Jane Campion: Passionless Moments
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
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A series of wry vignettes: SEAN AND ARNOLD NOT SPEAKING; SCOTTIES, PART OF THE GRAND DESIGN OF THE UNIVERSE; ANGELA EATS MEATS, IRONING ON SUNDAY, and others...
"A beautifully photographed, sharply drawn drama...A lovely debut which will be compared to Jane Campion's later work but will certainly live up to the comparison."
Ann Golden Cinema Femmes
"These deceptively fragile-looking and tough-minded short films reveal familiar power plays from multiple points of view, punctuated by telling close-ups. A promising young director's take on the origins of narrative."
Amy Taubin Top 10, Village Voice
Citation
Main credits
Lee, Gerard (screenwriter)
Lee, Gerard (film producer)
Campion, Jane (film director)
Campion, Jane (film producer)
Benton, David (actor)
Berriman, Ann (actor)
Brown, Alan (actor)
Other credits
Cinematography, Jan Campion; editor, Veronica Haussler.
Distributor subjects
Australia/New Zealand, Cinema StudiesKeywords
WEBVTT
00:00:22.855 --> 00:00:25.522
(air whooshing)
00:00:31.237 --> 00:00:33.750
- [Narrator] Ibrahim is practicing yoga,
00:00:33.750 --> 00:00:35.437
in his girlfriend\'s studio.
00:00:36.826 --> 00:00:39.493
(air whooshing)
00:00:45.080 --> 00:00:46.270
In one of the paintings,
00:00:46.270 --> 00:00:48.127
there is a sentence which reads,
00:00:48.127 --> 00:00:51.000
\"Sex, is,
00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.523
a, won-derful,
00:00:55.580 --> 00:00:59.597
and, natural, thing.\"
00:01:06.940 --> 00:01:08.470
As Ibrahim looks to his right,
00:01:08.470 --> 00:01:10.657
he sees the word, \"sex.\"
00:01:12.705 --> 00:01:15.630
(air whooshing)
00:01:15.630 --> 00:01:17.313
As Ibrahim turns to his left,
00:01:18.570 --> 00:01:20.517
he sees the word, \"thing.\"
00:01:24.950 --> 00:01:28.207
In his mind, Ibrahim
puts the two together,
00:01:28.207 --> 00:01:29.837
\"sex thing.\"
00:01:31.721 --> 00:01:34.388
(fan whooshing)
00:01:58.010 --> 00:02:01.093
Lindsay Aldridge has just
bought a packet of string beans.
00:02:02.020 --> 00:02:03.070
He\'s on his way home.
00:02:04.105 --> 00:02:04.938
(dramatic music)
00:02:04.938 --> 00:02:07.030
It occurs to his vivid imagination,
00:02:07.030 --> 00:02:10.042
that the beans will explode in 20 seconds,
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unless they can be rushed
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into the microg glycerine immune area,
00:02:14.160 --> 00:02:15.613
inside his mother\'s kitchen.
00:02:24.576 --> 00:02:25.600
(dramatic music)
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Will he make it?
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These beans react explosively
under street conditions.
00:02:30.995 --> 00:02:33.662
(alarm blaring)
00:02:45.097 --> 00:02:47.680
(wood pecking)
00:02:51.890 --> 00:02:53.570
Mrs. Gwen Gilbert,
00:02:53.570 --> 00:02:55.260
hearing this sound at first
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thinks it\'s a Japanese wood block,
00:02:57.370 --> 00:03:00.383
being played in Mrs.
Vitecheck\'s backyard next door.
00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:03.517
This seems very unlikely.
00:03:03.517 --> 00:03:05.310
\"It\'s probably just a woodpecker.\"
00:03:05.310 --> 00:03:06.922
She tells herself.
00:03:06.922 --> 00:03:09.505
(wood pecking)
00:03:15.603 --> 00:03:18.353
(stick pounding)
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Mrs. Gilbert can\'t
understand how Mrs. Vaticheck
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could make that noise,
00:03:42.770 --> 00:03:44.913
by beating the clothes line with a stick.
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She reminds herself that
we don\'t have woodpeckers
00:03:49.090 --> 00:03:49.923
in Australia.
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Sean and Arnold aren\'t speaking.
00:04:01.500 --> 00:04:03.120
Arnold\'s mad,
00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:05.487
because Sean\'s been playing around.
00:04:10.213 --> 00:04:12.623
Sean just can\'t seem to care.
00:04:15.720 --> 00:04:18.300
He\'s wondering why he
can\'t keep two things
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in focus at the same time.
00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:30.273
Arnold\'s not going to warn him again.
00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:37.680
Sean knows that one of these
times it\'ll be all over,
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but all he can think of now,
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is vague diagrams from school,
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containing focal lengths,
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umbras and penumbras.
00:05:01.101 --> 00:05:03.890
(bird chirping)
00:05:03.890 --> 00:05:06.330
Tony Formiatti injured
his shoulder muscles
00:05:06.330 --> 00:05:08.563
in a friendly game of soccer last season.
00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:12.240
This is Jim Simpson, Tony\'s neighbor.
00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:13.640
Though they\'ve never spoken,
00:05:14.940 --> 00:05:17.820
Tony thinks Jim is waving hello,
00:05:17.820 --> 00:05:19.890
and not wanting to leave
unfinished something
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he unwittingly started,
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he waves back and smiles.
00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:36.090
Tony now realizes,
00:05:36.090 --> 00:05:37.913
some mistake has been made.
