House
Movie is a direct autobiography,
with events interpreted as they were in progress. It is about
living intimately with another person, in a rented house which
never becomes home, due to an unavoidable separation. At times
the camera almost takes the point of view of the architecture,
as witness to the kind of transient emotions common to houses
like this. Using a Rachmaninoff excerpt, the film is edited symphonically,
with theme and subordinate theme, development and re-capitulation,
echoed in the recurring visual motifs and rhythmic cutting.
“The extravagant
camera movement that marks House Movie is not so much
lyrical as deterministic; the camera, though curious, has somewhere
to go and is content to move forward without prejudice to the
reality beyond its own set course. This sense of being in a world
in which the familiar exists to be rediscovered and re-experienced,
comes through in the best of these ‘home movies’...
Films like House Movie permanently deepen commonplace
immediate experiences...” Ian Birnie, Independent Views,
Art Gallery of Ontario
“Shot
in a rented house in Athens, Ohio, House Movie plays
in subtle and interesting ways with the concept of ‘home
movies.’ As the camera moves purposefully and ‘deterministically’
through the space of the architecture the rented house never achieves
a home feeling of real comfort or belonging.” (Cathy Jonasson,
Canada House Program Notes)
“Like
many of Hancox’s films, House Movie is difficult
to categorize because its form is so unique. It is an experimental
film in style and in its general approach to the medium, but since
its content is autobiographical, with events filmed as they were
in progress, it is also a kind of subjective documentary. It records
the filmmaker’s impressions of the eventual breakdown of
a relationship, followed by moving, and then adjusting to a new
arrangement. The camera takes the point of view of the architecture
itself, as if it were living witness to the myriad of transient
human emotions common to all houses which never become homes.
House Movie is tightly structured to a musical excerpt
from Rachmaninoff, with all the complexity of theme and subordinate
theme, development and re-capitulation, echoed in recurring visual
motifs and rhythmic cutting. House Movie is probably
Hancox’s most significant film to date… achieves a
remarkable warmth and intimacy.” (Cinema Canada)
Available
from:
Canadian
Filmmakers' Distribution Centre
37 Hanna Ave. #220
Toronto, Ontario Canada M6K 1W8
telephone: 416-588-0725, e-mail: bookings@cfmdc.org
web: www.cfmdc.org
(printable
version of description)
Description
of House Movie by Rick Hancox (1972)
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