Hello all. Time for more movies.
Our short is Abandoned by Brian Ratigan. In this very short film, shot on Super 8, we are treated to stained glass windows… where, it is unknown, but they are of course something that is no longer made. We see rain pouring off a roof… heavy rain, and a strange angle. We see an American flag blowing in harsh wind, contorting itself in shapes we have never seen before. We know what it is, we know what it all is, but it’s not right. The strange soundscape by Ben Umstead helps us along in this short blip of a moment, this sequence of images that evokes something lost and alien. Elements removed from these things and moments that make them feel so different, strange, and lonely, but we cannot pinpoint what. That it is so evocative in such a short amount of time, using symbols that are quite rote themselves — rain, the American flag, etc — is stunning. Ratigan makes all these things feel potent again.
Watch here.
Our feature is Country Gold by Mickey Reece. This black and white tale of a country singer, Troyal Brux, played by the director himself, meeting with a country singer much older than him — a legend, named George Jones. The two spend a night together, contrasting the two different generations in the country music scene… a particular scene that prides itself on nuclear family American ways. But Brux sees something different as they end up at a dive bar, end up with temptations for infidelity and drug use, and Jones mentions his sordid past. It all ends up being a kind of fever dream for the American vision of the 50s, the New Deal-era that this type of person is in a love/hate relationship with. Reece has a matter-of-fact approach, but also lends the supporting performances an unrealness which makes everything just slightly weird enough to cause the viewer to question everything laid out in the movie: not only stardom, but the act of performance itself.
Watch here.
That is all. Until next time.
Big fan of both Brian Ratigan's and Ben Umstead's work! Nobody's doing experimental film quite like Non Films, and Tormenting the Hen is a great indie that Umstead produced.