Marianne Boesky Gallery, through Jan 10
Sue de Beer usually makes lush, sexy, frightening films based on female
adolescence, but here she shifts to an exploration of the repression and
release of a grown woman living in 1740s Connecticut. Manipulating
montage, dream sequences, and nonsensical time and place, the artist
presents disjointed cinematic scenarios more than a true plot.
Psychedelic scenes pop up, as does a man playing with an inexplicable
dream machine. The protagonist's tragic story romances as much as it
disturbs - her pretty face, form, and free-flowing crimson blood make
for beautiful imagery, and a heartbeat soundtrack adds visceral
intimacy. As the narrator says at the film's close, "Beauty lives only
in mystery - beauty is the mystery." (LM)