Comma Boat (2013)
In Comma Boat, we're stuck in a mock-authoritarian fantasy--a power trip. The film centers around a director-character played by Trecartin who oscillates between feelings of omnipotence and self-doubt. As if a post-human, post-gendered reincarnation of the Fellini character in 8 ½, the director gloats and frets about professional and ethical transgressions. "I know I lied to get ahead," he admits at one point. "I've made up so many different alphabets just to get ahead in my field." The director is fancier now, but the fear nags that he might be "repeating" himself "like a dumb soldier ova and ova and ova and ova." The meta-connection to the artist's own career, while obvious, is also a decoy. All art, at some level, is about the artist. Here, reflexivity is the surface level, providing a decodable veneer that encases something more unsettling and complex. Single-channel and 3-channel versions.
Released: Dec 08, 2013
Runtime: 33 minutes
Genre: Comedy
Stars: Ryan Trecartin, Irina Cocimarov, Ruth Gruca, Madeline Poole, Analisa Teachworth, Tatiana Marie Valentin
Crew: Ryan Trecartin (Director), M. Blash (Camera Operator), Mary Ann Heagerty (Camera Operator), Sergio Pastor (Camera Operator), Lola Sinreich (Camera Operator), Lizzie Fitch (Camera Operator)