The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies
Best of Boston 2009

Review: 'A Horse Is Not a Metaphor'

Hammer's joy in being alive is no metaphor either
By PETER KEOUGH  |  May 6, 2009
3.0 3.0 Stars

090508_metaphor_main

Cinema might not be able to cure cancer, but when wielded by a master documentarian like Barbara Hammer, it can squeeze a little beauty out of the disease. Shot during her long bout with uterine cancer and her subsequent 18 months of remission, this short film doesn't flinch from the painful details (Hammer asks for a moment to look away when a needle is about to be plunged into her abdomen; the camera, though, doesn't move) but weaves them into a fugal collage that includes shots of her walking naked into a stream (reminiscent of Eadweard Muybridge and of Maya Deren's "Meshes of the Afternoon") and of horses in the desert set to a haunting soundtrack by Meredith Monk. The film's title might be an allusion to Susan Sontag's 1977 essay "Illness As Metaphor," and indeed the illness shown here is brutally literal, but Hammer's joy in being alive is no metaphor either.

Related: Review: Otto; or, Up With Dead People, Review: The Lost Coast, Review: Fruit Fly, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Barbara Hammer, Cancer, Eadweard Muybridge,  More more >
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments

-->
ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group