THE TIME WE KILLED
A Jennifer Todd Reeves FILM
Sparky Pictures INC
2004, 94 min., 16mm
Robyn portrays the inner life of a writer
unable to leave her New York apartment on the brink of the US invasion
of Iraq. Robyn Taylor tries to kick her growing agoraphobia by re-imagining
her past and contemplating world events of the present. As Robyn begins
to overcome the amnesia that afflicted her as an adolescent, she fears
coming down with "the
amnesia of the American people".
As Robyn escapes into reveries of another time, an intricate film montage
brings to life the friends, animals and places she once loved. The talking
cure of psychoanalysis is evoked as Robyn voices her personal history, fantasies
and observations with a wry sense of humor. As Robyn recounts her jump from
a bridge, which left her with amnesia at the age of seventeen she muses, "the bridge wasn’t high
enough". Recollections of her days in a mental institution seem to predetermine
her present-day compulsion to lock her self indoors. And as Robyn becomes increasingly
disconnected from the world, flashbacks of her childhood visit her for the first
time. Finally, the horror of the US military "shock and awe" campaign brings
to light the terrible cost of self-absorption and passivity, and shakes Robyn
out of her self-made isolation.
Documentary material, scripted and improvised scenes are interwoven to create
this hybrid film of true fiction. The deteriorated memories and frail beauty
of Robyn’s inner world were shot in high-contrast B&W 16mm while scenes of her more confined present life are depicted in DVCAM. These complimentary visuals interact to illuminate a broader spectrum of Robyn’s experience of life, creating a personal story about phobia and coming to terms with the fragility of life in a world at war.
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Upcoming Screenings
February 22, 2007
Otterbein College
Westerville, OH
Recent Screenings
November 9, 2006 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art,
Madison, WI
October 19, 2006 Cornell Cinema, Ithaca, NY
October 21, 2006 Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY
August 8, 2006 River to River Festival, New York, NY
April 20, 2006 Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL
March 25 & May 7, 2006, Whitney Biennial, New York, NY
March 12, 2006 Los Angeles Film Forum
October 21-27, 2005 Anthology Film Archives
Reviews:
""Visually stunning..." Dana Stevens - NEW YORK TIMES
"Best known as an accomplished abstract filmmaker, first-time feature director Jennifer Reeves wrings bitter truth, confused paranoia, and impotent rage from an all-too-recent period, infusing them into the story of an agoraphobic poet, Robyn (real-life poet Lisa Jarnot)... Through its unsugared exploration of mental illness, Time provides a metaphor for how everyday consciousness becomes crushed under history's jackboot. It is a strong and humbling film, made for all of those who remember the nightmares."
Ed Halter - THE VILLAGE VOICE
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