You don't become one of Hollywood's most successful directors without a deep love for film and cinematic history. That's certainly true of Denis Villeneuve, who rose to superstardom with films like "Arrival", "Blade Runner 2049" and recently "Dune" and "Dine: Part Two." At a 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, since he's a huge movie buff, he also took the time at the end of the discussion to promote another movie that made a huge impression on him recently, and it's not exactly what you might expect.

The film in question is The Clock, a 2010 film by artist Christian Markley. currently part of an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. You might be wondering what kind of film would qualify as an exhibition of modern art, and the answer is one that lasts 24 hours and consists of footage from the entire long history of film. The Clock, which has never been released for home viewing, is essentially a one-day edit, but it's also much more, and it clearly made a huge impression on Villeneuve.

"I'm a little late with the news," the director joked, as the film has been around for a decade and a half at this point. "Last week I was blown away by this movie.

"The Clock" is not just a collection of stills from famous movies. Each part of the footage addresses the basic concept of time, progressing through 24 hours with shots of characters checking their watches, looking at watches or announcing the time. Gary Cooper looks at the clock as the tension builds in “High Noon?” It's there. And so lightning strikes the clock tower in Back to the Future at 10:04 p.m. Nighttime episodes may show dream sequences, morning episodes show characters waking up and getting ready for the day, etc. Everything from James Bond movies of Ingmar Bergman's works, old Western classics and more modern films like V for Vendetta play across the screen, creating a mesmerizing audiovisual display that pays homage to cinematic history while centering its own artistic themes.

No wonder a filmmaker like Denis Villeneuve would be so busy with the film. "I encourage you to go," the director told the DGA audience, referring to the current exhibition at MoMA. "You can walk into the theater, you can stay there for 10 minutes or four hours. Villeneuve even dug a bit into the thematic material of The Clock, praising Markley's thoughts on time as a unifying concept. "Every shot is connected to the idea of ​​time and we see it throughout the history of cinema," he said. "The ticking of the clock, the ticking of the clock, the suspense, the tension, the beauty of time. That's how you see 24 hours, time. And it's super fun, I swear. Go."

Those in the greater New York metropolitan area can view The Clock for themselves at MoMA through February 17, 2025.