The popular acclaim of the film Anora has renewed academic interest in independent cinema, bringing the corresponding feature of improvisation—a key characteristic of such films—into focus. Cinematic improvisation inherently embodies a dual nature of affirmation and negation. From an affirmative perspective, it represents a spontaneous, natural, and free creation of life. From a negative perspective, however, it manifests as a traumatic experience on the precipice of nothingness and destruction. The complex entanglement of these two facets invites a rereading and rethinking of Gilles Deleuze’s Cinema 1: The Movement-Image. In this work, improvisation emerges as a crucial turning point from the movement-image to the time-image, presenting three distinct paths: affirmative wandering, degeneration (a transformation from negation to affirmation), and counter-actualization which carries a sense of absolute negativity. From the novel standpoint of improvisation, we not only can reinterpret Deleuze’s philosophy of cinema but also gain a deeper understanding of the ontology of film and the essence of reality itself.

Anora, improvisation, Cinema 1：The Movement-Image, negativity, degeneration, counter-actualization