You might be tempted to call “Solace” (Bill Kersey) a music video for the mere fact that it runs the length of the three minute and second song that fills the soundtrack. It’s a tribute to a man’s son, but it’s also an example of unconventional storytelling. The film starts with a guitar, a mic stand, and a stool against a white background. It cuts to black and you hear a voice instruct the person who picks up the guitar to start whenever ready, at which point the visuals return. The man with the guitar begins to play. There are no lyrics to his song and the images that accompany it successfully create a narrative.
Resembling what live-action limited animation might be, there isn’t a lot of movement to the pictures. In fact, “Solace” is virtually more of a filmstrip than a film. The series of images tell the story of a man who loses his young son to an illness. When the song ends, the voice that spoke before thanks the guitar player for his time, to which he insists that he’d like to give it another try. “Solace” is a cinematic work that understands dialogue isn’t necessary to convey a message to an audience. It’s honest.
I did have the opportunity to view Solace one time many years ago and was totally shocked to see my exhusband in the video. Jon and I had divorced after Joshua died and it actually broke my heart to see the pain he was in and knowing that he could never share those emotions with me. I would give anything to get a copy of Solace but I cannot contact Bill Kersey whom I met once forever ago. If you can locate someone for me who could help – I could also go through my own memories, feel my own emotions and wish that my Josh could know, without a doubt that although Jon and I divorced, we loved Joshua with all of our hearts.
Thank you,
Carol Couch McCabe