The Thinking Machine #73

In their series The Thinking Machine, critics Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin create a new video essay for Filmkrant every month.

If there is a central key to the grandeur of the cinema of Sergio Leone (1929-1989), it is not in the famous close-ups, nor the landscapes, nor even the magnificent music of Ennio Morricone. Rather, it is the technique that filmmakers refer to as “the reveal”, when something that has been hidden within a scene is finally shown, unveiled. Leone was the grand master of appearance and disappearances, teasing and gratifying, hiding and revealing…