Yesterday I went back to Michigan Theater for the screening entitled ‘Time and the Other’. This grouping was described as a collection of shorts capturing, “Tender itemized moments from life in the new economy.” Below is the list of films shown:
I would have to say that the first film, Woman Waiting, made the most sense, and carried a theme very appropriate to life in the new economy. The film featured one main character, a woman, who is assumed to be suffering from poverty. In the first scene, the viewer watches her wake up get dressed and brush her teeth. She then is seen in a phone booth, where she leaves a message for someone she plans to have a meeting with. It is evident that she has no cell phone nor house phone, because of the trouble she has articulating where the woman can reach her. She leaves a phone number in the message, although it is assumed that the number is probably not her own, because she stresses that she is available to drop by and meet with the woman later in the day. The viewer finds out that the woman she is to meet with works at an apartment building, which could probably be a temporary housing shelter. When the main character is handed a few papers to fill out and dismissed, she realizes there will be a long process before she can move in anywhere. Another scene shows her at a gym, where she negotiates her way into getting a week free, after it becomes obvious that she cannot pay for any type of membership. Throughout the film, she is waiting in various places. She is never quite able to enjoy herself. Below is a shot taken from the scene in the pool, where she gets in a free swim as part of her trial week at the gym. However, she is unable to fully take advantage of it, without thinking that very soon, she will not have access to any luxuries at all. In essence, Woman Waiting, is a depiction of one woman’s reality: her eventual fall into poverty, amidst the climate of economic crisis.
Another film I liked was Berlin Tracks, a 3-minute photographic, and “mesmerizing” (as aaff says) piece that creates a moving picture of railway tracks in Berlin, by night and day. The photographs create a linear roller coaster for the viewer that is fast and dizzying, but beautiful and simplistic.
The other films, Non-Aryan, Aliki, and Arsenic were interesting as well. Aliki portrayed the life of dying flamingoes on Lake Aliki, and Non-Aryan displayed photographs of a woman’s personal belongings and documents (which revealed that she was Jewish, and probably a victim of the Holocaust). Arsenic was so ambiguous, I couldn’t really describe in words, what the film was about, because the picture itself was a mysterious blend of images and sounds. However, while the festival exhibits many films that are of a more experimental genre, it’s expected. As for the last film, Compositions in Departure, I missed it in order to go buy tickets and come back in for the next screening. Review to come!
