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Alfred Hitchcock s' 1954 classic Rear Window has been dissected and rigorously studied in just about every way. There was even a video essay on how Hitchcock employed symmetry in select instances. While certain video essays spell their ideas out, not to mention written essays that like to argue through primary sources (a la footnotes), sometimes the best way to have a fresh approach to the material, is to literally cut it up and see its fragmentation coalesce into something enlightening. That's precisely the approach Sarah Etkin went with in her video essay on Rear Window . As you watch it, you'll see how its effective clashing of intercuts versus repetition begins to form a new narrative language. It's like an anvil fell on the film's reel and condensed it to fragmentary clues that only add to its aura of mystery and trancelike obsession.

#InformedImages is a Free Cinema Now series that studies and brings to light influential films and other examples of moving images that informed and inspired specific visuals in later works. The two things that made the strongest impressions on me while watching  Paul Thomas Anderson 's Phantom Thread ( read the review ) were the music (by Jonny Greenwood ) and the costume design (by Mark Bridges ). You can practically feel the fabrics that dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock ( Daniel Day-Lewis ) cuts and and sews together throughout the film. Not to mention the fact that you can smell the soft boiled eggs and toast Reynolds has for breakfast every morning. The beautiful music keeps this all humming along splendidly. It really is an achievement in cinematic immersion. While the 1940 Oscar winner Rebecca has its fingerprints all over Phantom Thread , I wanted to bring to light a couple of other films whose heartbeats pulsate throughout Anderson's film: David Lean 's 1949 dr...