There
are plenty of fantastical happenings in this girls’ finishing school, but it certainly
is no Hogwarts. Clémence Poésy’s Harry Potter fans will not know what to
make of it. Part fashion show, part art
installation, but entirely experimental cinema, Athina Rachel Tsangari’s The Capsule screens as part
of the New Frontiers Shorts Program at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
Six
young women have arrived in mysterious ways at an ancient coastal villa for
metaphysical instructions on becoming women.
This naturally includes music classes and lessons on how to look elegant
while walking your goat. Narrative is
decidedly slippery here, but it is definitely inspired by Sisyphus, Prometheus,
and Sappho, as well as the art of co-writer Aleksandra Waliszewska.
For
part-time cover-waif Poésy and her co-stars, The Capsule is as much a modeling assignment as it is an acting
gig. The costumes by leading designers, including the only mildly fetishistic school
uniforms, are quite striking, but the faded glory of the villa and exotic
surrounding environs are Capsule’s strongest
asset. However, the super-imposed
animation would not have cut it on MTV’s Liquid
Television back in the day.
Expressly intended for adventurous viewers, the
thirty-five minute Capsule is
nonetheless unusually stylish by experimental standards. Cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis gives it
all a cool, glossy sheen appropriate to its neo-gothic austerity. Recommended for New Frontiers track veterans
and uncommonly hardy fashonistas, The
Capsule screens as part the NF shorts block at this year’s Sundance.