Deeparture by Mircea Cantor

Deeparture, an exercise in silence and pure image by Mircea Cantor, takes the viewer back to the origins of film in that it simply asks him or her to watch. In complete contrast to Christian Marclay's film, the second film i chose to write about, Deeparture takes the opposite approach by displaying a complete lack of sound and, instead, relying on the power and content of the images to intrigue the viewer. Telephones, by Marclay, arouses the sense of sound, thereby asking the viewer to pay attention but in a different way. Deeparture makes a point to exclude the element of sound because it would take away from the atmosphere and tone that the images create. If the film can be compared to Telephones, the main comparison to make would be the fact that both films engage the viewer from the first frame through an assault on the senses. Deeparture, which takes its time in establishing itself, forces the viewer to keep watching with its images of curious animals, who obviously do not act but react in an empty environment. I found the film to be an intriguing example of modern filmmaking returning to its origins with the absence of sound and the use of images that tell a story based solely on what they entail and how they are arranged.