Counting

Indie director Jem Cohen brings us Counting, an extraordinary cinematic journey presented in 15 distinct but interconnected chapters. Released in 2015, Counting is a unique mix of documentary, personal essay, and visual poem that explores how we perceive and interact with the daily world around us. This film transcends conventional movie genres in favor of an impressionistic palette of sights and sounds, weaving together an intricate tapestry that invokes different emotions and stirs thought-provoking contemplation.

Deliberately diffuse and pure, Counting does not have a linear storyline, central characters, or a conclusive resolution like standard films. Instead, the movie stitches together clips from various cities such as New York, Moscow, Istanbul, and Sharjah, providing a panoramic perspective on urban life, ultimately painting an honest, abstract, and profoundly sentimental picture of human existence. Consequently, we are thrust into diverse and vivid situations, perspectives that are surprisingly universal, mirroring both patterns of life and singular individual experiences.

Cohen's Counting invites viewers into an intimate visual conversation built across five different continents. The film subtly unfurls the nuances of city streets, building façades, mundane everyday happenings, and human figures immersed in their private universes. Additionally, Cohen incorporates scenes with animals and objects, often finding a deeper connection or symbolic resonance in what might ordinarily be overlooked.

The director's sharp observation of the world around him, fused with his introspective voiceover, creates a mosaic of human experience - the passage of time, mortality, beauty in the ordinary, and the constant flux of urban existence. Coupling these sequences of life bubbling in cities with introspective voice-overs, the film deliberately sails out of the ordinary, providing an involving, meditative experience that prompts deep reflection and introspection.

Cohen’s movie distinctly conveys an observant, almost philosophical outlook on life and time. In the ebb and flow of various cities presented in the visually captivating footage, Counting exposes the beauty and chaos of urban life, giving the audience a chance to shift their perspective and see the world through Cohen’s eyes. Simultaneously, it uncovers the delicate beauty in everyday interactions and routines, subtly peeling away at the superficial layers of our daily lives to examine what lies beneath—the poetry of mundane existence.

Counting also poses a profound commentary on the transient and temporal nature of life. This frailty is enhanced throughout the chapters, evoking a sense of intimate familiarity with fleeting moments. One of the remarkable aspects of Counting is its ability to convey the continuous motion of life and the ever-changing human connection with the environment without uttering a single word of dialogue.

Coupled with this observational exploration is the stylistic presentation. The film oscillates between being a documentary, a diary, and a visual poem, maintaining an eloquent balance between them. The color palette of the film lies more towards the colder shades, washing it in a hue of candour and rawness. This visual approach enhances the film's intensity, producing a sense of immediacy and palpable resonance with audiences.

In terms of sound, Counting uses diegetic sound effects and music, bringing authenticity to the events depicted on the screen. Silence, too, is used as a powerful tool in this film. The absence of a dense soundtrack allows the images to breathe, express, and influence. It urges you to lean in, to pay attention to detail, to notice the unnoticed.

Counting is a movie caught in the intriguing intersection between a travelogue, an activism forum, a visual diary, and a cinematographic art form. It is a visceral observation of the world we live in, subtly critiquing the society while underlining the overlooked aspects of everyday life. Director Jem Cohen invites us to do the same in our own lives: to look around, to observe, to quietly question, and to celebrate the extraordinary within the ordinary. He reminds us that it is in the act of observing and trying to find meaning that we experience life to its fullest.

To sum it up, Counting is a unique cinematic experience that doesn't just entertain its audience but engages them at a philosophical level.