RoweReviews
  • Viewing Log / Reviews
  • Search
  • Ramblings
  • Contact Me

Dawson City: Frozen Time (2017) - Bill Morrison

6/24/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Academic yet accessible, expansive yet intricate in approach, Bill Morrison's Dawson City: Frozen Time is a singular experience, a film which uses rare silent films, dated news reels, archival footage, interviews, and static historical photographs to detail the bizarre true story of a massive film restoration project, where some 500 long forgotten silent films dating from 1910-1920 were discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool deep in the Yukon Territory, in Dawson City, located about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle.  Bill Morrison's documentary is an ode to the transitive properties of cinema, detailing its ability to document and preserve a certain timelessness, with Dawson City: Frozen Time detailing an intricate historical deconstruction of the small town of Dawson City, a beacon of the Yukon which boomed during the gold rush of the late 1890s, only to fall into obscurity when the gold had been excavated.  Bill Morrison's film depicts the history of this gold rush town through the lens of this large film collection, a decision which manages to provide an intricate historical narrative  while also delivering a stirring evocation on the timeless nature of cinema, detailing how film is intrinsically a part of the history itself.  The Klondike Goldrush, which brought hundreds of thousands of prospectors to Dawson City, coincided with the rise of commercial cinema around the world and Dawson City: Frozen Time beautifully showcases the role which this small town played in creating the medium of cinema as we know it today, with names such as Sig Grauman and Alexander Pantages spending time there before making their way to Los Angeles, where they helped create the large-scale projector which could be showcased to the masses, known as movie theaters by everyone today.  Dawson City: Frozen Time is a story of exile, birth, death, and ultimately resurrection, with the small town's rise and fall serving as the center piece, with the discovery of the 500 silent films underneath the permafrost of Dawson delivering a symbolic form of salvation to this town.  Methodically detailed, Bill Morrison shows how the discovered films are a stunning archaeological find due to their ability to preserve history, with Dawson City: Frozen Time exhibiting the expansive nature of film and documentation and the profound effects and intrinsic relationship it has with history itself.  Morrison's film mixes various forms of visual media together in concise and transfixing ways, but overall use of music takes the film to another level, becoming a meditative, tranquil experience as the viewer surveys the history of this small town through the lens of the birth of cinema.  While some less adventurous viewers may find Dawson City: Frozen Time too academic for their liking, Bill Morrison's film maintains relatively accessible, with his passion for the history and transitive qualities of cinema shining through in every frame of this film.  

Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Love of all things cinema brought me here.  

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Viewing Log / Reviews
  • Search
  • Ramblings
  • Contact Me