Peter Mettler explores the nature and perception of time in dazzling documentary
THE END OF TIME (Peter Mettler, 2012)
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
144 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
November 29 – December 5
212-875-5601
www.theendoftimemovie.com
www.filmlinc.comg
Beginning with air force pilot Joe Kittinger’s 102,800-foot jump from a helium balloon in 1960, experimental filmmaker Peter Mettler takes viewers on a wildly varying, cosmic, occasionally psychedelic, and always thought-provoking journey through the nature, perception, and very existence of time in his latest stunning documentary, The End of Time. The third in a trilogy following 1996’s Picture of Light and 2002’s Gambling, Gods and LSD, his latest film explores the concept of time by visiting with nuclear physicists working on the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland, which is trying to re-create the conditions that led to the Big Bang; meeting with Jack Thompson, the only person left living on a section of Hawaii’s Big Island that has been covered in lava from a nearby active volcano; traveling through the decimation of Detroit, speaking with squatter Andrew Kemp and popular techno DJ Richie Hawtin; making a pilgrimage to Bodhgaya in India, where the Buddha found enlightenment; and saving a personal surprise for the extremely apt conclusion. “For me, the meaning of time is that we are,” CERN physicist George Mikenberg says, getting right to the point. Incorporating archival footage with original material, Mettler, who served as writer, director, editor, photographer, and sound designer, has created a unique visual language in The End of Time, reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey, which also examined time and space, albeit in a futuristic, fictional way; Mettler, on the other hand, deals exclusively with the here and now, the present. He treats his film as if it were a carefully conceived architectural structure built out of sound, image, and spoken word, incorporating gorgeous shots of nature — particularly the sun, the moon, clouds, and vast landscapes of mountains, forests, and waters — alongside modern technology (including dazzling animation) and humanity’s thirst for knowledge, resulting in a mesmerizing, poetic cinematic experience that is wholly unpredictable and endlessly satisfying even when it confounds. Mettler even takes care in the film’s opening and closing titles, imbuing every moment with an element of, well, time.