FreezeFrame
No image seems more immobile than the freeze frame. Dramatized by
movement, it is a species of still image that exists only in cinema. Most
often the freeze frame is a sign of a director or editor exercising control
over their film, and indeed the audience. Its sudden arrival always comes
as a surprise to the viewer. So it is no surprise at all that it is most common
inauteurcinema and particularly popular with self-consciously cinephile
filmmakers. Its effect is never less than powerful, but because it is such
a tempting trick it has given rise to as many blunt clichés as thoughtful
insights about stillness and movement. For all their variety what is most
striking about freeze frames is that we cannot help but read them as
5340 Don McCullin,Cyprus, 1973.