A James Benning production, in co-production with WDR. Produced, directed, edited by James Benning.
Seen either as a precise visual critique of the destructive legacy of the railroad on the American landscape, or as a marvelous montage honoring the mesmerizing beauty of trains in motion, James Benning's "RR" may be the final word on the American rails. True to Benning's long career as a leading experimental and structuralist filmmaker fascinated with the processes of land, sky and time, pic comprises 43 fixed shots of (with one exception) freight and passenger trains. Screened only in 16mm, pic is enjoying a string of fest and non-fest exhibitions tuned to fans of Benning and avant-garde film.
Usually in vast rural settings (many in the West and Midwest) and always during daylight, Benning's shots take in trains from a wide range of angles -- from closeup views to long shots recalling John Ford's "The Iron Horse" and Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven." Trains become more and more modern, in some shots resembling a long, solid white band. While many past Benning films are made up of long takes, shot length here is determined by each train's progress as it moves toward the camera and then out of view. This has the unique effect of closely replicating what anyone might see and hear while patiently watching a train pass, thus reviving for auds a rural American pastime.
Combining two of the filmmaker's lifelong passions, trains and geometry, pic presents the trains as strangely abstract mechanical objects rolling through space and time. Camera is often angled to exactly view a distant vanishing point on the horizon, turning the typically small 16mm frame into a vast panorama.
Lovely object d'art also boasts a fascinating, carefully mixed and edited soundtrack; a scene typically begins and ends with sounds of nature (birds, crickets, frogs), with the train's roar and whistles in the middle. Attention-grabbing sound clips unexpectedly appear, including a Gregory Peck reading from the book of Revelation, Ike's farewell "military-industrial complex" speech, play-by-play of a Nolan Ryan no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and an N.W.A. rap track, "Fuck Tha Police."
Camera (color, 16mm), Benning; sound, Benning; supervising sound editor, Benning. Reviewed at CalArts Bijou Theater, Valencia, Calif., Oct. 9, 2007. (In Mexico City Film Festival -- Gala. Also in Berlin Film Festival -- Forum.) Running time: 111 MIN.
Contact the Variety newsroom at
news@variety.com
Date in print: Mon., Mar. 31, 2008