Slow Action

In 16-millimetre cinemascope, the three Pacific islands filmed by Ben Rivers (plus the fictional island “Somerset”) immediately place Slow Action in the realm of science fiction. Mid-way between a bio-geographical treaty and Werner Herzog’s Fata morgana, the images and impassive commentary describe a sparsely populated imaginary world. Communities survive amidst unprecedented adversity. Kanzennashima, the second island is a deserted mining town in the middle of the ocean. This abandoned urbanity bears the marks of human utilitarianism, which saw fit to settle there only for a time, with no concern for the longevity of its ruins. The hurricane-devastated island (in real life Tuvali, one of the world’s tiniest countries) looks post-apocalyptic: overturned cars and roofs are all scenes familiar through televised reports, but here they appear at the moment the narration evokes the noble “signs of a vanished civilisation”… What does this strange disconnect between the documentary precision of the images and the generalities of the scholarly narration say, if not that encyclopaedic expertise is as utopian as the island communities?  Like all science-fiction films, Slow Action turns out to be a ghost film.

Charlotte Garson