The film 24 Hours That Blew Dune 2, directed by Denis Villeneuve

You cannot become one of the most successful directors in Hollywood without a deep love of film and cinematic history. This certainly applies to Denis Villeneuve, who rose to stardom with films such as… “access” “Blade Runner 2049” and more recently “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two.” At the recent screening of “Dune 2” I attended at the Directors Guild of America in New York, Villeneuve appeared and spoke briefly about the production process. Of course, being a huge fan of cinema, he also took time at the end of the discussion to promote another film that has made a big impression on him recently, and it’s not exactly what you might expect.

The film in question is The Clock, a 2010 film by Christian Markle Currently part of the exhibition At the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. You may be wondering what kind of film qualifies as a modern art exhibition, and the answer is a 24-hour film composed of footage from throughout the long history of film. “The Clock,” which was never released for home viewing, is essentially a day-long montage, but it is also much more than that, and it clearly made a big impression on Villeneuve.

“I’m a bit late in the news,” the director joked, as the film has been around for a decade and a half at this point. “I was blown away by this movie last week.”

“The Clock” is not just a collection of shots from famous films. Each section of footage refers to the basic concept of time, progressing through 24 hours with shots of characters checking their watches, looking at clocks, or announcing the time. Gary Cooper glances at the clock as tension builds in “High Noon?” That’s right there. Likewise, the clock tower in “Back to the Future” was struck by lightning at 10:04 p.m. The night hours can contain dream sequences, while the morning sections show the characters waking up, preparing for the day, and so on. Everything from James Bond movies Works by Ingmar Bergman, old Western classics, and more modern films such as “V for Vendetta” are projected across the screen, creating a mesmerizing audio-visual presentation that pays homage to the history of cinema while also emphasizing its own artistic themes.

It’s no wonder a director like Denis Villeneuve would be impressed by this film. “I encourage you to go,” the director told the crowd at the DGA, referring to the current exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. “You can walk into the theater, you can stay there for 10 minutes, or four hours.” Villeneuve even delved into the thematic material of “The Clock” a bit, praising Marclay’s musings on time as a unifying concept. He said: “Every shot is linked to the idea of ​​time, and we see it throughout the history of cinema.” “Snapshot of an hour, an hour, the suspense, the tension, the beauty of time. So you’re watching the time for 24 hours. And it’s a lot of fun, I swear. Go ahead.”

Residents of the greater New York area can see “The Clock” for themselves at the Museum of Modern Art through February 17, 2025.