The Thinking Machine 14

Adrian Martin and Cristina Álvarez López reflect on the art of filmmaking in monthly video essays.

There are many examples of “condensed” films in the history of experimental, found-footage cinema – selections that concentrate what is surreal and suggestive, once most of a narrative is removed. The realm of B (or Z) movies is a privileged site for such work and play, as the continuing cult around Tommy Wiseau’s The Room (2003) proves. Telemovie thrillers, however, constitute an overlooked mine of unique richness. Without excessive manipulation, we radically condense an example, A Fatal Obsession (2015), in which recurring, moody images of nature – moon, waterfall, tree, stream – already, with the aid of a busy music score, usurp the tricky, human plot.