- What message and overall emotional tone did you take away from the film?
The message that I took away from this film is to take what most people would view as invisible and make it into something visible and meaningful. Cohen takes the “invisible” (homeless people, door signs, writings on the wall) and utilizes film as a medium to turn them into something visible. He contextualized beyond tangible things such as perpetual motion, numerical values on signs and concepts. It evoked a sense of community because people can connect with the lists with their own personal memory and experience, however, it also had a sense of incompleteness just because the list is always beyond one’s imagination.
- In what ways does this film interweave narrative, documentary and experimental forms of filmmaking while avoiding traditional approaches?
It’s hard to categorize this film because it’s an autobiographical use of voiceover without once showing himself. Because of it is a “telling” kind of story, it would be listed as a documentary, but in a sense it is also a narrative type of film because he is telling a story to an audience. The entire film acts as his notebook because he is documenting the objects that he collects and sees. It could be also in a way classified as a mockumentary just because it doesn’t follow most rules of filming or editing.
- How might Cohen’s creative process have informed the final outcome of the piece? (ie. use of archival footage, working alone vs. collaboratively)
Because this film took 8 years to finish, Cohen collected clips and noises from around the city and deliberately tying them together. He had a purpose which was to show the invisibles in the city. A lot of clips was shot alone but it was more of a collaboration.
- What storytelling devices were used for dramatic effect and how so? (ie. repetition, voice over, speed, camera movement, juxtaposition).
Cohen layered different sounds on top of each other (voice over, emptiness of the streets) so that the audience could feel what was really going on behind the sequence. There were some repetitive uses of objects in the film (plastic bags, garbage on the street, the floor)