Thursday, January 26, 2017

Cameraperson (2016)


Aside from a few moments of intense montage that draw parallels between  seemingly disparate things, this is an extremely unobtrusive film. It is one sequence, and then it is another sequence, separated by black like it's an early Jim Jarmusch film. Each black screen cleansing the palate and clearing your mind of what came before so that you can better appreciate the next spectacle on its own. But can you truly forget what came before? Everything adds up. What came before shapes how we react to what comes after. And by mixing in home movies as well, Kristen Johnson also addresses the call and response between one's  work-life and home-life. But it does this all in such a measured way. Thoughts come to you as you watch and you think that they are by chance, but Johnson intended you to have them. That's her hand pulling up a weed to create a better composition. She is the Cameraperson and we are seeing things as she sees them, so that we might share her thoughts.

No comments:

Post a Comment