|
syncopation starring Old before her time, a homeless woman wakes up in a laundromat, decides that she's had enough and wants to die. Her vibrant young soul is reluctant to go with her, but has no choice. The destitute woman gives away one of her last meager possessions, an old doll, in exchange for one artificial flower that she takes to her burial at the beach. She exchanges her last dollar for a ticket to the burial site, and then must give the grave digger her rosary beads so that he'll cover her with sand in the shallow grave. Her soul must follow. |
|
Background Forty years ago, I was in a film class at Art Center College of Design in L.A. The scandal of the week was about extortionist sales methods by some in the funeral business. This film expressed my feelings about it. I shot the film with a borrowed wind-up Beaulieu 16mm camera on two 50' rolls of Tri-X film, almost entirely in sequence, on two afternoons. Editing was with scissors, tape, pocket-size splicing block, one single-edge razor blade, Agfa loupe contact sheet magnifier, sound reader and friend Dave Guerra's home-made rewinds... and lots of coffee and Rick Clemente's cigarettes... and ENORMOUS patience, talent and good will of Jodi and Rick. The college bought the film from me, and until recently, that was the last I had seen of it. While digging through a box of old photo gear parts, I came across this copy of a copy of a non-timed, "A"-roll-only (visible splices) work print. Watch for the dog at the beach who moved perfectly in time with Jodi crossing the screen, and Rick saved the scene with his improv reaction. There was no film left for a re-take. In fact, it ran off the core at the end of the last scene with zero unexposed footage. Ahhh, those were the days! Ken Schuster, November 2009 |
| ©
Copyright Schuster 2010.
|