Carte de Visite

Directed by Ernie Gehr

Drifting clouds. They are not nice little clouds that invite us to interpret them symbolically; rather they are poisonous and unhealthy clusters, a skin rash of the sky, an impenetrable gray curtain of smog. This is a trailer of impressive tranquility and simplicity. A second look, however, opens up new dimensions: Are there not – as so often the case in Gehr’s work – unsuspected, amorphous forms that manifest themselves? Has an event scurried quickly past us while we were still busy discovering the mysterious in the seemingly obvious? In fact, these are two trailers in one: a palimpsest of the cinematographic pleasure of mystification.