Smother (Phoenecia’s Alternate Score & Edit)
Directed by Luis Gispert
Score & Sound Design by Phoenecia (Joshua Kay & Romulo Del Castillo)
From the New York Times review:
“A boy lies on a trampoline, clutching a boombox to his chest. Gradually the blue tarpaulin turns a sickly green as he empties his bladder. “Smother,” a riveting new 26-minute film at Mary Boone Gallery by the New York artist Luis Gispert, explores the relationship between this 11-year-old chronic bed-wetter, also depicted in the photograph at right, and his domineering mother. Like “Stereomongrel,” Mr. Gispert’s 2005 film collaboration with Jeffrey Reed, it follows a precocious pre-adolescent’s odyssey through a perilous adult landscape – in this case 1980s Miami (where Mr. Gispert was raised).
“Smother,” which has a script by Mr. Gispert and the artist Orly Genger and a soundtrack by the experimental duo Phoenecia, is the throbbing, flamingo-pink heart of Mr. Gispert’s two-gallery show, at Mary Boone and Zach Feuer. With its tropical palette and episodic magical realism (which might be too real for some animal lovers), it can seem less like a film than a tenuously linked series of Mr. Gispert’s stills. Dialogue is sparse, and as melodramatic as a telenovela’s. The camera lingers over the spectacular stucco-mansion setting, which Mr. Gispert has aptly described as “narco-nouveau-riche.”
At Zach Feuer Gallery, a sculptural installation echoes the film’s lurid scenery. Photographs of truck interiors, racing-striped walls and high-gloss, heart-shaped speakers put forth a Miami version of the hot-rod-inspired art that emerged in 1960s Southern California. – Karen Rosenberg
Notes:
The alternate score & edit is a remixed version of Smother including parts that were omitted from the release version. An alternate reworked 20 minute version of the score for Smother appears on Phoenecia’s “Echelon Mall”, a collection of works for art & film. “Echelon Mall” is scheduled for release in March on Schematic.
Full review – https://www.nysun.com/article/arts-dislocating-dreams