the otters, finally

great to present the film to an audience of students and professors.
always an engaging conversation. finally, a professor of philosophy
at milsapps asks about the otters, a found footage piece i bought on
ebay that finishes the film. up against weil's description of the "feeling
for beauty" as a trap from her marseilles notebooks, the "soul caught
up in a terrible adventure, quite against its will", the images of
otters in pursuit of a crab on shore left defending itself while weil
speaks "it belongs to death" is to me the perfect metaphor for her
understanding of playing hide and seek with god. to say nothing of
what a relief those animals are after all the mind twists wrought by
the films mise-en-scene of live rear screen and minimalist/theatrical
staging of actors...unlike other filmmakers, i don't leave the room when
my work plays...i still see so much in it. last night's revelation:
how precise the editing is, especially when tracked through
the frame (first cut), the vertical (frame within frame=second cut), then
to the actual horizontal/sequential cut. it's downright vertiginous at times.
and now off the highway and into the air. see you soon. cathy