Landscape Suicide

Description

"A cool, unsettling film about two murderers and a dozen landscapes (...). How do 'Pain' and 'Place' come together, like the seemingly unmotivated stabbing of a popular student by her classmate Bernadette Protti in a California suburb in 1984 and the mass murders of Ed Gein in rural Wisconsin in the 1950s? Do the reenacted interrogation transcripts with remarkable actors fill the emptiness of the landscapes? Or do the landscapes provide clues to the bloody deeds, to the emptiness of the individuals and relationships? As a viewer, one inevitably tries to fill the gaps: this too is an (interpretative) act of violence." (Christoph Huber, Austrian Film Museum) "At its core, James Benning, being the visual poet he is, aims to interrogate the landscapes of these two places, Ed Gein's wintry Wisconsin and rainy California. He demands that viewers look at these places, listen to them, these real crime scenes (...). Formally brilliant and deeply moving." (Richard Linklater in an interview with Peter Becker) Contributors and additional information:
Director: James Benning Screenplay: James Benning Cinematography: James Benning Editing: James Benning Cast: Rhonda Bell (Bernadette Protti), Lisbeth Jetton (Kirsten Costas), Elion Sucher (Ed Gein)