Director: Larry Jordan
Year: 1978
Time: 6 mins
Music: William Moraldo
I confess that I'm not a fan of Moraldo's music, though it does have a soothing effect after a few minutes of Visions of a City. But I'm a big admirer of Larry Jordan's work, and I'm especially fond of most of his non-collage works (which I absolutely adore, of course). Visions of a City was shot in 1957 but was not edited till 1978. Using beat poet and playwright Michael McClure (Ike in Kerouac's Dharma Bums) as a "guide" and visual counterpoint, it is a short portrait of San Francisco shot almost entirely through reflections of all sorts: mirrors, shop windows, car windows, bottles. The mirror trope, obviously, has endless theoretical and philosophical possibilities. Suffice to say that the sepia tinted images, the powerful editing and the distorting effects of mirrors make this one of Jordan's most beautiful films.-- Eye of Sound