Saturday, December 19, 2009

Lewis Klahr's TALES OF THE FORGOTTEN FUTURE (Experimental)

White Light Cinema at The Nightingale - Friday, Dec 18th, 8pm
Without question the most ambitious undertaking of his ongoing career, Klahr's 12 film series has never before screened in its entirety in Chicago. Trafficking in the noir that has is now the familiar backward looking lens at the Eisenhower-Kennedy era, Klahr has a genuine affection for the collection of visual elements that populate his fragmented narratives. Produced over four years, from 1988-1991, these films whisper the claustrophobic outcomes of a childhood shaped by shopping malls and two car garages, and shout the angst of Nicholas Ray's best characters. More than this they are about the unfulfilled dreams of an exuberant nation, fueled by cheap gasoline and atomic energy, ready to change the world through technology and righteousness. Through the domesticity of the Super-8mm medium Klahr's cutout animation is made personal through delicate juxtaposition and detail, and his careful camerawork leads us through the often-convoluted logic of his symbols. Incorporating both original and found music, short clips of dialog and authentic ambient noise, he is able to immerse the viewer in a mood-colored world of simultaneous possibility and failure. Rarely is the intellectual exercise of evaluating one's society so effortless. (1988-1991, 131 mins total, Super-8mm on video) JH - Cine-File.info

No comments:

Post a Comment