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EULOGY FOR MEMORY

By David Finkelstein | March 24, 2005

This short film, which appears to be constructed from old Super 8 home movies, effectively evokes a feeling of nostalgia. Very short clips of the movies are seen in fast succession; sometimes in smaller squares arranged on the screen in grids, sometimes full screen. Lind has almost always selected a moment when the subject turns away from some activity and momentarily smiles at the camera. A little girl turns to us with a shy, beautiful expression. A woman, surrounded by friends and (for some reason) holding a full-length mirror, turns to smile at the camera, just as the camera’s light is being reflected back in the mirror. The constant, musical repetition of the same images gives the film the obsessive quality of memories, where there are certain moments or faces we can’t seem to get rid of. (I’m not sure what the “Eulogy” of the title refers to. Memory, in this film, seems very much alive.) Morgan Hobart’s gentle music provides the perfect texture of gentle, suspended tenderness and regret.

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