00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:49.924
Jim Newbury is washing his smalls,
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as he does so,
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he hums to himself a pop
song from the early 70s,
00:05:55.197 --> 00:05:57.262
\"Cheer Up Sleepy Jean.\"
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♪ Cheer, sleepy Jean ♪
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♪ Oh I can\'t hear ♪
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Now nearly 10 years later,
00:06:06.140 --> 00:06:08.893
Jim was wondering what this
song could possibly mean.
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For years he\'s been singing to himself,
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\"Clear Up Sleepy Jeans as in denims.\"
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Could the singer be asking
listeners to clear up jeans?
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But no, no one would write a
song about this, would they?
00:06:28.618 --> 00:06:31.368
(water dripping)
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Angela thought she heard the phone ring.
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She\'s waiting for an
important telephone call.
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She has just unwrapped the selection
00:06:51.960 --> 00:06:54.613
of sweet meats from
the local delicatessen.
00:06:57.900 --> 00:07:02.250
Seeing this curled slice of
ham which is about to devar,
00:07:02.250 --> 00:07:06.720
Angela is suddenly reminded
of her uncle\'s pet pig, Rufus,
00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:08.030
with whom she\'d become acquainted
00:07:08.030 --> 00:07:10.043
at his farm many years earlier.
00:07:11.490 --> 00:07:13.160
It occurs to Angela,
00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:15.000
that this is the kind of thinking,
00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:17.063
that turns people vegetarian.
00:07:18.391 --> 00:07:21.058
(phone ringing)
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(grass rustling)
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- [Commentator] Steve William squad,
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New Zealand forwards arriving in numbers.
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(fans cheering)
- On Sundays,
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Ed Turnbury irons six shifts,
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five for work, and one for Saturday night.
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Ed is off to get himself a fresh beer.
00:08:05.007 --> 00:08:06.272
- I\'m angry.
00:08:06.272 --> 00:08:07.810
(team roaring)
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- [Narrator] Ed played
front row at school.
00:08:10.490 --> 00:08:11.853
He wanted to be captain.
00:08:19.447 --> 00:08:21.170
\"What about that incredible pass?\"
00:08:21.170 --> 00:08:23.256
He said Tommy McGreen.
00:08:23.256 --> 00:08:24.643
\"God, when was that?
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God, that was a good pass.
00:08:30.450 --> 00:08:33.140
Yeah, he\'s gonna give up the grog,
00:08:33.140 --> 00:08:34.717
and get back into training.\"
00:08:41.310 --> 00:08:43.820
Gavin Metcalf, bachelor,
00:08:43.820 --> 00:08:45.680
has been trying to put his life together
00:08:45.680 --> 00:08:47.103
for three or four years.
00:08:48.350 --> 00:08:50.400
At the moment he\'s listening to the beat
00:08:50.400 --> 00:08:51.853
of his own ear drum.
00:08:59.920 --> 00:09:02.270
As this fades from his attention,
00:09:02.270 --> 00:09:04.861
he notices particles of wind,
00:09:04.861 --> 00:09:07.134
drifting through the air
in front of his eyes.
00:09:07.134 --> 00:09:10.093
(soft piano music)
00:09:10.093 --> 00:09:12.563
He watches the wind for a moment.
00:09:12.563 --> 00:09:15.313
(wind whooshing)
00:09:16.420 --> 00:09:19.346
Remembering his mother used to tell him,
00:09:19.346 --> 00:09:21.523
they were angels.
00:09:21.523 --> 00:09:24.440
(soft piano music)
00:09:34.584 --> 00:09:37.265
(tires rolling)
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(dog barking)
00:09:41.055 --> 00:09:43.972
(Julie vocalizing)
00:09:55.256 --> 00:09:58.589
Julie Fry has spent the day sick in bed.
00:10:02.170 --> 00:10:04.893
She\'s bored with trying to
play \"Monopoly\" on her own.
00:10:09.730 --> 00:10:13.160
Now she discovers how
perfectly monopoly money,
00:10:13.160 --> 00:10:15.423
fits onto the back of a Scottish box.
00:10:16.490 --> 00:10:19.070
She wonders how many other
paper products would fit
00:10:19.070 --> 00:10:20.803
onto the back of a Scottish box.
00:10:23.920 --> 00:10:26.326
The pages in her exercise book,
00:10:26.326 --> 00:10:29.159
(paper shuffling)
00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:33.580
No. But folded in half yes,
00:10:33.580 --> 00:10:34.760
they probably would.
00:10:34.760 --> 00:10:36.130
Most paper in fact,
00:10:36.130 --> 00:10:38.960
folded in halves, quarters or thirds,
00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:40.960
would fit on the back of a Scottish box.
00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:43.521
She pictures a large conference room,
00:10:43.521 --> 00:10:48.014
where men in suits discuss
the proportions of paper.
00:10:48.014 --> 00:10:48.847
- All right John, it\'s third.
00:10:48.847 --> 00:10:50.500
- [Narrator] So that all fingers will fit,
00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:52.493
provided they\'re folded correctly.
00:10:53.618 --> 00:10:56.451
(paper shuffling)
00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:03.123
We leave Julie now as her moment passes.
00:11:04.170 --> 00:11:07.300
There are 1 million moments
in your neighborhood,
00:11:07.300 --> 00:11:09.550
but as the filmmakers discovered,
00:11:09.550 --> 00:11:12.160
each has a fragile presence,
00:11:12.160 --> 00:11:14.843
which fades almost as it forms.