Experimental Film Society (SAIC,
112 S Michigan Ave, Rm. 1307) - Tuesday, 4:30pm
In early films like 1967's 7362 or
1971's RUNS GOOD Pat O'Neill used an Optical Printer and sophisticated
matting effects to play, as if he was crafting short sonnet-films. By
1989 he outgrew the trickster's humor of special effects and gave us
his first bit of epic poetry with WATER AND POWER. An ode to the city
of Los Angeles, layered images juxtapose facets the multi-ethnic metropolis
that sprouted from the desert in Southern California to become a Mecca
for the American Dream, and a synonym for traffic jams and capitalist
excess. Found footage is mixed with time-lapse shots and staged sequences.
We move from city to desert, and back again along the pipelines that
bring water to the thirsty machine. He wants to show us the energy of
his city and how the parts contribute to the whole, but as the New York
Times said when the film was released, "Mr. O'Neill's major concern
is the power of film to redefine and control all images, even natural
ones." Reductionism would never befit an artistic exploration of any
urban area, and O'Neill's complexity as a filmmaker seeks to touch on
the range of surprises that make LA unique, as a story and an experiment.
(1989, 54 min, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info
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