The End of Cinematics

Mikel Rouse

Can film still challenge us? Can a communal cinematic experience still change our lives, or have corporate agendas hijacked an industry that once aspired to art?

Run Time: 80 minutes

These are among the questions posed by The End Of Cinematics, the third in Mikel Rouse's trilogy of multimedia operas presented by Luminato this season.

Inspired by two essays by Susan Sontag - The Decay of Cinema (1996) and A Century of Cinema (1997) - The End Of Cinematics is a dreamlike meditation on the possibilities of film in an age attuned to the fragmented media experiences of channel-surfing, YouTube and MTV.

In a piece as technically dazzling as it is thought-provoking, Rouse has used digital technology to remove actors' images from a film that he shot on the real streets of Paris in 2002. That depopulated film, projected on panels, serves as the backdrop for a theatrical presentation, conceived, written and directed by Rouse, in which live performers' images are captured on video and projected in real time onto a scrim.

Like the other two parts of his trilogy, Failing Kansas and Dennis Cleveland, The End Of Cinematics combines Rouse's distinctive technique of "counterpoetry" (multiple unpitched voices layered in counterpoint) with a complex yet highly accessible score. The result is an immersive, sensual experience that pushes the boundaries of art, film, music and ideas.