Repertory

1973
Country: UK
Duration: 10 mins
colour,
Sound: opt
Ratio: 4:3
Available Format/s: 16mm / HD Digital file
Original Format: 16mm Film

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‘The visuals in Repertory consist of one continuous tracking shot, during which the camera completely circles the exterior of a locked and empty theatre, recording its walls, doors and blank hoardings and catching fleeting glimpses of passers-by. On the soundtrack a voice describes a three week cycle of imagined presentations inside the theatre. The instant polarity between concrete, defined image and fictional narrative is exaggerated by the nature of the descriptions, which are wittily absurd and fantastic: the form allows Breakwell to gleefully attack theatrical representation on film not only by identifying it as fiction to be set against visual fact, but also by giving it its sole existence in the words of the narrator and the minds if the audience. This makes the film a beautiful objective correlative to a film like Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Breakwell’s concise, pointed and consummately achieved short relocates Bunuel’s speculative ambiguities squarely in the field of film aesthetics.’ – Tony Rayns.

More works by Ian Breakwell

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