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Chronicle Of A Disappearance

1996, Movie, NR, 88 mins

Chronicle Of A Disappearance: Review

CHRONICLE OF A DISAPPEARANCE | SEGELL IKHTIFA
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A movie that opens with a long, nearly static shot so abstract the image is indecipherable isn't going to be to everyone's taste. In particular, it won't appeal to those with little patience for non-narrative, essayistic films: First-time feature director Elia Suleiman demands insolently that you wait with him for something to happen, and very little does. Though the apparently unrelated vignettes (many of which feature Suleiman playing a character suggestively called E.S.) suggest a documentary approach, their tightly controlled nature gives away the presence of a calculating filmmaker. It gradually becomes clear that this cinematic meditation is deeply rooted in a specific time -- immediately after the Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement -- though Suleiman consistently subverts expectations by not taking an overtly political position. He does, however, evoke a palpable sense of foreboding and imminent irruption through images of almost unnerving tranquillity. Suleimann is obviously a sly and sophisticated Intellectual (with a capital I), and his conspicuous cleverness may be off-putting to viewers who lack a personal stake in either matters of Palestinian identity or postmodernist film theory. But should he decide to turn his evident talents to a more conventional film, the results would doubtless be interesting. leave a comment
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