While the Apocalypse – Blog

 ​NOWNESS Shorts: SPEEDBOAT: THE STANFORD URBAN-CONTAMINATIONS STUDY

Famously plotless, yet collaged from her experiences as a journalist for The New Yorker, Renata Adler’s 1976 cult novel Speedboat paints an absurd picture of life through incongruous incidents lived by a young NYC reporter.

Isolating one of the novel’s surreal moments, New York-based writer and filmmaker Jess Magee interprets Adler’s storytelling for short film SPEEDBOAT: THE STANFORD URBAN-CONTAMINATIONS STUDY – documenting a street encounter with a scholarly man, who convinces her to let him collect a «slide» from her shoe in the name of research. As a tribute to Adler’s belief in short film as an ideal medium for “profiles, short stories, fables, allegories, satires [and] jokes,” Magee builds a campy backdrop for Speedboat’s succinct, colorful language, as the scene takes a comedic shock turn.

Also starring as the film’s lead, Magee expands on her theme of inserting herself into books she recognizes herself within – directing and performing these narratives in homage to the writers that serve as her inspiration. Captured on 16mm and long zoom lenses, SPEEDBOAT: THE STANFORD URBAN-CONTAMINATIONS STUDY plays out in a playful visual language reminiscent of its time, conspiring with Adler’s spirited humor and the surprising resonance of the uncanny stories she constructs.

 Nowness RSS Leer más