The film takes us on a journey across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway over two different time periods. She first took the trip with friends in 1987 when she was an art student and then again some twenty years later in 2007. During this gap she lost her best friend, who was present for the first trip, in a cycling accident in Siberia. It also appears that Turner has succumb to some sort of memory loss of her own also. She retraces her steps in an attempt to regain the memories that she has lost.
The film is composed mostly of shots taken from the window of her train cabin with only a few brief ventures outside. The camera and the artists eye are subtly separated. There are only small sections which she filmed through the view finder. This positioning of the camera in important as it changes the images from being representations of actual memories to being only documentation or proof that the actions occurred at all. She includes a monologue to the soundtrack that records her attempts at recalling the memories while she reviews the footage. Her words are mumbled as though at times through gritted teeth or a medicated sedation, eyes closed and tense. Through this the film develops its two strongest themes, being: what we forget and how we remember things.
Stylistically the film is beautiful and the soundtrack is extremely effective (I think it is really what makes the film so special). It's long, at 180 minutes, but it's really worth taking the time. It's one of the best video works I have ever seen.
It is only showing on selected dates and there are only a few more sessions left so get on to the Carroll / Fletcher website and book a spot.
Exerpt from Perestroika (2009 Sarah Turner)
