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.
I’m running something new in April. It’s called The Deep Focus. We’ll spend three weeks with two films by Joachim Trier — Oslo, August 31st and Sentimental Value — following how they’re put together. We'll look at specific moments, trace patterns within and across the films, and see how those choices shape what you feel. If you’ve ever felt a scene hit — and weren't quite sure why — this is a space to stay with that question long enough to find an answer. I won’t tell you what to think.But I...
A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to Bill Hader, the SNL star-turned-writer-director, on the Team Deakins podcast. He was talking about rewatching Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, hitting a moment that felt like an emotional gut punch — and literally pausing the film to ask:“Why did that hit me?!” That kind of moment — where something lands harder than you expect —and you feel something strongly before you know why… You’ve probably had that, too. Even Hader — who thinks about directing...
Last week, Joachim Trier took home his first Oscar for Sentimental Value — after 9 nominations. (The only films with more nominations were in English and had movie stars in them.) Before that, Sentimental Value had already earned Barack Obama’s seal of approval and most of the European Film Awards. There’s never been a better time to dig into what makes Joachim Trier's films so good. Sentimental Value is a masterpiece, but it's not Trier's first. That was Oslo, August 31st. And Sentimental...