in The Deep Focus? You can skip emails about it here. |
Seventh Row
Seventh Row is a nonprofit Canadian film criticism publication and publishing house. We're dedicated to helping you expand your horizons by curating the best socially progressive films from around the world and helping you think deeply about them. This newsletter is run by Seventh Row (http://seventh-row.com) but features exclusive content not found on the website.
Quick question for you, Reader — Have you ever walked away from an episode of TV knowing something about a character without being entirely sure how you learned it? Most of us can tell when a character feels lost, comfortable, trapped, hopeful, uncertain, or in love. We don't usually stop to ask how the show taught us that. And even if we did, where would we start? Because it's usually not any one thing. It's how the dialogue, performances, costumes, shot choices, directing, and editing all...
I've spent the last couple of weeks talking about Looking, the show I've programmed for the inaugural season of The Long Arc this summer. But I haven't really answered a pretty basic question yet... What does it actually feel like to be inside The Long Arc? Over the first eight weeks, we'll watch one episode a week. Before each episode, you'll get the question we'll be exploring. Then, we'll gather online to investigate it together. Not by debating interpretations. But by getting curious...
There's a moment in the first episode of Looking that still lives rent-free in my head: Patrick meets Richie — his love interest for the season — on Muni (San Francisco's public transit). I lived in the Bay Area when it aired in 2014. So I spent the next three years riding Muni hoping my Richie would find me there, too. Which is a lot of influence for a scene that lasts only a few minutes. Of course, that was partly about what happens later in the show — when we find out just how great Richie...