Reflective Encounters

“The effects of an ageing mind reoccurs as a key subject in short animation (often found in films made by the young). We could think of George Gendi’s perceptive short Pingpongs (2006), or perhaps Helen Hill’s heart-breaking Mouseholes (1999).  Following a similar tradition, Mackenzie’s film enters a world of fragmented thoughts and images. Though populated by snippets of audio interviews, its visual approach is what really delivers a punch.

Moody, inky black backgrounds impose themselves on photographic memories, glimpses of first dances and families. There’s something of filmmaker Stan Brackhage’s experiments in its use of colour, particularly The Dark Tower (1999), another short which allows darkness to take over its frame. In terms of theme, there are traces of early animated work by Ruth Lingford, like Crumble (1992).  Lingford excelled at entering the minds of dementia patients she’d worked with, partly through her willingness to expose less sentimental aspects of minds coming apart. But is there an element of deliberate hesitancy at the heart of Mackenzie’s take on the subject? We learn of the character’s love for his partner; is this a means of shielding us from darker truths?”

— Chris Childs