James Benning’s first film called The United States of America was a 1975 trip a
James Benning’s first film called The United States of America was a 1975 trip across the country, capturing its scenery through a car windshield. This second one also crisscrosses the nation, but without a car, carving it up instead into a series of static shots of just under two minutes, one for each state, presented alphabetically, from Heron Bay, Alabama to Kelly, Wyoming. The names of the places are nondescript, but the images attached to them are anything but, immaculately composed shots of landscape, cityscape and the spaces in between. As we move from A to Z, the images coalesce into a portrait of today’s USA, tracing out its fault lines almost in passing: fenced-off facilities, a river bed running dry, factories and refineries, run-down streets and gas stations, a camp under a bridge. The past is there too, seeping up through the songs and speeches that sporadically pierce the background noise or the motifs that evoke a whole career; the clouds, trains and cabins are stand-ins for films, not just states. As always, there’s time for more abstract thoughts too: each image may stand for a state, but representativity is slippery. Which state is more cinematic than the rest?
一本满足。简直能拿回顾集看，看到了一堆之前片用到的元素，还听到了之前用的配乐(This Land Is Your Land和Lovin‘ you)。的确更偏早期影像档案点，没怎么玩运动向量这些。还是感叹James Benning对画面元素的极简控制，使得这些自然场景在长时间凝视下的确有超验产生，与经典的音画分离一起提醒我们这些画面远没看起来那么平静。能把核电站拍得跟植物一样无害，也能把不同的山丘拍得如此诡异，这的确是只有在JB的片子才有的魅力。全在加州拍已经够吓人了(真说明美国哪都一个样...)，看片尾才知道有段配演讲的镜头拍的是里根的房子...看完很想去calarts读了。
完蛋对这种项目越来越感兴趣怎么办，一种架空国家政体系统而通过影像元素（也有景别）的同构性和潜力，去打造一个州内的影像国家（导演自己没去过所有州，很多州说白了也都是 stereotype）。和我大二时跟着VICE跑很多中国城市感觉一样，二线城市市中心都一个样子，醒来会恍惚自己在哪个城市,只见万年不变的万达广场。这个项目把这个感觉拍出来了，老哥玩儿影像还是狠，但这种潜力需要时长来挑战现在观众去进入，需要场域，大银幕，或者民族志影像课程放映 hh 导演来QA感谢早年 drug 经历，提供精力和同理心 hh 中国拍这样一部完全没问题，interesting
班宁说邀请我们体验美国风情画，映前说本来拍50个州，但因为朋友建议说如果是52个州就更棒了。结果结尾filmed in California一出，还是被班宁耍到。画外音的设计无论是在方位还是在context上都很精妙。2号厅这么热大家还是可以坐得住也挺不容易的。总的来说和嚼风干牛肉有点像，很纯很有嚼劲，越嚼越香。老头子的幽默和活力还是很在线，不容易。
