The
4th Dimension
TLA Releasing
R1 DVD
Web: http://4thmovie.com
The
film opens with some beautiful black and white cinematography and a superb steady-cam
shot focussing in on Jack Emitni who lies sleeping in a ditch overed in show.
His narration tells us that he is obsessed with the nature of time (Emitni = in
time) and this opens a strange and enigmatic film which explores the nature of
memory, loss, madness and philosophy. For a film made on a low budget the first
thing you notice is the superbly bleak and brooding mood created by the black
and white cinematography, it is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others
incredibly lonely and melancholic, there is no doubt that the director of
photography Daniel Watchulonis and production designer Nathan Kalushner have
done an amazing job. When you couple this with a minimalistic electro
soundtrack, you create a haunting film which will make you think about it for
some time later.
The
plot is intriguing and its twists and turns accomplished. Jack is a very gifted
yet troubled child; he seems to have problems relating to people and yet is clearly
very intelligent. He has marked obsessive traits relating to cleanliness and lives
in fear of his mother dying. For what is shown, today he would probably be diagnosed
as having Aspersers Syndrome. The film moves between the present where Jack is
some sort of clock maker and flashbacks of the events of Jack’s childhood. Jack
lives alone, isolated in a dream world and seems unable to tell the difference
between the world outside and what he perceives in dreams.
One
day a mysterious woman brings Jack an old broken clock to repair. However, a
short time later she requests he immediately return it. Jack dreams it contains
a journal containing Einstein’s unfinished Unified Field Theory, so he returns
to the house where the clock is kept, breaks in and steals it. He repairs the
clock and begins to study the nature of time using Einstein’s journal.
The
film deliberately plays with the viewer refusing to allow us to get a handle on
exactly where it is coming from. Is it a science fiction tale about time? Is
Jack a genius or mad? Can be really manipulate time or is it only within his
own mind? This lack of certainly is what makes the 4th Dimension a
fascinating film. The sections on Jack’s exploration of the nature of time are intriguing,
offering quite lucid outlines of both conventional and unconventional theories
on time as a potential 4th dimension. Indeed many of the theories on
time reminded me of those expounded by P.D. Ouspensky, a radical Russian philosopher
who wrote about time as a 4th dimension.
As
the film progresses it becomes more and more surreal, we notice Jack’s dishevelled
home slowly becoming filled with trains and the phone is on a pedestal in a
room lit by twilight. More and more his reality seems to be becoming dreamlike.
He travels on a train and yet we see scenes of him sitting on a train which has
been obviously burn out. We slowly begin to wonder if this film is not about
time at all but about Jack’s mental disintegration.
The
climax of the film is sad and moving, Jack returns to an abandoned hospital where
he discovers a document outlining his discharge and the fact that the woman who
brought the clock for repair is his caseworker. He has been a long term mental
patient, committed after his mother’s death when he was seven. His obsession
with time has been his way of trying to escape the pain of his loss of his
mother which he still has not been able to do. The final scenes are powerful as
we see Jack simultaneously as how he sees himself and how he really is.
The
film ends on a sombre note on the real story beyond the 4th
Dimension. The Philadelphia State Hospital opened in 1903 as an overflow facility
for the mentally ill. By 1950, it grew into a campus of over 50 buildings.
While in operation it developed an infamous reputation for being overpopulated
and understaffed, resulting in horrific living conditions, accompanied by patient
experimentation, neglect and mistreatment.
In 1990 it was officially shut down and vacated, and many of the
patients were released. Many homeless people have been found squatting in the
buildings, it is believed by many that they were once patients, trying to find
their way home. It was finally demolished in 2007.
The
4th Dimension is a highly successful independent film on so many
levels. It offers superb cinematography, a bleak soundtrack and a story which
keeps you thinking right to the very end. The climax is both moving and poignant
and brings together all the different strands of the film in an unexpected yet
sombre conclusion.
The
4th Dimension is what quality indie filmmaking is all about.