Abstract

An introductory essay to the collection Mysteries of Cinema, outlining author Adrian Martin's path as a film critic and cinema scholar from the early-1980s cultural scene in Melbourne (Australia) to writing for the Internet and making audiovisual essays in the late 2010s. This introduction explains Martin's method, developed over these years, of “tying threads” between the numerous films he has seen, and the cinematic theories or cultural ideas he has encountered along the way. Martin’s particular involvement in, and unusual position in-between academic and journalistic modes of discourse is explained. The introduction ends by speculating that, while conventional critical writing constitutes a singular “personality”, the newer, collaborative form of the audiovisual essay disperses this subjectivity and opens different possibilities.

Keywords: Film criticism, film theory, popular culture, Australia, audiovisual essay

It is an alternative life, freed from the tyranny of “that old devil consequence”, from the limitation of having only one life to live. One's favourite films are one's unlived lives, one's hopes, fears, libido. They constitute a magic mirror, their shadowy forms are woven from one's shadow selves, one's limbo loves.