Director: Grant Gee
Year Released: 2012
Rating: 2.0
Gee pays homage (of sorts) to the late novelist W.G. Sebald's work The Rings of Saturn, filming locations in Suffolk, England (among other locations) that Sebald himself walked around and made (extensive) references to in his text. The result is admittedly mixed - though Gee's trying to make a film about Sebald in a non-biographical, more free-form manner (with stock footage, fans and admirers and friends in voice-over and grainy black-and-white imagery), the picture does become monotonous (literally and figuratively) in parts instead of pleasingly hypnotic (like Davies' Of Time and the City, which does a better job at being a visual essay) and those unfamiliar with the author's style will either be intrigued (and want to explore his output) or alienated. Sebald's (cultish) admirers are ardent (most eloquent are novelist Rick Moody and Freudian psychoanalyst Adam Phillips), but this picture is a tad too ephemeral for any extended impact (it may be best thought of as a companion piece to the book). It's worth noting that the soundtrack to the picture - by James Kirby, using his Caretaker moniker - is arguably the most memorable aspect.
