Decasia (2002)

Decasia: Directed by Bill Morrison. With Tsuru Aoki, Julia Calhoun, Margaret Cullington, William S. Hart. A meditation on the human quest to transcend physicality, constructed from decaying archival footage and set to an original symphonic score.

“The screening I saw had a very low walkout rate for an experimental movie, although admittedly the audience were mostly students taking Berkeleyu0026#39;s avant-garde film course, so they probably had to be there. Poor kids, you might say, but thisu0026#39;ll probably be one of the high points of their semester. Itu0026#39;ll take you a few minutes to flesh out the decay metaphor (even film doesnu0026#39;t last forever so what chance do we puny humans have, etc.) but surprisingly a large proportion of the imagery continues to be affecting beyond that point.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe game I play when viewing an unannotated found-footage work is to discover what scenes the filmmakeru0026#39;s way of seeing enhances, and why. I could draw up a list of (possibly false) dichotomies – human vs architectural, familiar vs exotic. The one that struck me, though, was documentary vs fiction. Bill Morrison (the same guy who worked on Futurama? Really?) uses excerpts from both categories, but all of the scenes that moved me were unscripted. When I watch a silent fiction film, the image on the screen is evidence that the characters, and thus the stars, are alive. When I watch old documentary footage, the first thought that comes to mind is u0026quot;These guys must all be dead by nowu0026quot;. Perhaps thatu0026#39;s why I slightly prefer Gianikianu0026#39;s and Lucchiu0026#39;s all-doco u0026quot;From the Pole to the Equatoru0026quot;, even though that film makes u0026quot;Decasiau0026quot; seem as watchable as u0026quot;Fantasiau0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut probably a pertinent reason is u0026quot;From the Pole to the Equatoru0026quot; has a more useful soundtrack. Gordonu0026#39;s u0026quot;Decasiau0026quot; symphony sounds like a parody of Glass, which of course is still better than the score to u0026quot;The Hoursu0026quot;. My favourite bit of u0026quot;Decasiau0026quot; is when a long take of nuns u0026#39;nu0026#39; schoolgirls is accompanied by a seemingly infinite collection of continuously descending string lines. Interestingly, Gordon reverses this trick at the end, using ascending lines, and it sounds just like the Beatlesu0026#39; u0026quot;A Day in the Lifeu0026quot;. I wouldu0026#39;ve been happier if Morrison had set the film to u0026quot;Sgt. Pepperu0026quot;, as long as I didnu0026#39;t have to see decaying footage of Peter Frampton.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eObscure references aside, u0026quot;Decasiau0026quot; is better than most avant-garde films because the pictures look nice, the same way a body lying in state looks nice, only better. Morrison is an outstanding undertaker.”