Introduction

Beasts of burden, known generally as Donkeys, are poor, silent fools, tested against a world of atrocities. Donkeys, dubbed unremarkable and missable are misunderstood and are in fact easily identifiable. They have shorter manes, upright tails, and ears that look more cow-like. They’re distinct in that they are strong-footed and although look frail-framed, possess strength that is akin to their close relatives, that is to say, more horse-like. Their unique eyesight makes them incredibly aware of their surroundings as they’re able to see all four of their limbs at all times. Bird-like. Donkeys are assets to some communities, they are key enablers of livelihood and due to their attributes are thus, by extension, bestowed with the destiny to carry burdens that would seem too menial for humans. Evolutionarily speaking, a true “jack of all trades”.

Cinema At Random is a name that sounds eyebrow-raising. What’s so random about the cinema these people talk about? Well, it's not so much about the cinema, than its launchpad-type usage on this page to expand into various fields of discourse. Cinema is such that what supports it, the technique and content, cannot be summed up into one tidy theory. It's meaning in fact blends into the concept of the theoretical lens one places in front of it. In other words, cinema is open to being read in manners that are subjective. Historical, Social, Economical, Musical, etc. Cinema dons the mask presented to it. It's fluid in its purest essence. Cinema is the art form most prescribed to a diverse set of appeals, to the “jack of all trades”.

On this blog, we’re putting that to the test. Music in Film, Fashion in Film, Food in Film, Film Technique, and the Evolution of Cinema are what you will find. Cinema is the linking pin that allows us to branch into an extensive and sometimes unrelated discourse on these subject matters, thus cinema, at random here, is the binding selection.

So what does cinema have to do with donkeys? Well, it helps that the blog is named after Robert Bresson’s 1966 opus “Au Hasard Balthazar” (en.Balthazar at Random), a famous tale of, on first sight, an average-looking, baptized donkey, who is passed from master to master and carries the trade of newspaper deliveries, transportation of adventurers on-back and even a circus act as a math genius. Balthazar, purely and simply is “The Premier Jack of the Jacks of all Trades”.