Decasia - The State Of Decay (2002)

Sukyaneer from London , 25/07/2004

An extraordinarily beautiful film using found footage. It presents images that decay before your very eyes, mirrored by a slow moving soundtrack that captures the desiccated mood and atmosphere.

Something beautiful from something very banal.

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bobbyperu from Merseyside , 02/01/2005

Decasia would, if truncated to around 20-30 minutes, undoubtedly be a greater work than it is at its 66 minute running time.

Why? Well for starters there just isn't enough worthwhile footage to fill this amount of time. While much of the footage used is absolutely beautiful (and often somewhat disturbing), the points that the filmmaker is attempting to make (the resistance of mortality, the fight against the eventual decay of any kind of memory, real or imagined) end up being washed away in a sea of unnecessary imagery, which one suspects was added in order to bulk up the running time in order to be consistent with the soundtrack (the film was created to accompany the music).

There is truly only so much flickering footage that one can take in at one sitting, and when the subject matter appears to deviate from the point being explored (which happens often) the viewer inevitably loses interest and becomes irritated with the inconsistency.

There is some jaw dropping imagery on display here (in particular the boxer fighting against a blur of decaying film which will, in time, absorb him too) but one feels that the film would have worked better from a collection of the better, more resonant images.

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JulieBea from Midlothian , 11/01/2005

I haven't ever used this word in this context before, but this film is absolutely haunting.

The reviewer who said this was too long brought up some good points - it was only after I watched the entire film that I realised it was meant to be divided up into themed categories, so perhaps it was less successful in terms of that. And when it started I suspected that an hour of it might get a bit long.

How wrong I was. I have never been so transfixed. I have quite a short attention span and easily get distracted by things I need to do, stuff I want to talk to my partner about, etc. Not when this was on. I was absolutely hypnotised by the end, there is no other word for it. The images are sometimes romantic, sometimes disturbing, often indistinguishable, but always beautiful. The musical score is dichordant, evocative, and a masterpiece in its own right.

This DVD was at the top of my queue for three months and it was entirely worth the wait. If you have an interest in film, photography, music or art, this is a gem waiting to be discovered.

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milnerv from Dorset , 13/10/2005

The idea of beauty in decaying nitrate film stock is not new, I remember an art competition based on some frames from a decomposing film.

However a feature length movie is quite different. Bill Morrison’s choice of frames is excellent, some are incredibly beautiful and others provide mysterious glimpses of people acting like wisps of memories slowly dredged up from ones past. There are several themes running through the film, one seems Indian, one of a disaster with men rescuing each other, another weaving, all of which help maintain interest as one thinks of plots to the disconnected damaged pictures.

There is a sound track made up of a continuous thrumming sound (possibly representing the sound of movie projector) above which is a much higher synthesised theme reminiscent of a dirge, but continuously changing.

However interesting the experience I constantly found my attention drifting, thinking that bit would make a nice screensaver, that a good framed print, and that a contender for world’s most difficult jigsaw, raising the question is this really material for a feature length film?

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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milnerv from Dorset , 13/10/2005

The idea of beauty in decaying nitrate film stock is not new, I remember an art competition based on some frames from a decomposing film.

However a feature length movie is quite different. Bill Morrison’s choice of frames is excellent, some are incredibly beautiful and others provide mysterious glimpses of people acting like wisps of memories slowly dredged up from ones past. There are several themes running through the film, one seems Indian, one of a disaster with men rescuing each other, another weaving, all of which help maintain interest as one thinks of plots to the disconnected damaged pictures.

There is a sound track made up of a continuous thrumming sound (possibly representing the sound of movie projector) above which is a much higher synthesised theme reminiscent of a dirge, but continuously changing.

However interesting the experience I constantly found my attention drifting, thinking that bit would make a nice screensaver, that a good framed print, and that a contender for world’s most difficult jigsaw, raising the question is this really material for a feature length film?

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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bobbyperu from Merseyside , 02/01/2005

Decasia would, if truncated to around 20-30 minutes, undoubtedly be a greater work than it is at its 66 minute running time.

Why? Well for starters there just isn't enough worthwhile footage to fill this amount of time. While much of the footage used is absolutely beautiful (and often somewhat disturbing), the points that the filmmaker is attempting to make (the resistance of mortality, the fight against the eventual decay of any kind of memory, real or imagined) end up being washed away in a sea of unnecessary imagery, which one suspects was added in order to bulk up the running time in order to be consistent with the soundtrack (the film was created to accompany the music).

There is truly only so much flickering footage that one can take in at one sitting, and when the subject matter appears to deviate from the point being explored (which happens often) the viewer inevitably loses interest and becomes irritated with the inconsistency.

There is some jaw dropping imagery on display here (in particular the boxer fighting against a blur of decaying film which will, in time, absorb him too) but one feels that the film would have worked better from a collection of the better, more resonant images.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

Read all highest rated reviews