James Benning’s first film called The United States of America was a 1975 trip across the country, capturing its scenery through a car windshield. This second one also crisscrosses the nation, but without a car, carving it up instead into a series of static shots of just under two minutes, one for each state, presented alphabetically, from Heron Bay, Alabama to Kelly, Wyoming. The names of the places are nondescript, but the images attached to them are anything but, immaculately composed shots of landscape, cityscape and the spaces in between. As we move from A to Z, the images coalesce into a portrait of today’s USA, tracing out its fault lines almost in passing: fenced-off facilities, a river bed running dry, factories and refineries, run-down streets and gas stations, a camp under a bridge. The past is there too, seeping up through the songs and speeches that sporadically pierce the background noise or the motifs that evoke a whole career; the clouds, trains and cabins are stand-ins for films, not just states. As always, there’s time for more abstract thoughts too: each image may stand for a state, but representativity is slippery. Which state is more cinematic than the rest?
小草影院韩国电影神马影院光棍影院星空影院老友记第四季自然世界第一季摩托教父国家干部王志文版节气唱游记-惊蛰2024剑行天下踢出我天地实习医生格蕾第十五季雪国1957圣剑谍影迷情第一季不公平的游戏:川普是如何赢的神雕侠侣2014搭错车狩猎2022下雨时你的温柔请随意对待黄巾起义盖文·斯通复活命悬一枪(川话版)熊熊燃烧住在海边的猫头鹰深林诡事天使与恶魔的美女有的人活着有的人死了吃货与大胡子