NOTHING LIKE THE SUN Saw Chris Marker's Sans Soleil at Facets...about two weeks ago. First of all, Facets blows. The theaters are small, dingy, and threadbare. You can hear people walking on the floors above the them. Facets also seems to attract the weirdest crowds. They're people beyond the pretentiousness of the typical art house theater. They're just full-blown weirdos. People that seem to think that a viewing of a movie must involve an odd hat or coat.

Anyway, on to the film. I don't know what to say. San Soleil was one of the strangest and most fascinating films I've ever seen. We hear a woman's voice offscreen reading the letters of a man who appears to have travelled extensively in Japan and Africa. We are shown film shot in the countries that the man has written about. Mostly Japan.

What I found fascinating was that San Soleil did not make an attempt to be a typical travelogue. There were no comforting explanations of the local customs. Everything was strange and bizarre, but without being condescending or racist. The film just tried to show us that travel often involves engagement with an alien culture and that we try to explain away all that we cannot understand. This film showed an intellect trying to grapple with another culture, to figure it out. Or, at least, to realize that it could not be understood. Something that most of us do not do. In fact, I think that while many of us tell ourselves that we're going to learn something through travel, we only do it for some minor diversion and to feel good about oursleves.

That's it all I can say, the film was too complex and my memory has faded.  ¶ 6:31 PM