Alex Fields
@afields9.bsky.social
Socialist, Appalachian, union steward, I write about formalist/experimental film and horror. they/them
I’ve already seen a number of very good films this year courtesy of the IFFR program. CHRONOVISOR is the best of them but also:
THE KILLING OF MEGHNAD (Avikunthak)
TYCOON (Zhang)
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE IS A GUN (Sein)
XTENDED RELEASE (Solondz)
FOR ONCE I DREAMED OF YOU (Solar)
THE KILLING OF MEGHNAD (Avikunthak)
TYCOON (Zhang)
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE IS A GUN (Sein)
XTENDED RELEASE (Solondz)
FOR ONCE I DREAMED OF YOU (Solar)
February 3, 2026 at 3:46 PM
I’ve already seen a number of very good films this year courtesy of the IFFR program. CHRONOVISOR is the best of them but also:
THE KILLING OF MEGHNAD (Avikunthak)
TYCOON (Zhang)
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE IS A GUN (Sein)
XTENDED RELEASE (Solondz)
FOR ONCE I DREAMED OF YOU (Solar)
THE KILLING OF MEGHNAD (Avikunthak)
TYCOON (Zhang)
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE IS A GUN (Sein)
XTENDED RELEASE (Solondz)
FOR ONCE I DREAMED OF YOU (Solar)
Happy fifth birthday to my dog Waylon and happy twenty-fifth birthday to the song “Drops of Jupiter” by Train
January 29, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Happy fifth birthday to my dog Waylon and happy twenty-fifth birthday to the song “Drops of Jupiter” by Train
Apparently my slightly silly and fully shameless effort to get people to watch some avant garde films was the second most popular list on Letterboxd of 2025
January 12, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Apparently my slightly silly and fully shameless effort to get people to watch some avant garde films was the second most popular list on Letterboxd of 2025
In response to mass popular demand I’ve resumed my project of listing the best country albums by decade
The best country albums of the 1980s:
The best country albums of the 1980s:
January 7, 2026 at 5:24 PM
In response to mass popular demand I’ve resumed my project of listing the best country albums by decade
The best country albums of the 1980s:
The best country albums of the 1980s:
RIP Joe Ely, flatlander, honky tonker, and piano key clicker. This is one of my favorite albums of all time.
December 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
RIP Joe Ely, flatlander, honky tonker, and piano key clicker. This is one of my favorite albums of all time.
An updated version of my avant-garde Christmas movies list, with twenty films and videos and downloadable files for eighteen of them
December 11, 2025 at 6:49 PM
An updated version of my avant-garde Christmas movies list, with twenty films and videos and downloadable files for eighteen of them
I had assumed that the psychedelic horse sequence in Basma al-Sharif’s DEEP SLEEP (left) was quoting Malcolm Le Grice’s BERLIN HORSE (right) but she just told me it was created entirely by accident when her super 8 camera caught fire with that roll inside
December 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
I had assumed that the psychedelic horse sequence in Basma al-Sharif’s DEEP SLEEP (left) was quoting Malcolm Le Grice’s BERLIN HORSE (right) but she just told me it was created entirely by accident when her super 8 camera caught fire with that roll inside
Gwenifer Raymond’s third LP is one of the very best albums of the year. She recalls why Fahey’s style was dubbed “American primitive” in the first place—that mysterious, ancient-feeling, string-rattling tension shared by country blues, mountain folk, and Hindustani classical
November 29, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Gwenifer Raymond’s third LP is one of the very best albums of the year. She recalls why Fahey’s style was dubbed “American primitive” in the first place—that mysterious, ancient-feeling, string-rattling tension shared by country blues, mountain folk, and Hindustani classical
Film noir was “a kind of modernism in the popular cinema: it used unorthodox narration; it resisted sentiment and censorship; it reveled in the ‘social fantastic’; it demonstrated the ambiguity of human motives; and it made commodity culture seem like a wasteland.”
