dbborroughs Hour long film made up entirely of fragments from decaying nitrate film. A hypnotic film the film becomes an trip through the minds eye as the unconnected pieces end up joined by the minds ability to impose order. What is the film about? Thats for you to discover as decay infuses the images with eerie, surreal and amusing power. The music is minimalist in the Philip Glass style which adds to the trippiness. At first odd and disconcerting the film slowly sucks you in and remains riveting viewing until almost the very end (images of planes and parachutes go on way past the point of boredom). An amazing film that will send your mind off on an odd trip to piece together what its all about. (One piece I read on the film stated the filmmaker likes to talk to audiences to see what they think its about since other than the idea of decay and rebirth he has no set meaning) Worth a look - especially in a dark room with no distractions

kima-6 The premise for this film project is deceptively simple. Take a whole bunch of decaying old film negatives, splice them together and viola: instant art film. This highly recommended film by Bill Morrison creates an effect similar to the visual kaleidoscope you'd see in the Kowaanisqatsi trio of films. Opening with shots of a whirling dervish who punctuates the beginning, middle and end of the film, Morrison sets up a series of "action" shots that when watched slowed down with their naturally occurring decay, take on an otherworldly feeling. Decaying celluloid takes on emotional meaning, reflecting the new readings that the viewer brings to the film. What were probably once quite banal scenes of nuns overseeing children walking through a courtyard, for example, take on an eerie ghostly effect and a scene where a man makes untoward advances on a woman is given heighten tension by the angry swirls the rotting film creates. Some segments were disturbing, others funny, many just beautifully impressionistic.This 70-minute film is quite trippy to watch and your mind will try to make sense of it by finding "things" in the shapes the crackling celluloid creates. (Is that mould? Is it waves crashing on the shore? Neither?) The dramatic score for the film seems lifted off of the disintegrating film, with its odd, oft-times sinister, octaves. At some points near the end, the onslaught of music combined with the repetitiveness of the images was almost too much. Interestingly, no colour film was used. On the one hand it would be difficult to even call this a film, on the other it is actually a film made literally of film. Think Vertov's A Man with a Movie Camera meets Bunuel/Dali's Un Chien andalou. All up, this is a beautiful study in remediation and a film student's wetdream.

slake09 I saw this at the Cleveland Film Festival, and the Director, Bill Morrisson, was there for a Q&A session afterwards. It was hard to sit through the film because most of it is the same; the same images, the same sounds, just a lot of decayed film. No doubt it seemed like a good idea for an experiment, and it was, but if you're not into experimental film making, you will absolutely hate this, as you can see from other's comments.If you are into experimental stuff like this, you might see the point or even like it. The film maker definitely put his neck on the block by creating it; you wouldn't find James Cameron or Quentin Tarantino doing something like this. Maybe Harmony Korine or Richard Kern.In any case, what you'll see is a lot of damaged old film, of nothing particularly interesting, accompanied by a repetitive soundtrack from out of tune instruments. Most of it is very repetitive and somewhat monotonous.

khan-16 Are you kidding? My heart goes out to those who have been duped into actually sitting through this LOAD of self-indulgent crap! A bigger waste of time I can't imagine. I don't want to be alone in a room with anyone who thinks they can derive a deeper meaning out of this mess. The strobe-like nature of the decomposed film segments is near seizure-inducing and POINTLESS! And the score!!!! I can still feel it cutting through my skull like a stryker saw. Before anyone tries to explain to me that this is not meant as entertainment, but as art, let me stop you. Clearly this is not entertainment. As art, I put it in the same category as a blank canvas with a slice through the middle of it that I once saw in a gallery; a feeble attempt at telling me what art is supposed to be. I'll bet the writer/director(!) is having a great laugh at the expense of those who think they "get it". I'm amazed that I actually sat through this mindless garbage. I felt I had to see the entire thing to comment on it. God, am I sorry. If I can save one unsuspecting person from seeing this vacuous piece of pseudo-art, my mission is complete.