Commentary

Synopsis

A filmmaker starts out to comment on his film. The reversal of film and commentary creates a new film. While the filmmaker gradually deconstructs the filmmaking process a new story is being told.

Text by Christoph Huber

Film critic for Die Presse

"Hi, I'm Robert Cambrinus, the director of this film!" This friendly greeting can be heard on the soundtrack, then it is immediately swept up by the film's own images: The wooden lion will play an important role later. Cambrinus pays no attention to the film's title, Commentary, as he takes a look at the next scene as in the audio commentary on a DVD: He intended to allude to Arabian deserts, shooting took hours, but the camera was, unfortunately, "a little shaky". In addition, formations that resemble dunes turn out to be wrinkles in a vaguely sand-colored blanket.

With a hefty portion of irony Cambrinus comments on his short film The Good Muslim, about a Muslim man who has emigrated to England, where he suffers from the pressures of life. The narrative literally overlays the images in a way that is often equally illuminating and disillusioning. Vitally important decisions are made on the basis of shockingly banal circumstances during shooting: The ending was intended to be quite different, but a technical problem arose during the last scene, and the use of a certain piece of music is purely coincidental — the editor chose it because of the title. Seemingly anecdotal digressions and doubts are simply left hanging, while a number of details concerning the story of the film's creation and the backstory are reflected in the film. Irritatingly enough, they are two wholly different things. Deconstruction and (over-) interpretation merge: What is left of the images beyond set paths (thematic, technical, autobiographical, etc.) on the soundtrack? This is a clever game of deception and commentary on a contemporary viewing regime which has, for the most part, rarely been dealt with in cinematography: As if in an effective final point, Cambrinus promises a version of the film without audio commentary as a DVD extra. The remaining credits are accompanied by the characteristic embarrassed sighing that's audible on DVD soundtracks when the person doing the commentary has nothing more to say.

A German version can be downloaded as pdf.

Text by Laura Rascaroli

Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at University College Cork

Laura Rascaroli's paper "Sonic Interstices — Essayistic Voiceover and Spectatorial Space in Robert Cambrinus's Commentary" was published in Media Fields Journal (University of California, Santa Barbara) 9/2011. The full article can be downloaded as pdf or read online.