Roddy Bogawa’s I was Born But… (2004)

I should make a documentary! Movie is mostly a series of long static shots of buildings and businesses. There’s a long take of his father practicing his golf swing and later Bogawa himself, apparently, skeet shooting. It starts with his punk rock band performing a monotonous “song” that drags on for over five minutes. Shot on 16mm. Squandering all that money on filmstock was the only thing that might have given it any credibility. The guy didn’t even come up with his own title---stole it from Ozu.

I don’t know if they still make filmstrips. You have a strip of still pictures on 35mm film you run through a projector, sort of a poor man’s slide show. They used to show them a lot in school and they were a popular toy in the Soviet Union---all the kids had them. It’s something Bogawa might have considered using instead of spending thousands on movie film. It might have given it a punk rock aesthetic although he wasn’t hurting for money. He impulsively flies to Hawaii in the middle of this.

According to the internet, he somehow got a job as a film professor.

90 minutes.  

On the Criterion Channel until the end of the month.