Method for Film Criticism Based on Religious Foundations

The purpose of this research is to examine the method of film criticism based on religious foundations. This research, taking into account the principles of religious philosophy (pure philosophy and art philosophy), seeks to answer the question of what critical methods in film provide individuals and what limitations they may have.

This research is conducted using descriptive-analytical method and studying written texts and films (as visual text) as documentary research.

Descriptive-analytical study shows that combining two approaches of neo-formalism and structuralism, with the presence of Islamic foundations, provides suitable opportunities in three areas of analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of films. Limitations and deficiencies of structural semiotics in analyzing a film's text can be compensated by the possibilities that neo-formalism provides in detailed and precise aesthetic analysis, and the limitations of neo-formalism in the film's semantic domain can be compensated by the possibilities that structuralism provides through explicit and implicit concepts, co-presence and substitution.

It seems that to use the capabilities of both neo-formalism and structuralism, it is better to complete and modify some topics such as the smallest structural unit of a film, implicit meanings of signs, sub textual elements including authorial intention in discovering meaning, and criteria for evaluating films.