Film Reviews
Duncan Hopper
“Mark Nelson is a Brighton based photographer by origin, with a worldwide reputation built up over 50 years, plus years. His unique and elegant photos adorn gallery exhibitions in the UK, Berlin and New York. They are a testament to his craft and skills as an image taker and maker. However his new film ‘A Place About 50 Miles West of Nowhere’ seems to break into what I would call a new mould and statement on and of poetic imagery. The theme is New York City from various residences he knows well. Too well perhaps…? He has taken an eclectic mix of photos, film clips of the city, stills, archive footage and blended them skillfully into a new technical imagery.The spoken word, songs and edited and mixed them into a New Reality Melange…which is not only thoughtful and thought provoking about the cities and our now and future. There are homages to the past, the busker, performer, jazz and quotes from surrealist painter Mr Warhol alongside references to the scars New York has and is bearing. It is not as an attractive city would like to think itself. The film portrays a narrative cascade, a rawness about its situation but it also alludes to the new reality in tackling the scourges of today a universal message for all.
The violence on the streets and the modern monuments to that. The wind blown rubbish in the less salubrious parts of the city. The shabby facades of its sidewalks and art galleries. A rawness in the images predominates shown on our screen, from its Jazz past to the snaking river running through the city. It is not all doom. It also offers tips towards a future. Diversity accepted, racial and gender and class. A city tackling climate change. A city where new poetry sits side by side with its people. Spilling into the images presented. It was a pronouncement of intensity in a worldwide metropolis and hope for all. The audience justifiably applauded this pioneering effort. Thought provoking it lingers in the mind. “
John Rumsey
Mark Nelson’s ‘A Place About 50 Miles West of Nowhere’ is a visually-rich and thought-provoking exploration of our connection to. the places we live, uplifting their beauty and individuality, and yet rife with problems and challenges. The film is a homage to a very recognisable New York City while allowing the city to stand in and represent an Everywhere City. It plays with our sense of space and place, taking images of the familiar and dislocating them, turning and shattering them to create perspectives that are recognisable and yet mysterious. It mixes beautiful and simple image such as contrasted views of the city in different seasons, with quirky and offbeat pieces. Images are kaleidoscopic and dizzying at first and later troubling and emotive.
Nelson creates moods and atmospheres that shift subtly from triumphant to melancholic but leaves the viewer to probe their own emotional resources. The surreal effect of the distorted images blurs the lines between the concious and the subconcious and takes the viewer down the rabbit hole into his dreamlike world. As one member of theaudience put it “it was like time suspended. It was trippy”
The use of dance and narrative is in keeping with the visuals. The dancing is controlled if unpredictable and the narrative beautifully pronounced and clear yet subtle and increasingly disquieting. The storyline unfolds gradually as the more neutral stance is replaced by these troubling images and probing narrative. What is the future of New Tork and for that matter all the city paces we inhabit? Will they become dystpic or will we see individualsbe ablew to find solutions and return the city to its rightful place as a beacon for dreams and aspirations? There are the questions thay he poses and reflects on but declines to answer.
I loved the pause and change of pace that the still images offered. I realised on the night that the audience's absorption of the word's meaning was always going to be a big ask, but hey as said, you just have to put it out there! The collapse / folding of layers was a great Dali touch and surrealism really came through for the educated eye.
— Andy Nelson
I can’t believe what a huge body of work it was. I found it mesmerising, fascinating and really inspiring.
— Charlotte Dejarlais
“I applaud the decision to show at an arts venue - the piece is an art “object” that defies the usual categorisation. By placing it in a quasi gallery space, it means we come to it without the usual narrative preconception of the film. You invited us into your very own space to show a work of great passion and skill.”