DECASIA (Bill Morrison, 2002)
Maysles Institute
343 Malcolm X Blvd. between 127th & 128th Sts.
Tuesday, April 10, $10, 7:30
212-582-6050
www.mayslesinstitute.org
www.billmorrisonfilm.com
Experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison’s production company is called Hypnotic Pictures, and for good reason; the Chicago-born, New York-based auteur makes mesmerizing, visually arresting works using archival found footage and eclectic soundtracks that are a treat for the eyes and ears. Several of his films were recently shown at a retrospective at the World Financial Center (including The Miners’ Hymns, Spark of Being, The Great Flood, and his masterpiece, Decasia), but if you missed that last one, you now have another chance to catch it at the Maysles Institute on April 10, where it is screening as part of the “Street Views” series curated by Paul Dallas and Anthony Titus. Made in 2002, Decasia is about nothing less than the beginning and end of cinema. The sixty-seven-minute work features clips from early silent movies that are often barely visible in the background as the film nitrate disintegrates in the foreground, black-and-white psychedelic blips, blotches, and burns dominating the screen. The eyes at first do a dance between the two distinct parts, trying to follow the action of the original works as well as the abstract shapes caused by the filmstrip’s impending death, but eventually the two meld into a single unique narrative, enhanced by a haunting, compelling score by Bang on a Can’s Michael Gordon, which begins as a minimalist soundtrack and builds slowly until it reaches a frantic conclusion. The on-screen destruction might seem random, but it is actually carefully choreographed by Morrison, who wrote, directed, produced, and edited the film. Following the screening, Morrison will participate in a Q&A with architect David Gersten of the Cooper Union, moderated by Titus. “Street Views,” which “explores our connection to the built environment through documentaries, narratives, and experimental works,” continues April 24 with Peter Bo Rappmund’s Psychohydragraphy and concludes April 25 with Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Abendland.