Following on from But in the Voice last month, Time is Lost is another piece from the Hum-Drum Films team. As promised this is far from the light feel of that film, slotting into the edges of experimental film and music video whilst conveying the strangely disassociated and slightly bleak atmosphere that surrounds most of their work.
As with all good experimental film the concept is kept pretty simple without over the top stylisation, pointless cutaways or irrelevant weirdness; we spend some time watching a man getting ready to go out, watch him head out of town into a more rural area, and watch him begin to dig a hole...
The action is accompanied by a well composed and conceived piece of music, equally simple in it's delivery from a solo male acoustic it perfectly compliments the film and the atmosphere, leaving us plenty of time to imagine what's going on, what this guy is thinking, doing, aiming to acheive, perhaps empathising with his mission as it becomes clearer without understanding where it is ultimately heading.
Along with the trademark atmosphere you also find the trademark strong filmmaking and this piece is well shot, cut and edited with the usual striking confidence and some indie aesthetics which often look cheap in other hands but somehow always work with Hum-Drum.
Coffee rating: 7/10
Notes: A new twist on a classic concept, delivered with honest contemplation
From the chilled contemplation of Hum-Drum Films to the dark oppressive future of our sister company Coffee Films and their vintage experimental short Televisual Man.
Shot when the team were teenagers back in 1996 before miniDV, the internet or desktop editing was really doing anything this project focuses on the televisual medium with clear influences in Orwell's 1984, relevances to the explosion of CCTV in the UK through the mid 90s and relevance to the explosion of reality TV worldwide which came along afterwards, like all experimental/art film should, it allows the viewer to take a little of their own meaning to it.
Reviewed all the way back in issue 8 of MFM (scoring 8.8; click here for the full critique) Monika D-T particularly highlighted that;
"The most compelling thing about Televisual Man is that it uses the visual medium in order to indict the ways in which the visual medium can be misused."
And in that circular simplicity (which also enters into the on-screen storyline) the film has found it's enduring popularity, showing up at festivals 7 years after it's original completion and then discovering a whole new audience on the web even now 12 years on.
And we have to mention the soundtrack, absolutely thick with filmic atmosphere and adding so much to the already strongly stylised visual look, do check out composer Amir Baghiri's website if you get the chance!
Coffee rating: 7/10
Notes: Compelling experimental you can understand
