Ladies and Gentlemen, please bring your noisy snacks, glass of bubbly and e-ticket to your seats. The review of ‘Closer : a short film’ uploaded by Jacksons Lane (which can be found here) is about to begin.
The film starts out with some rather interesting visuals, with close up shots of hands, feet and people in various different settings and scenarios. The aesthetic choices made in this opening sequence are rather pleasing, even in the simplest of things such as a hand appearing from behind a concrete block. Something about the simplicity of the images takes me back to simpler times and allows me to just escape from a moment. The majority of the film is set to the sound of what I assume is a xylophone playing slightly different tunes. The film continues with a focus on scenery, aesthetics and on the body. The short film is made up of a lot of different snippets of performers moving or interacting.
The repetitive nature of the pieces in this film is quite like something you may find in Pina Bausch’s works, in reference to the film ‘Pina’ (which is a very interesting watch indeed). The majority of the simple, repetitive movements appear to be quite sinister and painful, even actions such as holding hands seems to be done in spite in this film. There are moments of, what seems to be, peace and happiness that seem to be twisted into pain or upset.
The video description states that the three companies collaborated to explore “intimacy and touch in a year of distance and finding community in a time of solitude” but the communities and intimacy seems to be negative, in these short snippets. For example the individual who is laid on the aerial hoop under the bridge seems to be peaceful and happy when on her own which is disturbed by a close up of a contortionist.
The piece is a collaboration which I think allows us to follow the message they’re wanting to promote, but I believe that the images alone may not give off the same feeling of intimacy and community that they may have been looking for. Of course this raises the discussion around intimacy and whether this has to be positive or if it can be negative. However their wording makes it sound as if they are wanting to highlight the positivity that connection and interaction can give us as people. I would therefore argue that the juxtaposition of the twisted and pained images and the message of community and intimacy may not work hand in hand to show how a year torn apart is going to be worth it when we can regroup, this instead makes me feel like I haven’t out on missed the interaction and that when we get back together it may be painful.
I must say that the performers in the piece are incredibly talented and I loved watching the piece from start to finish, and I think it’s a brilliant idea to put together. We all could use a bit of entertainment and this short film definitely provided me with entertainment, and so the video has fulfilled its purpose. It is a good watch, and very interesting to see something a bit different during lockdown, here in England.
I would rate this performance 3 out of 5 stars.
Of course I mean no disrespect to any parties involved, this is just my opinion and I welcome disagreements and discussions in the comments. If you feel differently about the piece, please do let me know.
Photo credit : Pexels
Alyx Taylor-Scott