November 19, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Film noir was “a kind of modernism in the popular cinema: it used unorthodox narration; it resisted sentiment and censorship; it reveled in the ‘social fantastic’; it demonstrated the ambiguity of human motives; and it made commodity culture seem like a wasteland.”
I wrote briefly about this year’s Light Matter experimental film program
November 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
I wrote briefly about this year’s Light Matter experimental film program
Far and away the best fiddle-accordion duo album I’ve heard this year, and that would probably still be true if I had heard any others
November 6, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Far and away the best fiddle-accordion duo album I’ve heard this year, and that would probably still be true if I had heard any others
On that note here are ten films screening at the fest this weekend that I recommend:
November 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
On that note here are ten films screening at the fest this weekend that I recommend:
we made a pumpkin-caramelized onion risotto with fried sage and hazelnuts
September 29, 2025 at 10:01 PM
we made a pumpkin-caramelized onion risotto with fried sage and hazelnuts
Michael Baxandall describes a form of cultural knowledge that was lost for over four centuries after the Italian Renaissance, until the films of Straub-Huillet:
June 15, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Michael Baxandall describes a form of cultural knowledge that was lost for over four centuries after the Italian Renaissance, until the films of Straub-Huillet:
Emerson on social media: “their every post chagrins us”
May 14, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Emerson on social media: “their every post chagrins us”
I no longer have access to an academic library and can’t afford to buy every scholarly book I want to reference. If anyone has PDFs of any of the following I would be very grateful
April 28, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I no longer have access to an academic library and can’t afford to buy every scholarly book I want to reference. If anyone has PDFs of any of the following I would be very grateful
I’ve been casually working on an all time favorite albums list, posting this rough top 12 now in honor of the goat Michael Hurley. RIP
April 3, 2025 at 10:02 PM
I’ve been casually working on an all time favorite albums list, posting this rough top 12 now in honor of the goat Michael Hurley. RIP
all the sets I saw at Big Ears ranked
March 31, 2025 at 2:20 PM
all the sets I saw at Big Ears ranked
Gillian Rose summarizes Ernst Bloch on Utopia and fascism. Seems familiar/relevant
March 20, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Gillian Rose summarizes Ernst Bloch on Utopia and fascism. Seems familiar/relevant
Brecht privately making fun of Stalinism in 1938, according to a memory from Walter Benjamin:
March 17, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Brecht privately making fun of Stalinism in 1938, according to a memory from Walter Benjamin:
I made a thoroughly half assed (but ranked) list of my favorite comedies.
I will not defend this list if anyone questions whether these are really comedies or why I didn’t include other stuff, but I do think these are all good movies
I will not defend this list if anyone questions whether these are really comedies or why I didn’t include other stuff, but I do think these are all good movies
March 14, 2025 at 5:58 PM
I made a thoroughly half assed (but ranked) list of my favorite comedies.
I will not defend this list if anyone questions whether these are really comedies or why I didn’t include other stuff, but I do think these are all good movies
I will not defend this list if anyone questions whether these are really comedies or why I didn’t include other stuff, but I do think these are all good movies
As a public sector union officer I think it’s bad that the federal government is just declaring public sector union contracts void and canceling their grievances
March 11, 2025 at 1:31 AM
As a public sector union officer I think it’s bad that the federal government is just declaring public sector union contracts void and canceling their grievances
I made a Letterboxd list of films produced by the Barcelona School, a group of experimental and underground dissident filmmakers working in the later years of the Franco dictatorship.
Might be regrettably relevant for Americans before long!
Might be regrettably relevant for Americans before long!
February 21, 2025 at 3:17 PM
I made a Letterboxd list of films produced by the Barcelona School, a group of experimental and underground dissident filmmakers working in the later years of the Franco dictatorship.
Might be regrettably relevant for Americans before long!
Might be regrettably relevant for Americans before long!
Statement from APWU president Mark Dimondstein on Trump’s plans for a hostile takeover of the Postal Service
February 21, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Statement from APWU president Mark Dimondstein on Trump’s plans for a hostile takeover of the Postal Service