Propelling cinema and aesthetics forwards through (un)reality: Pedro Afonso’s take on Roy Andersson’s complex image

Abstract

This short piece analyses Pedro Afonso’s video essay on Roy Andersson’s Complex Image, an aesthetic style based on the tableau shot. It proceeds by scrutinizing the relationship Andersson’s aesthetic maintains with painting, slow cinema and political ideology, three aspects connected with realism, one way or the other. By focusing on the operative word “complex”, instead of “image”, this text claims that the Complex Image is not strictly pictorial; that long shots do not necessarily equate with slow cinema; and that there is a strong political engagement alongside an undeniably creative form.