Pine Flat

This film by Sharon Lockhart was composed in two hour long halves. The first consisted of six 10 minute segments, with a single fixed frame shot of individual children interacting with their setting. The first shot captures a mountain during one of the winter snow falls and a young girl yelling in the background in search of her friend. Even from the first scene the film played with the viewers expectation of what "should happen". Current methods of film making have conditioned their viewers to expect some large climactic event that builds the overall plot. However aside from the natural setting and slow pace of the actions, continuity within the individual scenes is non-existent. Each shot tends to grow more frustrating then the next because the need for action is never fulfilled. From a girl reading a book on a grassy hillside, to the boy sitting along side a stream with his harmonica, or even the boy sleeping on the grass, these seem to represent nature rather than man's effects on it. Only every once in a while does man's influence corrupt the natural sounds with the sound of a gun shot, or an airplane flying over head, or a bus coming to pick up a roadside student. The movie seemed more like a "Soothing Sounds of Nature" Tape that people play right before bed. The action takes a back seat to the sounds that permeate throughout the shot. The subtle snow falling, the babbling of the brook, or the wind gusting through the tall grass; each replaces the real actors (the children) within the shot due to the viewer's search for some movement or plot.


The second half also consists of six 10 minute fit framed shots, but instead have the interaction of multiple children from the small Central Californian town. Again the first shot displays a forest covered in snow, however differing from the opening scene, children emerge at the bottom of the shot and move toward the top and finally disappear as the final minute of the shot runs out. It occurs to the viewer that the film is not necessarily about its subjects, but instead about the portrayal of time and the viewer’s reaction to Lockhart's play with time. Because there is such little action occurring within each shot (or at least not the type of action we are used to with Jean Claude kicking in doors and Spiderman swinging between buildings) it seems that the film has captured both duration and the pregnant moment at the same time. Aside from making its viewers feel like stalkers (when watching the two couples making out, etc.) the film also confronts man's obsession to cut out the "uneventful time" within film. Film has become like Sports Center Highlights given neither enough time to take in the setting or the whole plot.

- Olivia Hatalsky