Anti-Clock

The British underground filmmaking team of Jack Bond and Jane Arden, previously responsible for "Separation" (1967) and other projects, have devised an anti-rational, mystical exercise in science fiction call, ed "Anti-Clock". Using both video and film techniques, pic surprisingly lacks much visual invention. Even fans of experimental films will be dismayed at the over-reliance upon soundtrack dialog and narration.

Science fiction premise is an off-shoot of George Lucas's "THX 1138" for Warners, as murmuring technicians' voices establish that Joseph Sapha's mind has been programmed to follow set behavior patterns. As Sapha attempts to rebel against this deterministic universe and claim some freedom of choice, the viewer is treated to a barrage of distorted video images, old newsreels, and some bland, token film footage of events Sapha either experiences or imagines. The fragmentary presentation reflects the film's on and off shooting and editing schedule, which stretched over a three-year period.

As with many faddists and hoaxers, the filmmakers take scientific principles and draw absurd conclusions from them out of context. In "Anti-Clock" the theories of physics formulated by Heisenberg and Einstein to explain the properties of subatomic particles are fatuously applied to human behavior. This gives Bond and Arden license to rail out against sexism and materialism, but their "we are all one" philosophy is strained. Despite contributions by several talented cameramen, film is a technical shambles.

My review was written in September 1980 after a screening at the British Film Now series at Lincoln Center.