Verfremdungseffekt- A New Yorker state of mind

This is a real find if you are into Independent American avant garde – and could not be more highly recommended within that genre. If you are transfixed with the French workings of this territory then look West – here is someone who easily ranks alongside Gus van Sant but has yet to achieve the mass exposure.

Jeff Stanzler is the real deal and this film owes more to the short story/New Yorker magazine oeuvre centred on that great artistic city. There is a bold mixing of cultures and themes that initially seems audacious, looks as if it conforms but leaves the viewer feeling shocked, manipulated and thrilled at the skilfulness that is on display here.

Stanzler, seems to trace straight to Bertolt Brecht. A case of his leap frogging the 70s, 80s and 90s and facing backwards to 9/11 with a theoretical outlook that has its roots in the late 1960s refinement of 1930s artistic pre-occupations.

It’s a melting pot of a film in every sense – and will leave you struggling to make a dazzled sense.

A brilliant film and one that I am busy recommending to friends.