The Village Trilogy Laura Taler, Canada Canadian choreographer Laura Taler made her directorial debut in 1995 with The Village Trilogy to uproarious acclaim. The 24-minute, 16mm filmdance creates a courageous nostalgia through expressionistic lighting and framing that looks new and fresh, but feels as if it is a Grimm Brother's fairy tale. Employing physical elements from early cinema and gorgeous black and white photography, Taler and her dancers bring themes of isolation, discovery and family to an elegiac pitch. Imbued with the rich color and ornate architecture of an Italian Renaissance villa, and the noise and chaos of the streets of Palermo, Bitings and Other Effects is a vertiginous filmic journey toward the center of desire. While one presents a sympathetic view in which gender seems of diminished importance when set against the hugeness of Nature, the other dramatically confronts the complexities of gender and sexuality in the cultural arena.
Men contrasts the infinite time-frame of nature with the ephemerality of masculine vitality.
It's exactly what moving pictures are about. This violent and hilarious 50-minute video, based on the 1996 stage production by DV8 Physical Theatre, offers pointed insights into what makes a man a man. 33 Fainting Spells, all rights reserved.