Castro Street (1966)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Bruce Baillie

Genre:

Short

Plot:

Inspired by a lesson from Erik Satie; a film in the form of a street - Castro Street running by the Standard Oil Refinery in Richmond, California ...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Awards:

1 win

Runtime:

10 min

Country:

USA

Language:

None

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Trivia:

This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1992.

Soundtrack:

Good Lovin'

City sights and sounds collected in a landscape format.

Dizzifyingly in movement, Baillie's Castro Street is a look at the cluttered landscape of a city block of the same name. The only dialogue comes from the sounds of the city. The only characters are traffic, a train station, and a handful of signs. This unique cast leads the viewer along the street. Overlapping pictures, blurred and confusing, convey the business of city life. Following the train down the track, Baillie briefly juxtaposes the urban jungle with a scenic country field--where color is clear and no overlapping of images clutters the view. Compositionally, interesting edits and cuts are used to present a mountain of commonplace objects to the audience: there is always something new to look at. This ten-minute piece features a unique perspective on the changing sights of a city landscape.