Outside In

I was absolutely mesmerized by this film when I saw it at the 2013 San Francisco Dance Film Festival. I'm going to give away the ending so stop reading now and just watch and perhaps don't read the rest and start searching for the full piece just like me. But, the film goes on like in the trailer for a number of minutes, you sense her anxiety, but in a clam way, and you start to get into a rhythm with her jerky, animal-like movements with the visceral shots of her feet dragging through the dirt. Then, the camera starts to back out and shows the whole moment is taking place inside a film studio in a set, with a full film crew of men and women staring at her, drinking coffee, calling out cues (much like the background noise you hear in the credits), white canvas backdrops etc.. The sudden change in backdrop, and ultimately overall feel of the film, is really shocking. It originally felt like you were watching a person embodying an animal, a human (so elegant in look and dress) sort of out of place in the wilderness. Then, when the camera backs out and you see the whole story, the reality comes through, she is in fact an animal out of place in such a constructed human setting.