Welcome to our final “Meet the Editors” post for this semester, and happy Friday the 13th! This week’s highlighted editor is Christian Mietus, who is a new film blogger for us.
Christian is a freshman at Lewis University who is currently an undecided major, but he is leaning toward English and film. His main priority is to develop himself as an individual and film connoisseur. He spends his time appreciating and dissecting cinema. Some of his favorite directors are Andrei Tarkovsky, John Cassavettes, Ingmar Bergman, Kenji Mitzoguchi, Bela Tar, Carl Th. Dreyer, Wim Wenders, Andrzej Wajda, and Yasujiro Ozu. He also appreciates different art forms, such as music and literature. Christian hopes to expand his skills as a writer and to encourage others to do so as well. He writes about film for the JFR blog, so check out Christian’s Cinematic Syntax.
Below is our Q&A with Christian:
Who are you and what is your role in the Jet Fuel Review?
My name is Christian Mietus, and my role in the Jet Fuel Review is writing as a film blogger.
What book might we find on your nightstand right now?
The Brothers of Karamazov. I have started the book over again after getting preoccupied and losing my pace of it. It is very detailed and immense with description, which will keep me engrossed for a while.
If you had the chance to co-write with one author, who would you choose? Why?
I would either write a screenplay with Andrei Tarkovsky (if he was still alive), or for literature, I would want to write a tome with Fyodor Dostoevsky (if he was still alive). The reason for these two authors are they both are incredibly poignant with their themes and they are incredibly vivid with the visuals they draw. They were both masters of their craft and I could learn a lot if I co-wrote with them.
Describe your perfect reading atmosphere.
An atmosphere of complete mental emphasis. An absolutely quiet and undisturbed environment that allows a person to explore and change through consumption of art. The peace and tranquility of a tomb but with lively mental nurturing.
What might your personal library look like?
It would look like a mix of philosophy, film, and books with philosophical elements. I wouldn’t be opposed to any book as long as it offered substance. I would want the proclaimed “classics” that I have not read also included.
If you could “re-make” a poorly written movie that was based on a book, what movie would it be?
I would not want to re-make these films, although I would want to erase them from history — The Great Gatsby (2013) or Romeo + Juliet (1996). They both play on the gimmick of incorporating things from the present into the past (dulling down the books, and trying to make them “hip” for our generation). They do not know how to immerse the viewer and some of the elements are laughable, such as the rap-centered score of Gatsby.
What piece of literature can you reread over and over again?
I can reread Sculpting In Time by Andrei Tarkovsky over and over again. It is the philosophy of cinema and progression of my favorite director.
Give us a quote from your favorite (or any) book/movie.
“Everything is an eternal circle, and it repeats itself and repeats itself.” – Andrei Rublev (1966)
If you were invited to have coffee with any fictional character, who would you most like to meet? Why?
The fictional character I would most like to meet is Flyora Gaishun from the film Come and See. This is a child who experienced the atrocities of war and damaged his life entirely. I would meet him to discuss his perspectives on life, and to discuss his opinions in general. We learned visually through the film, so it would be an interesting discussion.
Share your top five favorite pieces of writing (anything included, be it movies, books, etc.).
Films:
- Andrei Rublev (1966)
- Love Streams (1984)/ Faces (1968)
- Diary Of a Country Priest (1951)
- Ordet (1955)
- World on a Wire (1973)/Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Extra: The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer (1961)
Albums:
- Can – Tago Mago
- Tom Waits – Closing time/Rain dogs
- Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II
- Quasimoto – The Unseen
- Sun Ra – Lanquidity
Extra: Comus – First Utterance
