Notebook 3: The Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings

Notebook Magazine #3

by Mubi, Tsai Ming-Liang

Brace for the approach of Issue 3 of Notebook magazine, in which saboteurs are afoot and unpredictable weather is in the forecast! With thematic pieces devoted to the appearance of weather inside and outside of movies—w(h)e(a)ther cataclysmic or beautiful, documented or created—and to the disruptive ways film culture and industry can be sabotaged, this Issue is expected to reach record readings (!). Features encompass an exploration of filming in extreme cold in the silent era and today; a tour of an artificial weather effects facility; filmmaker weather diaries; Batgirl and the self-sabotage of Warner Bros. Discovery; a radical manifesto from the unseen film festival workers; a critic’s self-debate over Godard’s Contempt; and advice on how to render a movie unstreamable. Other highlights include 16mm film restoration, behind the scenes of 1930s Indian moviemaking and a new, multi-issue series on the “Things a Filmmaker Should Know” inaugurated by Tsai Ming-liang (Days, Goodbye, Dragon Inn).

Unknown Binding

About the author

MU•BI [mōō'bē] Adjective, verb, noun.
1. An online movie theater where you watch, discover, and discuss auteur cinema
2. A city in Nigeria

Five things that were on our minds when we first dreamt up MUBI in the early 2000’s:

1. Why can’t you watch In the Mood for Love in a café in Tokyo?
2. Why is it so hard to meet people who share the same love for Antonioni?
3. Wouldn’t it be great to instantly send Tati’s Playtime to a friend if you think they needed it? (There’s nothing like film therapy!) Why do films on the Internet just look awful (circa 2000’s it was truly bad)?
4. Why do films on the Internet just look awful?
5. Why are we talking as if we were John Cusack in High Fidelity?

And that was that. We simply couldn’t resist the idea of everyone having their own film library… Your own little cinema, anytime, anywhere.

After all, not everyone can make it to the Cannes Film Festival – especially if you are a school teacher or you live in Winnipeg (or both) – but that doesn’t mean you can’t recite all of Kubrick’s films in reverse chronological order, or that you are not desperate to watch the latest Kelly Reichardt film that’s definitely not going to be released in your local multiplex.

And that’s our point: Popular doesn’t always mean good.

MUBI is brimming with visionary films that wouldn’t fill a single cinema in Belgium for a week – not even a day. But if you searched the world (all of it), you might just find an audience of a thousand for these rare cinematic masterpieces. And we don’t think a thousand people should be ignored just because they happen to live in different time zones or far away from Belgian cinemas. If someone needed to make such a precise film, it means that someone, somewhere needs to watch it. More importantly, that someone might be you. Or Martin Scorsese (he happens to be a member too.) You’ll also find Hollywood favorites, from No Country for Old Men to The Royal Tenenbaums, or even The Substance. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where films come from, as long as they come from someone’s mind.

MUBI is not just about discovering wonderful new cinema or classic masterpieces. It’s also about discussing and sharing these discoveries – which makes us like a small coffee shop... a place where you can gather and talk about alternative endings, directors’ cuts, and whatever those frogs in Magnolia meant. Heated debates and passionate arguments are welcome.

Are you in the mood for cinema? Welcome to MUBI.

P.S. By the way, we’ve worked hard on the quality of the streaming and we are very proud of it... just wanted to let you know...

What is MUBI
A streaming service? A curator? A publisher? A distributor? A cinema lover? Yes.

Now Showing on MUBI
A place to discover ambitious films by visionary filmmakers. From iconic directors to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by our curators.

MUBI Releases
We believe cinema should be viewed on screens of all shapes and sizes. Our curators scour film festivals for the most exciting and original new films, which we bring to the big screen with the same care and attention we give to our curated platform.

Collections
Our hand-picked line-up includes double features, filmmaker retrospectives, spotlights on major film festivals and more.

Notebook
Go deeper into the world of contemporary and classic cinema with Notebook.
The latest news, interviews and criticism.

Community
Rate, review, discuss and you’ll find out very quickly you’re part of a global community of people who love cinema as much as you do.