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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
LYRICAL NITRATE
THE FORBIDDEN QUEST
Compiled by director Peter Delpeut from disintegrating films made from 1905 to 1915 and found
in an Amsterdam movie house attic, Lyrical Nitrate is a meditation on the nature of
watching movies. Until around 1955, the base of film stock was nitrate, which slowly
deteriorates over time. Thus, the compiled footage is silent, dramatically emphasized by operatic
music and added sound effects, and mostly in black and white, though some fragments are in
color. While some of the clips are merely (though quite engagingly) evocative, others act as short
linear narratives. Most riveting are the enactment of a failed romance in a shipwreck's wake and a
hand-tinted Crucifixion scene - of note due to how it gets pathos across without brutality. By the
end, one is reminded that its manipulation is one of film's most salient traits. In
The Forbidden Quest, clips from the early 1900s from actual expeditions help tell
a fictional seafaring adventure set in the Antarctic. Joseph O'Connor gives a virtuoso
performance as J.C. Sullivan, an old ship carpenter possessing footage of a voyage on the
Hollandia, a legendary vanished ship. Delpeut continues to pursue the theme of cinematic
manipulation present in Lyrical Nitrate. Cinematographer Tijdink imbues Sullivan's
black-and-white interview with a subtly scratchy look, making it appear as though it was actually
shot in 1941. This provides a visually smooth transition to the assembled footage. O'Connor's
powerhouse histrionics enriches what is essentially a feature-length monologue. Sullivan is
hilariously modest, claiming not to remember occurrences, and then proceeding - with a straight
face - to discuss them minutely. He feigns the inability to conjure up words to describe a
moment, after having more than proved his articulateness, and uses his tone of voice to register
disapproval when his interviewer does not keep up with him. And it’s almost as
if O’Connor is relying on the evidence of the film footage in
order to reassure himself that he isn’t crazy. As told by Delpeut, his account is entirely
believable. Reymond Levy
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