THE STORY OF LOOKING
★★★★
17 SEPTEMBER / CERT 15 / 90 MINS
DIRECTOR Mark Cousins
CAST Mark Cousins
As well as one of our most important film thinkers, Mark Cousins is emerging as an original, innovative non-fiction filmmaker. Set on the day before he is due to have a cataract operation, Cousins lies in bed tweeting about and ruminating on his (and our) relationship with looking. He traces the “journey of our visual lives” from cradle to grave, examining movies, selfies and the world around us, quoting everything from Cézanne (his idea of “the optical experience that develops within us””) to Grease. Not all its bold conceits work (Cousins reimagining himself as an old man living in Sweden) but it’s fascinating, thought-provoking stuff, told in Cousins’ engaging, typically impish way.