The Silent Cry

“Steve Dwoskin's...film...is a kind of impressionistic ‘diary' of a girl whose silent cry for help/understanding/love/identity is the underlying theme of the narrative. The girl, an artist, married to a set designer, is shown in the routine of her daily life constantly being told what to do (or what she has done wrong) by her husband or father while her own ideas about herself emerge only in negative action or in fantasy projections. Not everything is seen from her viewpoint but everything is felt as she feels it. What Dwoskin calls an ‘under-narrative' develops and interweaves through the film giving a composite of dreams, distortions, diaries, memories and feelings. Though some of these scenes are difficult to explain separately, they soon become part of an overall visual tapestry that gives a sense of her dilemma. Dwoskin has likened the film to a kind of contemporary ‘Alice in Wonderland,' ‘a world which we can feel more and more as the filmic tapestry is woven.' It is also, one should emphasize, beautifully photographed with not only highly effective extreme close-ups but also many finely-patterned almost abstract shots.”

This page may by only partially complete. For additional information about this film, view the original entry on our archived site.