Kelsey Ford, Author at Bright Wall/Dark Room

Chungking Express (1994) | art by Tony Stella

In Chungking Express, everything is important—every can of pineapple, every dripping towel, every loop of “California Dreamin’”—mimicking that all-encompassing feeling of infatuation. These small items hold an entire story, the heartbreak and the hope and the waiting. Read More

Annihilation (2018) | Paramount Pictures

When Our Bodies Are Not Our Homes

Kelsey Ford·

Issue 67: Best of 2018

In both The Haunting of Hill House and Annihilation, landscapes are the loci of the characters’ malfunctions. Hill House and Area X, respectively, give their characters a place to focus their energy—and then use that energy, that sense of comfort, to undo them. Read More

Slashed Beauty: On Female Masks in The Skin I Live In, Eyes Without a Face, and Under the Skin

Kelsey Ford·

Issue 53: Head Trips

Women aren’t the stories you think their bodies tell you. Read More

That Which Is and Is Not: On Twin Peaks and Trauma

Kelsey Ford·

Issue 51: David Lynch

As a season, Twin Peaks: The Return contains itself; it answers its own questions and then undoes its entirety. Read More

Of Meat & Mediums: On Raw and Personal Shopper

Kelsey Ford·

Issue 48: The Hero's Journey

In each film, by the end, you feel you know the character’s fears, their monstrous wants and needs—and the ways they fight the snowballing desire within. Read More