Water and Power (1989) User Reviews

brilliant filmmaking

[mjneu59 · 8/10 · 14 January 2011]

After ten years in production this eye-opening, experimental mini-feature gives new meaning to the phrase 'state-of-the-art' (circa 1987). Using time-lapse photography, multiple exposures, animation, and other computer-controlled optical effects, director Pat O'Neill takes the viewer on a hypnotic tour of the Southern California power grid, exploring the collision between humankind and nature with a dazzling array of playful and enigmatic images. The film is a (strictly non-narrative) visual showcase, but what might have been merely a technical exercise in virtuoso FX wizardry becomes an exciting and challenging work of art, combining a sophisticated, choreographed sound track, several comic visual juxtapositions (including segments from old Hollywood movies such as Cecil B. DeMille's 'The Ten Commandments'), and odd inter-title story fragments.