Pray Thee Ulis Keeps Her
In his final film, dramatist Miris Inevezh explores faith, loyalty, and taboo in this tragic romance. After accidentally killing their supervisor, a pair of orphaned youth run off into the Mervarnen mountains, where they are taken in by the isolated devotees at the Chapel of Floods. To avoid separation, they pretend to be siblings. They befriend a strange and wealthy widower who, five years after the death of his wife, refuses to leave the chapel. Recognising the situation’s potential, the ‘brother’ of the pair convinces his ‘sister’ to seduce the widower and have them both brought into his household—while also refusing to end his own lifelong affair with her. (62 E’has 9)

M-rn-s
A full century after the first marnis ‘marriage’ was recognised by law in Thu-Cethor, in a time where love-matches have become so common even the Prince was allowed to make one, it is easy to think anti-marnis prejudice a thing of the past. Yet, in many elven households, admitting to marnis or marno affections sees teen-aged youth forced into hasty arranged marriages by their parents—and being caught with a lover sometimes even sees them killed. Documentarian Litho Cambeshin weaves together interviews, court transcripts, and personal reflection in this tragic witnessing for love, and a community that still remains voiceless. (2 E’csen 1)

Summernight
Directed by Csevet Halomekhed, this New Sevezheise Extremist psychological horror film follows a quartet of friends who, having abandoned their lives at court to elope in the countryside, find themselves stranded in a small rural village. While struggling with the imbalances of their configuration—one pair in love and the other’s lust quickly turning sour—they become trapped in the deathbed dream of the village grandmother-of-grandmothers. There are two means of escape: band together and defy the ancient power of the god the village serves, or betray the others and ascend to the role of his Summernight Consort alone. (15 E’csen 2)

Shess Tid
Mm. Qentak
Introduction to Dakhenbarizheise Cinema
854 Words

To an eye trained on the films of Pencharn, contemporary Dakhenbarizheise cinema is remarkable in its restraint. Across the three relevant films—Pray Thee Ulis Keeps Her (Inevezh 62 E'has 9), M-rn-s (Cambeshin 2 E'csen 1), and Summernight (15 E'csen 2), in chronological order—the movements of the kamera take are measured, meticulous. To be clear, this description is intended as literally as possible; as the behind-the-scenes documentary packaged on the official release of Pray Thee Ulis Keeps Her demonstrates, the filmmakers of Dakhenbarizhan sometimes use clockwork kamera rigs that are engineered for a specific shot. Once these have been used, they are either stored for a future scenario, or deconstructed so that their parts may be used for other constructions. By contrast, filmmakers from most other regions are usually content with a tripod, or a dolly rig if they're ambitious.

In addition to fostering a sense of extreme intent, this incredible focus on precision of kamera movement also lends meaning to the moments in which the kinephotographer falters. In M-rn-s, for example, the interview sections are so remarkably steady as to be seamless. The end sequence, then, in which Cambeshin removes the kamera from its holster and gives chase to a boy who has just learned that his paramour may be moments from death, is arresting in its effect.

Perhaps that is also why, when watching Pray Thee Ulis Keeps Her in concert with M-rn-s, the diligently arranged tracking shot in which the Brother chases down the Widower, both of them half-naked and soaked from the rain, memories of Cambeshin's documentary are so easily stirred. [Though written nine years prior,] Pray Thee Ulis Keeps Her appears to almost reflect the final scene of M-rn-s, both in its events and its theming. Having discovered that his lover and (self-declared) sister has just died a month before she is expected to give birth to her child, the Brother tracks down her husband, the Widower, with great ferocity. "Written nine years prior" may imply that you are aware of the weakness of your own argument. How might you be able to rephrase this without conceding to criticism that has not yet been offered? Is it able to be rephrased?

Though the kamera does not shake as it does in the documentary, both films become suddenly focused on the subjects' legs; on their heaving chests and reddening arms. The framing renders their bodies incomplete, as a collection of parts rather than a whole person. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that both shots land on the image of one man bent over another, hands gripping the fabric of a ruined shirt, hair falling out of place and covering the eyes. Grief, it seems, tears us from our very selves.

This is not the only instance in which the two films frame their subjects similarly. The Brother and the Widower, [whose conversations often feature them seated and with their eyes perfectly aligned with the invisible line that separates the middle third and the upper third,] can appear as the conventional "talking heads" that Cambeshin uses (though hers are usually filmed against backdrops so organic to the interviewee as to feel bizarre). The line you mention here is a very common place to put the eyeline.

Furthermore, both treat women as accessory images. Once the Sister marries the Widower, her figure rarely takes center stage ever again, and she is instead relegated to the outer edges of the frame. [For all that Cambeshin's letters suggest that she herself took lovers of the same sex,] she also has a habit of allowing her female subjects to drift towards the borders—even when the women in question are meant to be the main item of the audience's focus. While there is nothing wrong with referencing unassigned materials in your responses and essays, you should provide direct quotes which support your argument, and clearly cite your sources.

If one were to read these similarities less as lucky coincidences and more as the expression of a subconscious visual language, the story of Pray Thee Ulis Keeps Her may read very different, and in a particularly interesting way. The Sister, who is forced to play-pretend a sibling relationship with her lover as punishment for a killing that, frankly, was more his fault than hers, coerced into a relationship with a wealthy man [in order to slake her lover's hunger for comfort,] and then unceremoniously killed off-screen, begins to appear less as a singular character and more as a thematic extension of the Brother. [Indeed, she spends more time filling out the other half of the frames the Brother dominates] than standing as her own subject worthy of focus. When she starts to do the same for the Widower, such as in the scene where she watches him hold her in the michenmeire's reflection during their courtship, she becomes a visual bridge between the two men. "Filling out the other half of the frame" is generally how a two-shot works. How can you support your claims through other languages of balance?

Obviously, this is all speculation. While Cambeshin was rather public with the details of her personal life, Inevezh was a notoriously private man, going so far as to burn the initial sketches of his stories and correspond with his creative partners in code. If Pray the Ulis Keeps Her really is intended to be the story of two marnei, one who takes advantage of his sexuality to gain social advantage and the other who, as a Widower, grieves the selfhood he has lost to his own repression, [it can never be confirmed nor denied by its long-deceased author.] As this course proceeds, however, it will certainly be interesting to observe the development of the visual language that these two very different films may or may not share. Whether the author confirms your theory does not matter; if this language really is subconscious, as you suggested earlier, then the author may not have been aware of his actions.

Overall, this is not a bad response. You have a strong sense of voice, but certain quirks in your language demonstrate a lack of confidence in your arguments. I suggest giving yourself more time to respond.